I am from Baltimore and every winter when they forecast snow(which lately have been crappy forecasts), it gets me how many people run out and buy milk. Every news cast has to show the empty shelves in the dairy departmant. Why is it so important to have milk of all things during a snow storm? Water, food in a blizzard…okay. But milk? I don’t get it.
Got kids? need milk.
So am I, and you forgot to mention bread and toilet paper. My WAG is that people are afraid that the electricity will go out, and the milk will spoil. As for the toilet paper, well, I can’t even venture a guess. BTW, looking at the weather now, I guess the panic was all for nothing. Pretty typical for this area . . .
Come on, Holden, it’s the law here in Baltimore.
When they are calling for snow, you MUST run to the store and buy several gallons of milk, all the toilet paper you can carry and a dozen loaves of bread. After all, we could get as much as an inch of snow (the HORROR!!!) and might be snowed in for (gasp!) HOURS!!
No wonder they call us “Balti-Morons”! 
And the rest of the law states that each TV station must spend at least 15 minutes of its evening newstime talking about the snow. There must be two obligatory camera shots - one of someone shoveling snow (with a closeup of the shovel), and another of a reporter “reporting live” from a bridge somewhere over the JFX.
Spoiled food during a snow storm? Yeah, any friggin’ idiot that has food spoiling during a snow storm should be flash frozen outside where the rest of the food should be if power is out.
I find it fascinating that you Baltimorons have your snow shopping list as: Milk, toilet paper and bread. In Philly, the Philthadelphians buy Milk, bread and eggs. The big joke is about making french toast.
I guess the Philthadelphians can eat a nice breakfast, but the Baltimorons can wipe their asses.
The news agencies love Baltimore, Philly and New Yawk 'cause there ain’t no shortage of jackasses around to buy shovels (yeah in MARCH)…I guess the freakin walkways were snow covered in all other storms. And the empty shelves are too much.
I saw a few interviews with Bostonians, and they were like, “Hey, I’ll believe it when I see it…if it snows, we’ll be out w/in 24 hours” Not good for ratings, so the Weather Channel hangs around New Yawk and the other loser towns.
And the obligatory shot of a reporter at the salt dome on Falls Road!
And of course, most of the school districts open late or close early or close completely. Then the kiddies have the fun of making up their snow days in June.
I grew up in Colorado, and had only one @!#?@! snow day in 12 years of public school.
And, if there is actually enough snow to cover the streets, there’s that shot of some guy cross country skiing to work.
Those of us what lived in Harford County used to laugh our butts off, what with all the terrible traffic problems the Baltimorons were suffering. Of course, we had to drive into the city for anything useful, so I guess we’re even…
You guys forgot about the loser weather-person standing outside of the TV station with a ruler…
Or, the weather person that makes a prediction of, say, 4 - 6 inches of snow at 11 p.m. Then the next morning, when there is little or no snow, that same weather person will say what a hero he/she was because he/she changed the forecast - at 3 a.m.!
Luckily, my kids go to private school, and the school is pretty stingy about snow days. Many times my kids will be in school when the city/county schools are closed, and the roads are not bad.
D*mn. I’ve got an evil twin. 
I also spent/wasted some of my youth in CO. Ft. Collins, actually. The first winter I was there, the first snowstorm was about 2 feet. I knew I had a day off. Imagine my disappointment when the schoolbus arrived, with a plow-blade on front!
This questions was answered with the first post.
Does there remain a General Question on the table?
Well Hon, my guess is that people usually buy milk anyway but since there is a snowstorm more people go to the store on the day before than otherwise would. For example, if the storm is predicted for Sunday like this one was people who normally go to the grocery store on Sunday or Monday would go on Saturday just in case they are snowed in for the next couple of days. So you have three times as many people in the store and perishable foods such as milk and bread are being bought by most of them.
And for all the Baltimorons out there, Screw Robert Irsay!
IMHO, I’d guess…
Psssssssst…Phil, baby. It’s a cyclical thing. Cause and effect. Yin and yang. Rosencranz and Guildenstern. Y’know, like the Great Wheel of the Universe.
You buy a snowshovel now, who knows, perhaps in nine, ten months, you might find a use for it.
Remember, no matter where you go…*there you are.
I just thought of another reason, which puts it right back in GQ!
As recently as 30 or so years ago, most of milk and bread came from small, local bakeries and dairies. The stores didn’t have much in reserve, and the dairies and bakeries would whip up a fresh batch every day.
If there was a bad storm, it was likely that the dairy/bakery couldn’t get in the raw materials, and in turn couldn’t make the day’s shipment. Therefore, the stores would run out of milk and bread, so shoppers hoarded what they could get.
Now of course, transportation is a little better, and the stores probably will be able to restock. But I suppose this is one of those things that our parents beat into us when we were kids, and we still do it, even though there’s not a real reason for it anymore.
By the way, in St. Louis, the blizzard pack is milk, bread, eggs, rock salt and a snow shovel. The first three I can understand, and I guess you can never have too much rock salt. But after one or two storms each winter, wouldn’t you think everyone who wants one ALREADY has a snow shovel? Wouldn’t toilet paper be a better investment?
On CNN Headline News over the weekend I saw quite the storm preparation iconoclast. Instead of a shopping cart full of milk, bread, and toilet paper, this person had at least 10 cartons of juice of various types. I’m guessing that person was worried about catching scurvy after a 24 hours of being snowbound.
That’s what I’m always wondering!!!
When the local news stations have their intrepid reporter at Home Depot, showing people knocking each other over to get at the snow shovels, I’m always thinking, “Who are all these people who don’t have shovels yet?”
It snowed a couple weeks ago, it snowed a month ago, it snowed in December, it snowed last year…what did you do then?