SNOW PLOTTING

By Dan Miller
February 2, 2007

Last Wednesday night -- for awhile -- our prospects of snow were, at least, encouraging.
When our 5 PM newscast ended, I hurried to my office to spend 20 minutes or so before heading back to the studio.
It's always my last chance to tweak scripts and check stories before the 6 o'clock newscast.

I noticed a red light on my answering machine.
A girl named Leah had left a message. She and her sister Lori had devised a plan for generating enough snow to cancel school the next day.

She said if I would go on TV and suggest that everybody wear their pajamas inside-out that night, it would snow.

Somehow I've never known about that particular snow-producing ritual.
But it was worth a try, so I took Leah's suggestion and talked about her PJ idea on TV.

At the end of the 6 o'clock news, I had an email from Dr. Tina Smith, a teacher over in Maury County.
Here's part of what Dr. Smith wrote:
"You mentioned on the news forecast about wearing your pajamas inside out. This has been an old superstition among school teachers for years."
She went on, "When I was a young teacher (I've been teaching 25 years) the other teachers told me to be sure to wear my pajamas inside out when snow is predicted."
Dr. Smith concluded her email, "Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, however, I'll bet many teachers (and students) will be wearing their PJs inside out tonight!"

Hmmmm.
Thanks Dr. Smith.... at least you've confirmed what I always suspected.... the teachers are just as excited about snow days as the kids.

I also got a nice email from Mitch (3rd grade) and Bonnie (kindergarten) Spann in Dickson, Tenn.
They wrote:
"Just thought we would add to the snow "dance" ritual you mentioned. We also wear out pajamas inside out.... but we always flush ice down the toilet too.... then run around the kitchen table 3 times."
Wow... flushing ice down the toilet!
I had never heard of such a thing.

The next morning, we did get light snow in some places, so maybe those rituals had a bit of an impact....
But, you know, there's really only one scientifically sound way to produce snow -- and I think the kids should learn this at an early age.

Some of the leading scientific minds -- maybe even Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking -- agree.....
On an evening when there's a possibility of snow, simply put a white crayon in your freezer overnight.
That often leads to snow.
There's also some crazy talk about putting a spoon under your pillow, but I haven't yet read any serious scientific papers on that.

No matter what, don't you just love Mother Nature, and the way she sometimes keeps us all so young?

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