We have a period of cold weather in the greater Washington D.C. area. Temperatures dropped into the single digits at times, it snowed a couple of inches, all in all it´a fine and normal weather pattern for January - even in Washington. Nevertheless our parents and others called from Germany to hear if we were still alive and alright. The news in Europe have hyped up the winter weather on the US East Coast. Why does this happen? Why do the papers and the evening news in Germany report about catastrophic circumstances when there is only a normal snowstorm? Because of the OPMs (Federal Office of Personnel Management) advice to federal workers to stay at home? Because of some regional authorities decision to close schools for up to four days after the snowfall? This could hardly be, because those angst-ridden decisions were made for reasons other than the harsh weather itself. People should stay at home in order to avoid chaotic scenes on the roads and to avoid unnecessary accidents. Children should stay at home for similar reasons, a toppled over school bus full of children is likely to be followed by countless suits. These decisions have a strong self-ptrotective character. Most people in Europe are not aware of these facts. But then, why doesn´t someone put the facts into the right perspective? The real snowstorms and close to catastrophic scenarios happened in the mid-western and some northern states like Michigan and Minnesota. This is the job of the media. To report not only that something is happening, but why something is happening. Does the over-hype have its roots with the foreign correspondents, who send back too sketchy scenes to their home bases? Are the diverse news agencies not giving the subject enough in-depth research, because this sort of weather story isn´t really important enough? Does news sell better when Americans are portrayed as headless, panic-stricken and not competent enough to handle a little snow? It is a wrong portrayal, as Americans are confronted with way more severe weather than Europeans, and under the circumstances they handle most situations well. Only, the news doesn´t arrive like that on the other end. Why? I have no clue. I have no answers to the questions asked above.

In the meantime people in the area, especially the kids, enjoy the nice winter days.

More pics of the Washington area in winter