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The whiteout begins

Jamaica Pond at the start of the storm

Rachel visited Jamaica Pond around 3:30 p.m.

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Comments

Mother of God...

Hey, anyone hear word of a snow emergency being declared?

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Slightly off-topic, but why doesn't New England Cable News scrap all of the half hour afternoon infomercials on busy weekend news days? Can't they put that in the contract with the advertisers? Hour or half-hour ads for Cindy Crawford's Ageless Beauty, I Hate My Hair and some type of shoe insert? Seriously? With the four other main Boston TV news channels showing sports all day Saturdays and most Sundays, aren't days like today, and weekends in general, a great opportunity to go all news on NECN? It's not the first time there's been hours of infomercials on NECN on busy weekends. Not criticizing the talent, just management. Granted, we all get the gist of the storm but it seems like a lost opportunity.

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It's snowing out. It's not an unusually large storm or a odd time of year for snow. What information would you want them to report that is specific to this storm?

They need the paid advertising to pay for their news other times of the day.

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I must be hallucinating! Been here many decades and blizzard warnings are fairly rare as are Saturday gubernatorial press conferences from the MEMA bunker. Just another day for BostonDog, I guess. As I said, we all knew the storm was coming and get the gist of it, comment merely meant as a criticism of New England Cable News to actually show, um, news. As for advertising, no doubt in my mind that ACE Hardware, Home Depot, Lowe's, Carnival Cruises, Budweiser and any other company that may come to mind for those stuck inside, would gladly reserve time for the snowstorms and pay more than the infomercials that pay peanuts.

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Been here many decades and blizzard warnings are fairly rare

No. We get a few every year. 'Blizzard' just means strong blowing snow and reduced visibility for three hours or more. Happens pretty regularly here in New England.

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No. We get a few every year. 'Blizzard' just means strong blowing snow and reduced visibility for three hours or more. Happens pretty regularly here in New England. -- Jeff F

Bwaahaa! We get a few every year? Really? In the 41 years between 1959 and 2000, there were only 438 blizzards nationwide, an average of a whopping 10.7 per year in the country, mostly in the "Blizzard Belt" that includes the Dakotas and Minnesota. Maine had the most in New England, 18 blizzards in 41 years or one blizzard every 2.2 years. Most of those were in Caribou on the border with the Maritimes of Canada, far fewer in Boston, 400+ miles to the southwest. So a blizzard warning is routine in the Boston area? Please. Get your act together.

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You cite data, but you don't seem to actually understand what the data mean.

Blizzard warnings cover very large areas, Furthermore, if you look at snowfall totals for Blue Hill Observatory, all of the largest blizzards on record have been in the last 40 years. In otherwords the arctic highs have weakened letting tropical moisture up to mix in.

Then again, you are a retired cop who thinks that he knows more than 99.9% of scientists.

SO ... maybe not so odd that you don't have the slightest clue about data analysis.

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We started the year with one issued on Jan 1, there was another issued for the storm that hit us on Jan 20-21, and now this most recent one (which has now been canceled btw).

Warnings ≠ actual events

Calm down and have another piece of french toast.

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Just another day for BostonDog, I guess

Yup, sitting at home working on a project, sometimes taking breaks to browse UHub. :)

My point is that maybe we don't need 24/7 of breaking news. On cable TV we already have at least three national networks which are desperate for anything that can count as a urgent story. Do we need a forth network sending reporters out to the beach with tape mesures to prove that their weather reports weren't wrong?

Believe me, if NECN could find local companies willing to cover the cost of this coverage they would much rather be live then on paid programming. But Ace hardware only has so much to spend on advertising and they aren't going to spring for additional spending today if they hadn't planned on it.

Now, I'd really love it if NECN was doing something really useful like long investigative reports into local issues or deep coverage akin to Frontline but that type of programming is extremely expensive and gets relatively few viewers. (Which is why there isn't more Frontline type programs on TV. It's much cheaper to do "expert analysis" and "commentary" in a studio all day.)

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On cable TV we already have at least three national networks which are desperate for anything that can count as a urgent story. Do we need a forth (sic) network sending reporters out to the beach with tape mesures (sic) to prove that their weather reports weren't wrong?

I'll be the first to join you in criticizing the "snow antics" and other weaknesses of the local and national TV news outlets but truthfully there is no local TV news presence on weekend afternoons in the Boston market. Due to the national sports obligations of 4,5,7, and 25 only NECN could fill the void. I'd be surprised if local advertisers wouldn't pay more than the two-year old Cindy Crawford commercial, even if advertisers were on standby for breaking weekend news and weather events.

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