The TV news began covering the storm as a lead story starting last Thursday and the populace has been thrown into a panic. Frantic with anticipation of being stranded for two entire days, people ransacked local food stores, clearing the shelves of bread, milk, and meat. In some stores, the lines at the checkout were reported to be nearly two hours long.

The entire state of New Jersey has issued a state of emergency, effectively closing down all business within the state. Nearly every municipality in the tri-state area has issued snow emergencies. Penn Dot has every truck and every contractor out on the roads throwing salt on the pavement and decked out with plows.

The storm, itself, was expected to begin this afternoon as a wintry mix, rain and snow with a bit of ice thrown in for taste. That much held true. Shortly after the start, temperatures were expected to drop and the wintry mix was expected to change into pure snow and then continue, with increasing winds, through Tuesday. Snowfall amounts were projected to be in excess of two feet in areas immediately north and west of the city.

And after all that hype, it could only be expected that the storm would fizzle. The cold air that was forecast to rotate back into the area still hasn't arrived. The snow that was promised is little more than a bit of rain and sleet. Early predictions of two feet have now been whittled away to little more than a few inches, if anything.

But at least everyone has bread and milk.