By Monty Siekerman
Thursday afternoon TV weather forecasters warned of the possibility of a 20-inch snow starting Friday night.

I thought that the prudent thing for me to do is stop by the Walmart that I was passing to buy bread, milk, and a few more things to hold me over. It can take a long time for snow to melt in northwest Ohio in January.

To be fair, the weather person hedged: we might not get that much snow since the weather models were uncertain at that hour.

I wasn’t deterred—stopped at Walmart and found the bread shelves were nearly bare. Milk was getting in short supply, too.  Walmart is known for keeping their shelves fully stocked, but the number of customers on Thursday wasn’t anticipated.

Many people buy on Payday Friday because so many of us live from check to check. Instead, Walmart saw an influx of shoppers looking for staples on Thursday.

Late Thursday night, the forecast changed to 3 inches, a far cry from 20! Three I can deal with, this is Ohio after all.

Do I return to Walmart, give them back the bread and milk, get a refund? No, not with the price of gas inching up...have you noticed: $2.17 last week, now $2.59.

To be fair, the weather forecasters did hedge their predictions, maybe the giant snow will go elsewhere or nowhere. They are off the hook.

Nowadays, with hurricanes, mudslides, blizzards, and a slew of dangerous weather, people tend to be prepared. If you wait until the last minute, surely the shelves will be empty. We’ve seen plenty of TV clips of empty grocery shelves prior to an impending weather disaster.

You no longer wait until the last minute to run to the grocery. Go soon, we’ve learned. Well, people did on Thursday. But now, Friday and the weekend look like a normal January in Ohio. Oh, well, the bread and milk are good for a while. I can just stay home, no need to run to the store. I’ll watch TV, but probably not the weather guys.