Is This Some Kind Of JOKE?

Something is greatly amiss over at weatherunderground.com, one of the two sources I routinely monitor for snow-depth maps of New England. Have a look at today's map and see if somethings looks wrong in these parts. I don't know how this happened -- maybe their satellite is slightly out of orbit, or maybe their snow-depth expert is doing a lot of acid and seeing what he wants to see. Maybe they're really operated by the true Weathermen, and this is one small step towards the overthrow of the U.S. government that they failed to achieve in the 60's. Or maybe they decided we here in Smallish State need some cheering up with positive, albeit false, news about snow.

The reality is, it's been god-awful warm here for weeks, and it just won't snow. We got one little dusting a few days ago. Today it rained, again. There's maybe a half-inch of slush on the ground. That's reality. I'm looking out the window at it.

But according to the weather underground, the Smallish State has an incredible two-and-a-half foot snowpack. We're as deeply buried as Colorado. We're the snow capital of the east. The Canadians are driving south to ski, and the Vermonters are driving east. There are two feet on the ground right here in the Smallish City! Schools are shut down, a state of emergency has been declared, folks are going to the market on skis, and kids are building snow forts up to the second floors of their homes. The stores are sold out of snow shovels and salt. The governor has appealed to everyone to help his neighbors and check on the elderly. The guy across the street with the snow blower has been working for hours to clear peoples' driveways; in a little bit I'm going to go out and relieve him. I can't get to work anyway.

Ah. Never mind. It was all just a strange dream.