As I write this, the big storm is still somewhere off the edge of the radar screen, but due to arrive within hours. It looks like a series of storms that could amount to something substantial. Given what we’ve had so far, 3 to 5 inches is something to celebrate.
Last year, 3 to 5 inches wasn’t enough to deserve mention in the forecast, but this year is different. The TV weather people have been beside themselves with excitement. Finally they have something to forecast, some reason to show up for work. Traffic will be snarled. Viewers will send in photos of their snow-covered patio furniture with rulers stuck in the snow. Some of their predictions seem kind of unrealistic, with the possible snow totals through the weekend jumping from 2 to 3 feet on the 5 o’clock news to 5 feet or more on the 10 o’clock without any reason other than frenzy. Better stock up on t.p.
It all sounds great, aside from the fact that the avalanche danger will be crazy high, so the stuff we’ve been waiting for all season might not be open right at 9, and could slide out to bare ground. But I’m not complaining. Of course anything can happen. Last year, snowy as it was, it actually rained right to the top of the mountains on January 19th. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen.
The scarcity of snow has been in the news. PCMR invited the Ute Indians to come in and do a special service to encourage the snow. KSL picked up the story in Salt Lake and had a nice story on its website, complete with a photograph of Deer Valley. The photo was from 10 years ago, complete with the Olympic stadium just up the hill from Snow Park Lodge. Anyone looking at the photo would have come to the conclusion that they had plenty of snow, which of course, they did 10 years ago. The reporter either couldn’t find a Google Images photo of PCMR to run with the story, or more likely doesn’t know the difference between the two. Quality coverage, just the same.
On the other hand, when the story went out on the AP wire service, showing abundant snow (in the wrong year, at the wrong resort), it certainly couldn’t have hurt sales. There has been no follow-up story on the apparent efficacy of the Ute elders’ efforts, though you wouldn’t expect that from KSL.
Then, in the most recent issue of Time magazine, there was an article about how climate change has already dramatically affected things. The doomsday headline was “The End of Winter.” Although it was not identified, the photo with the story is of the Canyons’ snowmaking reservoir and the orange bubble chair crossing over the pond. The ice is melted and broken up on the surface of the pond, and the open water is very dark. It kind of looks like bare ground, especially to some cubicle dweller in Time’s New York offices who thinks people ski on lakes. There’s no date on the photo, but it also appears to be from last year, with plenty of snow everywhere, except for the open water on the lake. It gives the appearance that conditions are absolutely terrible. Canyons management is probably happy they didn’t get the mention.
The old saying that the wrong picture is worth a thousand wrong words is clearly true. There’s really no point in trying to correct either one. But imagine the flap if somebody ran a story about Mitt Romney and included a photo of Mr. Howell from “Gilligan’s Island” instead of Mitt. The Mittster has had a terrible time overcoming the impression that he is an out-of-touch 1 percent-er. It’s hard when he keeps fueling it with things like his $10,000 bet with Rick Perry, and the line about enjoying being able fire people. That one was really about enjoying being able to fire-insurance companies that aren’t providing service (and there is nothing quite as satisfying as telling an insurance company to stuff it).
His latest was the comment that his effective tax rate is probably about 15 percent because none of it is earned income, aside from some speaking fees “which aren’t very much.” It turns out that his speaking fees that don’t amount to much were $374,000 and change. But that’s just walking-around money, even though it’s about 7 times the median household income in the U.S.
Romney’s resume of taking a meat axe to inefficient and poorly managed enterprises is probably what the federal government needs. But when he dismisses 7 years’ income for regular people as “not all that much,” the enthusiasm fades. His “man of the people” act just falls flat.
Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column for 25 years.