Why New Jersey Loses its Mind Every Time Snow is Mentioned

I think it's time that we here in New Jersey take a step back and examine how we deal with winter storms.

Simply put, our reaction is getting a little out of hand.

Sure, a lot of it is stoked by what gets shared on social media and TV stations and networks blasting us with wall-to-wall coverage and flashy, red graphics (more on that in a moment), but common sense needs to prevail.

Trust Meteorologists, Not Basement YouTubers

The storm this past weekend was a pretty good example. For days -- almost a week -- all kinds of maps were shared on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok showing all kinds of insane snowfall possibilities. One, two, even three feet of snow was going to pummel the Garden State!!!!!!

Here's the reality, folks: raw computer weather model maps are often wildly inaccurate, especially several days out. They get shared on social media platforms to drive clicks, shares, and, ultimately, ad revenue and subscribers. That's it. Don't fall for the pseudo-hype. Models several days in advance are good at showing what might happen, not necessarily what will happen. They will change. As always, use common sense -- get your weather information from a trusted source (perhaps, a meteorologist!), not some kid sitting in his basement making scary-looking YouTube thumbnails.

Local TV's Storm Playbook

And then there's local TV.

For days, we get hit with red, flashy graphics, team coverage (for big storms, some TV stations will have two meteorologists on-screen at the same time!), and hours of newscasts showing reporters standing at an intersection with a snow-covered road behind them. And what do they all say? The roads are bad; don't drive if you have to. Of course, they had to drive on those bad roads to tell you that. Not to mention, they use phrases like "historic storm!!" or "biggest storm of the year!!" to highlight their hype.

I will say this, though... this is my favorite time of year because I get to see people on TV use the words "hunker" and "batten." You don't hear them any other time of the year. You know, the guy being interviewed for the six o'clock news and a reporter is talking to him at The Home Depot, and he says he's just going to go home and hunker down and batten down the hatches. Put that on your storm bingo card for next time.

Nothing Says “Serious” Like Matching Jackets

Our fine elected officials don't help things, either. It seems like these days, we have to declare a state of emergency every time there's snow in the forecast. Press conferences have to be held where no one really says anything, or six people all say the same thing (but they all usually wear matching jackets, which is kinda fun). Those digital highway signs have to alert you to impending winter doom, too.

The end result? It all drives us to the point where we all lose our collective minds.

Everyone Shops Like They'll Be Snowed In for a Month

We think every snowstorm is going to be huge and we all need to run out, buy a new snow shovel, and raid our local supermarkets, grabbing every loaf of bread, bottle of water, and roll of toilet paper that we can get our frozen little hands on.

I went to my local supermarket on Saturday afternoon, just for entertainment purposes. What did I see?

Bread was getting low, as was milk. Just about all of the eggs were gone. There was a big display in the middle of the store where cases of bottled water were, but they were all gone.

Why? Even in a huge storm, you're probably going to be able to get out of your house the next day... or, at worst, the day after that. Did you really need to buy three dozen eggs?

Now, sure, there are storms that you have to take seriously and people do like to err on the side of caution. I have no problems with that. And some genuinely need to get prepared a couple of days in advance -- I get it.

My point is this: how about we all use some common sense? It's January, it's been snowing in New Jersey for centuries, and it gets cold here (thank you, National Weather Service, for now issuing "cold weather advisories" in winter). Shouldn't we be used to this by now?

And I've said this before and I'll say it again: can you imagine if we treated a summer rain storm the same way we treat winter snowstorms? If there's an inch of rain in the forecast on some day in July, would you run out and fill up a shopping cart at your local supermarket? Probably not.

Common sense, people, common sense.

Chris Coleman, a South Jersey native, is the brand manager for WPG Talk Radio 95.5 FM and afternoon on-air personality on WPUR Cat Country 107.3 in Atlantic City, NJ. He joined the station in February 1998 and covers news, events, and stories of interest across Southern New Jersey for Townsquare Media. Story tips: chris.coleman@townsquaremedia.com