Weather Warning (for Canadians)

Spent some time today following the progress of the latest storm to hit the Northeast - the blizzard nicknamed "Nemo" (yes, yes, I was Finding Nemo... and yes, yes, I'm pretty sure I'm the first one to use that phrase today) 



Clicked on CNN to find out where they've placed their intrepid reporters.  Dying to know whether Anderson Cooper will actually find a place with better satellite reception this time around. (He must have been so pissed last time, when his reports were indecipherable and therefore irrelevant.)


There's Ali Velshi standing on a beach in Cape Cod.  The snow/sleet is driving hard into the side of his face as darkness begins to fall, and the weather warning for Cape Cod includes significant flooding.  Did I mention, he's on a beach. Right next to where the water comes from.

Is it just Ali who is facing danger?  What are those other brave CNN correspondents up to?

Let's see... there's Ashleigh Banfield.  She sure looks like she's fighting for survival:

• In Greenwich, Connecticut. 
• Where all the really really rich investment people live.
• In front of the post office. 

This is the post office.
Now imagine it with 5 inches of snow on the monument in the foreground.  Winter-ravaged and oh so dangerous!   


Lucky for Ashleigh there is a Porsche Cayenne that, despite the state-wide driving ban, is cruising slowly along the street in front of the post office. (Hey, they're really really rich. Rules are for the middle-class.)

Maybe they'll pick her up if it gets too, too dangerous.


Then there's Poppy Harlow.  She struggled mightily in a 5-hour drive to get to... the main street of Providence, Rhode Island.  Gosh, you can see the snow sticking to her jacket and everything!  And the iron lampposts and quaint storefronts are mere shadows behind her.  Precious Poppy - braving the elements!

Hey CNN, what gives here?!  Poor Ali Velshi seems to actually be in the storm... the other two, not so much.  And this is the same Ali Velshi who was practically swept away by the rising water in downtown Atlantic City, New Jersey during Superstorm Sandy.  While you had Ashleigh reporting from (wait for it...) Greenwich Connecticut.


Why does Ali get all the tough jobs? 

• Is it a sexist boy/girl thing?
• Is Ali an adrenaline junkie? 
• Does Ali just always draw the short straw?

All these possibilities ran through my head as I watched the newscast.  But then Ali said something interesting.  He said that the snow pelting him in the side of the face was nothing like the big, fat flakes he used to get growing up in Toronto.

Ali's a Canadian.
   



So, either CNN puts him in harm's way because:

• They admire Canadian resiliency and know that Ali can take anything they throw at him; OR
• They know there are 34,482,778 more where he came from.

I'd like to think it's the first one...
but I'm afraid there might just be a warning for us Canadians in there somewhere.

(Seriously, though, for all of our friends and family caught in the path of this storm, please batten down the hatches, uncork that bottle of wine and stay safe.)