Mercedians are a bunch of weather wimps

The whining started around the newsroom just prior to the 3:30 p.m. news meeting.

"It's going to rain for three days!"

My response: "So what?"

After almost seven years in  the Central Valley, this Ohio-bred boy still gets a chuckle when Mercedians grouse about a little water falling from the sky. If you think the winter storms here are uncomfortable, you clearly are what I would call a "weather wimp."

Most of the eastern U.S. weathers through four distinct seasons; here, the weather is so mild and constant I often wonder how the TV weathercasters earn their salaries. I found it amusing when Channel 30, our TV news partner, rolled out something called STORM WARN 30 a few years back. Now really, folks: how often is there a storm here worth blanket TV coverage?

My youthful summers were filled with humid days (where 88 degrees feels warmer than 105 degrees in Merced) and muggy, miserable nights. Thank goodness my parents had air conditioning. Winters were cold and snowy; I recall a cold snap in January of 1993 where the mercury did not rise above zero for more than a week. Imagine that! The hairs in your nose would literally freeze every time you inhaled.

The "snow belt," where my family lives in suburban Cleveland, is one of the few places on the planet subject to a phenomenon called "lake effect snow." It happens when cold Canadian air blows over a warmer Lake Erie, kicking up snow showers that can leave an entire community buried.

One of my earliest memories was of a blizzard that generated so much snow that the National Guard was called in to truck it away. The mountain of snow the Guard formed with the trucked-in snow took until June to completely melt.

Fall and spring were the best times of year -- but at any moment, the weather could revert to the crazy summer or winter patterns. Snow showers are a real possibility in April, and it's not uncommon for 90-degree highs in October.

The storms themselves are far more violent than the ones we are subject to here. In the summer, Mother Nature unleashes thunderstorms and tornadoes. Even regular showers can be eventful if combined with wind. Northeast Ohioans would LOVE to have the calm showers we receive here, which I characterize as more of a drizzle or mist than rain. In Ohio, rain often comes in sideways, drenching anyone who doesn't have an umbrella -- and sometimes those who do.

But this isn't Ohio, so a little water falling from the sky somehow is front-page news, whether I like it or not. Still, I'd love to ship a few of you to witness some REAL weather.

So stop your whining. It could be a LOT worse.