The blizzard that wasn't

[Augie88GT]

Hi folks,

Several days ago, the people of New York City were told that we were going to be hit a blizzard of "historical proportions" or "biblical proportions". Some people, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, stated that it was likely to be the worst blizzard that NY City has ever experienced. He even recited past snowfall amounts, and he outright stated that this blizzard was likely to surpass those record amounts. We were told to expect 2-3 feet of snow.

The entire city was shut down, at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. All forms of public transportation (buses, subways, commuter trains, etc.) stopped running. This was the first time in the history of NY City that the entire subway system was shut down in anticipation of a storm. Curfews were enacted. People were told to be off the roads, or risk a $300 fine and/or being arrested.

Well, the storm came and went. And it "fizzled out". We wound up getting only 7 inches of snow. It turns out that the storm actually "spun up" about 50-100 miles further east (in the Atlantic Ocean) than was expected. Eastern Long Island, CT, and MA actually got the expected 2-3 feet of snow. But we didn't.

Of course, this all led to second-guessing and finger-pointing. It also caused some bickering and political posturing between Mayor de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo. The fallout may still not be over.

At least the NY City Sanitation Dept. did an excellent job of clearing the streets, probably because no one was on the roads out of fear of being arrested.

I actually have a different theory to explain what happened and why the storm tracked 50-100 miles further east. I think Howard Stern farted and blew the storm out to sea. His "blast of wind" spared the city massive snowfall amounts. Everyone in NY City should thank him.