Fredericton — Environment Canada has issued its first snowfall warning of the season and Facebook users of New Brunswick are filling their news feeds with the forecast, just in case you didn’t know.
“Oh no…sooo not ready for this,” read the status of Jillian Thorburn from Grand Lake. The status also included a link to the forecast and an image of a sad kitten.
Marcus Whelan, a friend of Thorburn, said he no idea about the pending snowfall until he first saw it on his Facebook feed. “It wasn’t just her status, but she was the first,” he recalled. “I logged on after I got up around noon and Facebook was full of similarly vague and depressing-sounding updates.”
Whelan went on to tell The Manatee of how he used to have to watch the news or log on to The Weather Network to get his forecast. “Now, I’m pretty lucky,” he beamed. “I can get all my news from one reliable source: Facebook.”
Whelan showed our reporter his news feed to better illustrate the dozens of weather-related updates that his friends were sharing. The first five status updates all proved his point:
- “Ugh, better get out the shovel”
- “Good thing I don’t have a job to go to”
- “YAY YAY YAY YAY! IT’S GOING TO BE A SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
- “Couldn’t we have least waited until December? Thanks Canada”
- “What’s white and powdery and makes me super excited? Besides coke…”
“See what I mean?” asked Whelan. “CBC, The Weather Network, Environment Canada, my doctor — I don’t need any of these anymore because of my Facebook friends.”
The Manatee hit the streets of Fredericton to ask residents whether they were concerned about the warning.
“It’s an actual warning now?” screeched an excited Teri Smith, a teacher in the area. “Last time I saw it was only five centimetres — I guess I haven’t been on Facebook for a few hours.”