Top Snow Freak-Outs So Far This Winter

(Feb. 10) – A crazed weatherman. A cop who pulled a gun in the middle of a snowball fight. A mob scene in a grocery store. In the middle of the biggest snowstorm the East Coast has seen in years, a little panic may have been inevitable. But, as the snow continues to fall, it became clear Wednesday that some people were taking this whole "Snowmageddon" thing a little too far. A look at the top snow freak-outs so far.

8. Parents Furious After School Sends Kids Home in a Blizzard
There is no fury like the fury of an angry parent. And in central Virginia on Wednesday morning, parents had plenty to gripe about after county officials waited too long to shut down the schools and kids had to ride buses home in dangerous, blizzard-like conditions. Frustrated parents took to their local CBS News Web site to comment on the story. "Anything could have happened to our children on the buses and they WOULD HAVE BEEN RESPONISBLE [sic] 100%!" one commenter wrote. "Chesterfield County schools are run by a bunch of morons," another wrote. "Period."

7. Let's Decide the Global Warming Debate Today
On the blogosphere, the snow became an excuse to begin the global warming debate anew Wednesday. Time magazine's Bryan Walsh reported that "climate change could in fact make such massive snowstorms more common, even as the world continues to warm," and the editorial page of The Washington Times insisted "record snowfall illustrates the obvious: The global warming fraud is without equal in modern science."

6. A Reporter Demands an Apology From TV Weathermen, for Getting it Wrong, Just Hours Before They Get it Right
The Huffington Post's Amanda McCall penned a screed to meteorologists for wrongly predicting snowstorms in New York City. "What we seem to be able to erase from our communal memory every time a new big, scary snowstorm approaches, is that, most of the time, the weather reports are wrong. Really, really wrong." As the first flakes began to fall on New York City last night, McCall demanded this apology from TV weather forecasters:

TV Weatherperson Official Letter of Apology

(Form to be completed by TV weatherperson only)

Dear _______________ (forecast victim(s)),

Words cannot express how deeply sorry I, _____________________ (your name), your local TV weatherman/woman, am for any anxiety, frustration and inconvenience I have caused you.

On __/___/____ (mm/dd/yy of false weather report), I inaccurately reported that the weather would be __________ (rainy, sunny, snowy, windy, balmy, mild), when it was actually__________ (rainy, sunny, snowy, windy, balmy, mild). Due to my inaccurate forecasting, your _______________ (wedding, birthday, funeral, weekend, vacation, picnic, graduation, party, car ride, general mood) was ruined, and I accept full responsibility for my careless actions.

I, _____________________, (your name), the weather____ (man, woman, person) at Channel ___ News in ____________, ___ (City, State) admit that meteorology is almost 100% bullsh*t. A bunch of monkeys throwing their own sh-t at a weather map would make more accurate predictions than my weather team. The high-tech weather simulations and flashy graphics are merely an effort to hide the fact that we have absolutely no idea what we're talking about. I'm not even really sure what a "meteorologist" is. I got my meteorology certification card free with my gym membership. To be honest, I just really, really like being on TV.

I, ______________________ (your name) cannot promise you that I will my weather forecasts will be more honest or accurate from now on. But as long as there are elevators and awkward silences, people will need to talk about the weather and, as long as they do, I will keep on giving them things to talk about, even if everything I say is complete bullsh*t, which, I, ______________________ (your name), hereby admit that it is.

Sincerely,

Your local weatherman, _________________________ (your signature)

5. Indiana County Shuts Down City Government and Courts, but Only 2 Inches of Snow Fall
Whoops. That's what officials were probably thinking Wednesday in Lake County, Ind., after snow failed to pummel the county, which was shut down Tuesday afternoon. The local CBS station reports that those with a court date were particularly flummoxed: "The decision didn't sit well with those headed to their court dates, many of whom took the day off work to find a handwritten sign in orange highlighter telling them the courts were closed."

3. Jo-Ann Armao of The Washington Post Tells D.C. To Man Up
You call this a snowstorm? Earlier this week, The Washington Post's Jo-Ann Armao, who is originally from Buffalo, wrote that "as bad as people thought the so-called 'snowmaggdeon' was, it wasn't really a blizzard." Why not? Because, according to Armao, a real blizzard is a truly frightening event. And Washingtonians weren't scared enough. "When I saw people in the Washington region over the weekend building snowmen, having communal snowball fights and otherwise frolicking, I couldn't help myself: "You think THIS is bad?!"

After the second storm arrived, Armao apologized. "I feel I must apologize to all those snow-weary Washingtonians for whatever part I played in provoking Mother Nature. Like you, I am sick of all this snow; if I never saw another flake of snow in my life it would be too soon."

2. The Weather Man Loses It
An AccuWeather meteorologist freaks out over the impending blizzard last week.


1. A D.C. Cop Pulls a Gun in the Middle of a Snowball Fight
The Washington City Paper reported in December that a plain-clothes veteran detective pulled out a gun in the middle of a snowball fight in Washington after his Hummer was hit by snowballs. He was caught on tape: