Contemporary atmospheric modeling allows for a weather forecaster to mention a chance of snow as much as five to 10 days in before it occurs. Unfortunately, these early-warning snow forecasts seem to put people into a state of mind which combines, depending on the person, various degrees of agitation, anger, excitement and dread. For a lot of people, the ambiguity of these long-lead snow forecasts leads to irrational expectations.
No weather forecaster can know precisely the other details such as temperature or wind speed, which can change a light snow into a blizzard or a wet road into a skating rink. These details do not begin to merge with reality until a day or so before the storm.
