Snow ... Snow! ... Snow?

For those who haven’t quite decided what to do for a living, or those thinking about a career change, consider becoming a meteorologist.  Anyone qualifies and no experience necessary.

Take for instance yesterday’s weather forecast for Toronto.  The meteorologist predicted that the city was going to get snow.  Not just a few flurries, but the mother of snow storms.  It would snow between midnight and Friday 4:00 p.m. and as much as 6 inches (15 cm) was expected.

Before I continue, I should say that Toronto hasn’t had much of a winter so far.  It hasn’t been really cold and we’ve seen little or no snow.  So now, before it was all over with March around the corner, it was finally going to happen.

Kids rejoiced that they wouldn’t have to go to school.  Workers mentally rubbed their hands at the prospect of a day off.

Me, I was looking forward to a nice thick blanket of snow.  If I wanted a cold winter without snow, I could have stayed in South Africa.

When I woke up this morning I lay for a moment and wondered how much snow had actually fallen.  Would we be able to go to work?  Were the trains running?  If I went to work, would I find the office open or would there be a notice on the door “Closed on account of weather”?

Full of expectation I tiptoed to the window and opened the curtains, expecting to see the fields and trees weighed down with snow.  The cars in the parking lot waiting for the scraper to arrive so they could take their owners to work.   

What I saw was … a grey parking lot, slick with rain.  Where was the snow?  What had happened to the mother of all snow storms?  Where were the 6 inches?  We didn’t get 6 inches, we didn’t get 2 inches, we got nothing!  Nothing at all!!!

Later we heard that the snowstorm had passed us by.  Toronto was supposed to get a storm, but the strong wind had blown the snow elsewhere. 

Was this the first time the Toronto meteorologist got it wrong?  Let me put it this way … liar, liar, I’m surprised your pants isn’t constantly on fire.