In a report issued Wednesday, the meteorologist veered away from the weather service's just-the-facts-ma'am forecasts about wind gusts and precipitation in favor of something more personal.
Two weather indicators "both paint such a bleak ... dismal ... cold ... and potentially snowy picture next week that it's likely to leave many winter weary souls ready to curl up into the fetal position and beg for mercy from old man winter!" wrote Izzi, who is based at the weather service's suburban Chicago office.
Izzi was not at work on Wednesday afternoon, having gone home to sleep after he finished his overnight shift. But his boss said he was aware of the Izzi's take on the weather, though not before he wrote it up and released it.
Ed Fenelon said he thinks that Izzi is "looking to expound on" people's views of what seems to many an endless winter. He also suggested that the decidedly informal tone of Izzi's comments reflect a trend in communication that extends far beyond the weather service.
But Fenelon disputes the notion that the weather has been bad.
"To me ... there's no such thing as good weather and bad weather," he said. "To skiers and snowmobilers, they love it. Snowplowing businesses are making good money from it, and people who live in warm, sunny weather, they are going to be miserable."
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