Case in point. Today, 1/30/08, I'm at the gym at 5 a.m. working out on the stairmaster. The TVs are on and one station is reporting from the Hwy 217/ Hwy 26 exchanges. You can clearly see snow. Conditions look bad. Concerned, I leave the gym and head straight for work (heading 217 to 26 for Beaverton). As I'm driving I'm asking myself "where the hell is the snow"? As I approach 26, I see a dusting of snow. In Chicago where I grew up, I saw worse in June. I get onto 26 and see the TV truck parked where there appears to be the only spot where snow accumulated. What a joke! Shame, shame! Freak the public. While you are at it, why not recreate the 1938 "War of the Worlds" broadcast and tell everyone the aliens are coming. Wait, the White House already did that, prompting fence building along the border of Mexico.

The should also fine stations when they state any incorrect information.

Oops Lars would then go off the air.

The problem is the "news"/infotainment stations are crying wolf all the time, so when something real happens you never know if to believe them.

It is pretty sad when you think you need to stay home because the "chicken little" style of reporting makes you think the sky is falling, when all it amounts to is a little snow where the field reporter is standing.

I dont know if the statute still exists, but this 'type' of thing used to be called " "dissemination of false information' by the FCC.

However, it isn't false if there actually 'IS' snow somewhere in the Metro area, and that would be if you knew what the definition of "IS" is. "IS" the snow sticking on the pavement or on the grass or on the dirt? 'IS" the elevation of the snow above 600 feet? And did it last long enough for the News Van to get a lens on it and send it back to the studio? And "IS" today a slow NEWS day? And 'IS" somebody trying to get a promotion to that weekend anchor job coming up soon?

Check out the massive list of school closures and delays for a more accurate definition of "is." Here's a sampling. TV didn't make this up--it's the school districts keeping their kids safe.


• Corbett Sch. Dist. - Closed Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:26 AM
• David Douglas Sch. Dist. - AM buses on snow rts UPDATE Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 06:17 AM
• Gresham/Barlow Sch. Dist. - AM buses on snow rts Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:15 AM
• Portland Sch. Dist. - UPDATE:Forest Park and East/West Sylvan: Closed, Skyline: Closed, All other schools west of the Willamette river: 2 hour delay, Buses on snow routes city-wide with no transportation to Lincoln High School UPDATE Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 07:48 AM
Washington Co. Schools
• Banks Sch. Dist. - 2 hrs late, all bus routes on limited runs Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:12 AM
• Beaverton Sch. Dist. - Open on time; buses on snow routes a.m. and p.m. Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:31 AM
• Forest Grove Sch. Dist. - Open on time - snow routes in effect. Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:17 AM
• Gaston Sch. Dist. - 2 hrs late, no AM kind, buses on snow rts Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:27 AM
• Hillsboro Sch. Dist. - Academic Seminar is cancelled - Zones #1 #2 #8 #9 #10 are on snow routes UPDATE Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:28 AM
• Sherwood Sch. Dist. - Buses on snow rts Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:17 AM
Clackamas Co. Schools
• Canby School District - 2 hour delay, no AM kind, Carus on snow rtes 14, 17, 18, 35. Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:25 AM
• Clackamas Co. Children's Commission Headstart - Sandy Ridge SITE/CLOSED-BARLOW SITE/NO CLASSES (STAFF REPORT) UPDATE Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:45 AM
• Colton Sch. Dist. - Closed Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 04:44 AM
• Estacada Sch. Dist. - All Schools and Daycare Closed. Parent/Teacher Conferences Cancelled for Today Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:17 AM
• Molalla River Sch. Dist. - Closed - Dist. Office opens at 10 am Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 04:46 AM
• Oregon City Sch. Dist. - Outlook Road Routes 108, 110, and 111, and Redland and Beavercreek on snow routes Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:23 AM
• Oregon Trail Sch. Dist. - Closed Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:08 AM
Columbia Co. Schools
• Clatskanie Sch. Dist. - 2hr late start. No AM KG. All buses on snow routes. No buses on Swedetown Rd past ALdergrove Rd. Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:06 AM
• Rainier Sch. Dist. - Closed Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:09 AM
• Scappoose Sch. Dist. - 2 Hr Delay, No AM Kinder, Buses on Snow Routes, No bus service on Oester Rd, High School 9:30 - 1:00. UPDATE Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:24 AM
• St. Helens Sch. Dist. - 2 hour late start, no AM kindergarten, no Head Start, all buses on snow routes Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:10 AM
• Vernonia Sch. Dist. - Closed Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:38 AM

That IS a good question. I would say it IS an attempt to create "storm coverage and we are there" promos.

I saw the alleged " snow storm " you people had in Portland Vancouver, the one last weekend/monday in the form of a pic taken across from Lincoln Elementary School in Vancouver. I used to live in that neighborhood, for years as a kid, grew up in Vancouver. And lived in Portland for years.

Now, keeping our kids safe , doesnt include the hysteria that the vancouver school district must have displayed with a 'smattering' of snow on the Lincoln school grounds a picture taken by an old school mate of mine who still lives across the street from the school. Snow streaked and blotched the lawn with green showing thru and spots of dry areas and a quarter inch of streaky slush on some of the street and sidewalks. They closed all the schools, last monday I think it was??? And Lincoln is located on Telecaset/Columbia Heights, a higher area of central Vancouver...you have to be joking ! She took this picture at 8:30 AM ! In the 60s and 70s we would have been in school for sure. Without a doubt !

I live in Eastern Washington and work for a school district over here. We closed Monday and Tuesday. We had 3/4 inch of Freezing Rain and pure ICE and THEN 8 inches of snow on top of that Sunday with temps in the low to mid 20s, thats why we closed.

I notice that the districts and portions of Portland #1 that actually closed are above or around 1000 feet or in hilly variable elevations.

Big news...elevations 500 to 900 feet got 1/2to 1.7 inches of wet snow that stuck on the grass. Above 900 to say 1200 feet got 1.5 to 2.3 inches of wet snow. big wow..

So they had to go up to Sylvan to find the snow? OK thats news I guess....

As a Wisconsin native who was raised in Chicago and learned to drive in the Rockies, I've been in more snow than anyone I know. But you have to understand the market you're in. Nothing's more boring or irrelevant than someone from Illinois or Eastern Washington scoffing at Portland for closing schools in two inches of snow, or claiming that the media's making it all up for ratings. That's tired old bullshit. Portland snow is different: the city is way hillier than Chicago, which is a pancake. Portland tends more toward ice, because we fluctuate above and below freezing. And Portland is unaccustomed to much snow, which is a factor in the city's reaction.

People who think that TV reporters are somehow staging their snow coverage merely show they don't know anything about TV. For one thing, reporters don't assign themselves--the producers and the desk send them. That's because it's what the public wants. Whine all you want about snow coverage--the ratings zoom on those days. The stations with the news images--KGW and KPTV, in this market--know exactly what they're doing, and they do not care if someone from Kansas agrees or approves.

Add in the fact that dozens of school districts canceled or delayed school because of icy roads, and it's a slam dunk that it's going to get covered. It's a no brainer, as anyone in the industry knows. You just have to be smart enough to look at the radar, and understand that in Portland, ice or snow can be quite localized, so your mileage may vary.

Whats perhaps boring and irrelevant is the notion that stupid assed producers or whomever is "at the desk" is slovenly enough to send some kids up to Sylvan creating a bullshit local illusion to put a fine point on a story that is basically 'out of town' or at higher elevations for the most part, in this particular case.

So fine, have a story about the higher elevations and or out of the metro and leave it at that and get the Weather person on to explain it all. And present it that way. But they localize it in a way to get attention FIRST. Get the ratings NOW. Go out to a busy intersection with some snow on the grass and a little slush on the road AND GET THE SHOT, GET THE AUDIO and alarm some guy on a tredmill in a gym at 5 AM into thinking that a snowstorm is bearing down, when it isnt for the majority of everyone in the metro. Its all about money. ME FIRST. Get attention. Chase that Ambulance.

Speaking of tired old Bullshit !

While I do believe the local TV stations hype up the weather for ratings, I do believe that its next to impossible to predict snow for this area with any degree of accuracy, no matter how much experience one has.

The local tv stations devote way too much time to worthless snow coverage. I don't care if there is an inch of snow on Skyline. I just want to know if my kids school is delayed or cancelled. The crawl at the bottom of the screen at KGW is WAY TOO SLOW! Fox 12's crawl is faster, so I automatically watch them when it snows.

Their crawl is slow because most people cant read over about 50 words per minute anymore. So they get complaints about it being too fast.

how about paying large bonuses to employees sent to sylvan overpass or troutdale???that should reduce the "overlyhyppedsnow coverage!!theirunion could make that rule instead of fcc????

"Check out the massive list of school closures and delays for a more accurate definition of "is." Here's a sampling. TV didn't make this up--it's the school districts keeping their kids safe.
"• Beaverton Sch. Dist. - Open on time; buses "
on snow routes a.m. and p.m. Alert Posted: Wed. 30th, 05:31 AM

Eastwood, did you know that school officials often rely on what they hear and see on TV when they decide to close/delay school, especially at 5:31 a.m.?

No. Generally they drive the roads in their district. Check this out:

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/120165991525365 0.xml&coll=7&thispage=1

They'll definitely follow what TV's doing, including the meteorologists and the live shots, in case it turns out to be worse than what they've seen. But the school people I know, and that's quite a few of them, make the call after seeing it first-hand.

This is true about how districts make decisions, the link that Eastwood sent.

Our district had more heartburn on the second closure day, tuesday, IMO due to the fact that its close to "levy time" for us over here. And that relates to daycare issues for parents, when you close school. And believe me these parents get very irate when they have to make special arrangements for thier kids on a normal school day. And we have mail in voting only in WA state now, AND parents just got thier mail in ballots today AND in our local paper today our district was featured with my boss quoted as saying that ' "Our maintenance workers dumped 6.5 tons of ice melt over the last 3 days to try get the schools open monday and tuesday and succeeding only by Wednesday. And all of that vs. SAFETY..

The politics of 'closing' or not closing....Stories in the media about kids missing their bus on Wednesday for one reason or another and then walking to school in many cases...and slipping on the ice on sidewalks not shoveled by property owners, required by city code to clear the walk, but dont and the city doesnt prosecute etc etc etc...handwringing and finger pointing and passing a maintenance levy by mail in vote by Feb 18, last day to mail in.

Lot of gray areas here these days. I suspect that this is *why* the west side areas get so panicky over the 4 letter word SNOW or the 3 letter word ICE. Over here we dont as much, a little more used to it all , but we still have the same issues.

You said a mouthful, Kennewick...the whole issue of snow/ice/schools/media punches everybody's hot buttons. Everyone's got an opinion. Everything we do is wrong, whether it's the schools or the media. Motivations are suspect: the district that shuts down, or doesn't, is trying to pass a levy; the reporter standing in a snow squall is trying to get a better gig. (As an aside, KGW's early morning reporter gave notice the other day: she really is looking for a new gig--away from Portland, and away from TV). What gets my back up is when a guy on a treadmill wants to call in the FCC when the snow he saw on TV isn't still there when he gets there. That's so ignorant of the microclimate nature of our weather, and disrespectful of the hard work being done by good people, some of whom I know well.

The way to watch TV snow coverage is to keep watching after the live shot from the snow squall is over: the meteorologist will put it in the proper perspective. That's what was happening the other morning. Dave Salesky made a real point of demonstrating how the snow was hit and miss, not widespread, but definitely a factor in specific areas--hence the long school closure list. Just pay a little bit of attention, and you'll get an accurate picture, at least if you're watching the right station.

Stations do not create the closure list. It is done by each school district and fed to a central location which feeds the stations. Blame the schools for the closures/delays, not coverage by radio and tv stations. Ask your school district what determines when they delay or close schools. They do not get it from tv reporters on overpasses.

Although it is hard to figure out what 62kgw says most of the time, I think he said the stations are paying bonuses to the reporters to go out on those remotes. Most don't get anything extra. They would be going out during those hours somewhere anyway. They go where their assignment editor tells them to go, whether it is a fire, a robbery site, or an overpass that might have snow. There is no extra pay involved, generally.

Having said all that, I agree that most of the reports are overplayed to an audience that seems to forget that snow used to be common around here in the winter and that the wind used to blow all winter long out in Troutdale and that it isn't really news. The banks of the Columbia used to be covered in ice most of the winters we used to have. Since global warming is the buzzword of the decade, that means what was normal isn't anymore and even if the cycle puts us back in that situation, they will still send a reporter out to show a few flakes coming down and sitting on the ground and show you that it will be slippery because you cannot find your snow tires anymore. The newbie news managers and reporters don't think we remember the many ice storms, silver thaws, 2 feet of snow, etc., that we regularly used to get in this town.

And, apparently, the viewers are new to the area or don't remember because they watch the coverage, which makes the news directors put it on. A vicious endless loop........

Hear, hear, Jimbo. Nicely stated!

Ya, Jimbo, that reminds me of once when I was a sophomore in High School. 1967. Fort Vancouver High School Vancouver, Wa, the old building at 26 th and Main streets.

We had a big snow storm over the weekend. It melted and rained by Sunday afternoon. They had school, no delay, on Monday AM. I walked to school about one mile, no school bus service and my folks both worked so everyday I walked. That day I walked in 8 inches of slushy ice water to school. I was soaked from the feet up to about my lower knees. I sat in the first 2 periods wet and uncomfortable and cold. When I got to study hall 3rd period I was still soaked and the teacher saw me looking like i been wading on the beach. He told me to go to the student union room and dry myself out on the radiators, but dont go anywhere else and fool around ! Well, it worked and I got warm and dry.

Last Wednesday I was in one of our High Schools working. In the attendance office, late for school, comes this High School girl who had slipped in the snow/ice and her jeans were all wet. All she had to do was present herself. The school Nurse took one look at her, had her in the curtained office and in some Medical Scrubs. She put her wet jeans in the Dryer downstairs in the laundry room and went to class in the scrubs !

Some things are much better than the old days !