Eight Dead in Storm as Buffalo Braces for More Snow
Fantz, Ashley, Ray Sanchez, Jason Hanna, Steve Almasy, Martin Savidge, and Catherine E. Shoichet. "Eight Dead in Storm as Buffalo Braces for More Snow." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
For my current events article this week, I chose to read about the deadly snowstorm that occurred in Buffalo this past week. The article I read was titled, “Eight Dead in Storm as Buffalo Braces for More Snow,” by Ray Sanchez, Ashley Frantz, and Ed Payne. The article started off by describing the current situation in Buffalo saying, “Up to 6 feet of snow covered the streets. Abandoned cars were barely visible under snow drifts.” After the authors say this and add other powerful descriptions of the scene, they go into what the people had to go through; saying how people couldn’t get out their front doors and how people like Steve Randal got stuck in their vehicles on the road for up to five hours. After this section of the article, the authors go into the statistics saying that the 6 feet that have already fallen has almost matched the average yearly total in Buffalo which was previously at 7 feet per year and now they are saying there could be another 3 feet on their way this coming weekend. This storm was caused not because of a cold front but something called a lake effect, in which a combination of the frigid temperature and moisture in the air cause for lots of snow.
Before reading this article, I thought that it was pretty cool how much snow they were getting but I didn’t realize how big of an issue this really was. Eight people have already died from this horrific snow storm from things like getting trapped in cars without food, to having heart attacks while shoveling. Also, because of snowdrifts, people like Chrissy Hazard of Cheektowaga, a suburb of Buffalo, were stuck in their own houses, not being able to open their front door. Known as the, “City of Good Neighbors,” the citizens of Buffalo have really responded that way, helping people in need. For example, local police and fire departments have acted as shelters for many who can’t live in their own homes because it is too dangerous. Buffalo has really come together as a community after this tragic event that costs the city lots of money. This is a very tragic event and it has really hit the city of Buffalo hard, and the nearly 6500 tons of snow that have to be shoveled out will be a big burden on the city of Buffalo.
I really liked how this article was written because it not only gave you the facts you needed to know, as a reader, but they also made good connections to real life. The three authors included statistics about the snowfall which was very interesting, but they also gave the reader an idea of what the people of Buffalo are going through, really making the article a lot more interesting.
Three things that were done well in this review were the inclusion of snowfall statistics, and explanation of why this much snow was dangerous, and informing the reader what a lake effect is. Two things that could be improved are the way the sentences are structured so the writing flows better, and the use of the word tragic two consecutive times sounded weird. One thing that surprised me about this article is that dying of a heart attack while shoveling snow was counted as a death caused by the storm rather than natural causes.
ReplyDeleteFantz, Ashley, Ray Sanchez, Jason Hanna, Steve Almasy, Martin Savidge, and Catherine E. Shoichet. "Eight Dead in Storm as Buffalo Braces for More Snow." CNN. Cable News Network, 20 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
ReplyDeletehttp://newday.blogs.cnn.com/2014/11/20/eight-dead-in-storm-as-buffalo-braces-for-more-snow/
I think that John did many things very well in this review. One thing that I think he did well was including lots of detail about the current storm. By explaining things like how much snow fell and the lake effect that caused the storm, he gave readers an understanding of what was really occurring in Buffalo. Another aspect of John’s review that I appreciated was that he included many real-life examples of how this storm affected people. For example, he notes that Chrissy Hazard was locked inside her house due to the immense amounts of snow outside, and that one man died of a heart attack while shoveling snow in his driveway. These stories formed a connection to the issue for the reader and made the reader feel what the victims of this storm must be feeling. A third thing that I thought John did well was including many statistics that helped set up a background on this issue for the reader. He mentioned the amount of snow that falls each year in Buffalo on average, as well as bringing up the number of deaths from the storm so far. These helped the reader to understand how serious this storm really is in facts, because sometimes personal stories can affect us differently due to different emotions. One thing that John could have done to improve the review would have been to give or at least acknowledge questions about the bigger picture of this storm. If he had mentioned whether this is caused by global warming and is a sign of things to come or it was just a freak storm, the article may have taken on a greater meaning. Another thing that John could have done is to include a hyperlink to his article. The citation made the article easy to find, but it would have been enriching to be able to click the hyperlink and be taken to further resources should we want to research this issue in further detail. I was surprised that the lake effect, which John explained in his review, caused the intense snowstorm, as I had never heard of this before. This fact helped me understand weather a little bit more and what certain weather conditions are caused by.