wintry mix

(wihn-tree miks) n. (1) a somewhat informal meteorological term, used primarily in the United Kingdom, to refer to various mixtures of rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow¹; (2) a downloadable font²; (3) a mix of the snowiest cold weather music

Well, today's weather was a wintry mix...but without the rain, freezing rain, and sleet. Just plain ole snow. Almost 30 inches of it. Weather reports announced it as a Nor'easter(!) or the Blizzard of '06(!!) . I was reminded of just how much creativity must go into reporting something as dull as the weather. Let us return to wintry mix. Honestly, what is a wintry mix? Sounds more like a delightful crunchy little snack of snowflake-shaped crackers and bite-sized white chocolate hailstones. Or a colorful medley of squash and assorted root vegetables seasoned with feel-good. But to the marketing department over at the weather station, "wintry mix" apparently best describes a dreadful combination of some of the most bitter and unsavory precipitation to plague poor commuters on their way to work. Huh. Yes, what better way to kick off your ugly commute to work on a rainy-freezing-sleetish-snowy day than with a little bit of drool on the corner of your mouth as you hear Al Roker report today's weather as a "wintry mix?"

¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wintry_mix
²http://www.1001fonts.com/font_details.html?font_id=1523