Weather stories keep on coming

By Scott Angus ( Contact )   February 5, 2008 - 5:52 p.m.

Ah, the dreaded weather story.

Reporters hope against hope that they won't be assigned to write yet another weather story. After all, how much can you write about the weather? Yet editors always seem to want another weather story.

This time of year, weather stories seem to appear in the paper nearly every day. Snow, cold, fog - it all affects people, and we want to write about things that affect people. One of my first editors was a huge fan of weather stories, arguing accurately that nothing else that we write about will affect as many people.

But that doesn't make it any easier for a reporter to get excited about yet another weather story and find a fresh angle on more snow or more rain or whatever the weather news of the day might be. We've done them all dozens and dozens of times before.

Or have we? I used to be the reporter on the assigned end of weather stories. Now, I'm the editor doing the assigning. And I do believe that a creative reporter with the right amount of enthusiasm can find a new angle on the same old stuff.

Today, for example, reporter Gina Duwe wrote a weather story in the form of a letter to Mother Nature. The basic premise: Enough! Actually, sports staffer Tom Miller came up with the idea after no doubt hearing Duwe moan about getting the dreaded assignment. But to her credit, Duwe ran with the idea and produced a fun and informative weather story for today's front page. It can be done, most of the time, but you've got to think hard for that fresh angle.

And we'll need another one tomorrow. And probably the next day, too.

reader COMMENTS (16)
mommyopes
Mar 20, 2008 at 4:13 p.m.
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Not sure what I wrote that deserved to be "removed". I don't remember writing anything offensive but I apologize if I did.

jeremy1123
Feb 11, 2008 at 8:30 a.m.
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Speaking of Janesvilles prompt snow removal after the snow storm last Wednesday. Today is now Monday and they still have not cleared off the Crosby-Willard bridge sidewalk. I live near the bridge and several people still do walk in winter and this poses a hazard. I have seen people walking and bike riding in the road because there is 15" of snow on the sidewalk.This does not sound prompt to me. But in there defense they typically do an ok job on the bridge.

lynda
Feb 7, 2008 at 12:04 p.m.
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I would like to commend the City of Janesville for the prompt way they handled the latest snow fall that occured yesterday. Job well done all of you workers.
Thank you.

mommyopes
Feb 7, 2008 at 9:41 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
baegucb
Feb 7, 2008 at 5:59 a.m.
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WCLO stopped posting closings yesterday, when there were too many. My wife didn't hear about her work closing from that site, even though it's the "official" site for her work to notify employees. And I agree again about the previous comment about Janesville streets not being plowed. I'll figure I'm lucky if mine gets done before the weekend.

aprilgal
Feb 7, 2008 at 5:49 a.m.
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I like your new website, toggling between jvl gazette, wclo & wjvl is so much easier because of the tabs on the top of the pages-and it makes looking for alerts easier, what one doesn't have the other might have updated, and it is only a click away. I know the plows have been busy, but my road hasn't seen a plow, and the cars and vans that have been stuck yesterday kept all the neighbors busy. I doubt if I will be able to get to work this morning-so even if the main roads are plowed, it doesn't help us stranded in our subdivision, unless you have a 4 wheel drive truck to use to plow through the snow.

patriot1
Feb 7, 2008 at 1:37 a.m.
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I'd like to commend the city snowplow workers for a job well done through this latest storm. Even though they were unable to get to the side streets, the main roads remained open. I had to make 3 trips, reluctantly, and experienced few problems. I don't think these guys get enough credit for the very difficult job they have. Thanks.

JeffZ
Feb 6, 2008 at 8:08 p.m.
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I have been biting my tongue for long enough. This city does a LOUSY JOB with the streets. I drive from Janesville to Beloit every day, and Beloit streets are 1000 times better than the streets in Janesville. Today, I drove from Janesville to Beloit at 7:00, and from Beloit to Janesville at 3:30. I got stuck less than a block from my house because the City has not plowed my street since I don't know when. They come close, and completely skip my block!

sangus
Feb 6, 2008 at 7:39 p.m.
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Kilgor720: We're trying, but 24/7 is a tough assignment. We didn't add staff when we improved our Web site, and we're covering way more ground online than we did before. Plus, we're still putting out that pesky daily newspaper.
We simply don't have the resources to update the site around the clock seven days a week, unless significant news breaks, of course. We'll work to automate more of this stuff, such as closings, but we're not there yet.
As for the closing in question, my wife is a teacher, and she got the word about 7 p.m. I had something on the site at 7:18. That's not bad, but I readily admit that we're not always that timely.
WCLO mastered closings long ago on radio and carried that over to its Web site. So WCLO.com is still the best place to go for closings.
Thanks for reading and offering your thoughts.

Scott Angus, editor

Kilgor720
Feb 6, 2008 at 7:20 p.m.
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The site gives us good reporting, but there should be an accurate up-to-date way to keep track of the closings and delays 24 hours. Janesville schools are closed for tomorrow, but there is no way to know that looking at the GazettExtra website. I had to look at another news site to verify. Might be a good idea to fix that please.

Please everyone be carefule driving if you have to go out, be safe!!!

ray53511
Feb 6, 2008 at 6:35 p.m.
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it does impact us everyday in every shape, how many of us had to go to work this morning, it imapcts us in ways we don't even think about,good job on all the stories that whats sets the Gazette apart from all the other papers. Plus the fact that it is a Locally Family Owned Paper.

gina51
Feb 6, 2008 at 4:21 p.m.
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i saw a man on a dog sled go by my house today...He had 3 dogs and was moving along at quite a nice clip...

babaloo1
Feb 6, 2008 at 1:45 p.m.
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I enjoyed Gina's letter to Mother Nature. It made me chuckle to know that everyone else is feeling the same way I am!! This is just one of those storms you might as well put your sweats on, kick back, and watch it happen!!

ncpanfan
Feb 6, 2008 at 10:52 a.m.
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I don't think any bad weather is funny when dealing with wrecks and such, I just think her take on Mother Nature was funny. Too bad we can't always have perfect weather everywhere. I think it is sad that the tornados hit below us and people died. So if that is what you thought I meant you are wrong. Read the article and you will see I was referring to the comments about stopping, not winning any elections, etc... With so many people complaining about the weather, a few laughs are needed to help us survive the winter. I don't like the weather but I don't complain because they have it worse in other areas.

cocktail848
Feb 6, 2008 at 10:20 a.m.
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NCPANFAN:

You think the weather stories in Wisconsin are funny, try the weather stories in the South when they get some temps around freezing and a little rain. The media trucks are camped out at every overpass waiting for cars to wreck. It is quite funny because they have story teasers like "Winter Weather Qatch 2008." Being from Wisconsin I laught so hard at them.

ncpanfan
Feb 6, 2008 at 8:18 a.m.
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I enjoyed the article because she made me laugh about the weather! Good job Gina! We can always use more chuckles to make our days better!

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