With Wyoming fully immersed in the winter season, the National Weather Service will issue plenty of watches and warnings as snowstorms and subzero temperatures sweep across the state. For anyone confused by the terminology, Campbell County in northeast Wyoming has a solution.
The Campbell County has put together an analogy for a Winter Storm Watch issued for Northern Campbell County for Saturday, Jan. 11, through Monday, Jan. 13: When in doubt, try tacos.
According to the county, a Taco Watch is when “all the ingredients for tacos are together,” and a Taco Warning is when “tacos are happening, (and) they have either formed or are forming.”
Tasty tacos aside, it’s not a bad analogy.
‘I Like Tacos’
Leslie Perkins, the Campbell County Public Information Officer, created the comparison. She said she saw the same idea elsewhere and made her own.
“Usually, the Sheriff’s Office has more entertaining posts,” she said. “Most of our Facebook posts are informational, but I saw this meme a few times with various foods, like tacos or hot wings.”
Perkins decided the “weather as food” analogy was entertaining and educational enough to share with Campbell County residents. But what point of educational merit made Perkins decide that tacos are a better weather analogy than hot wings?
Turns out it was an easy choice.
“I like tacos better than hot wings,” she said. “Totally a personal preference.”
Now I’m Hungry
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day had mixed feelings about using tacos to educate people on the difference between watches and warnings.
On one hand, he thinks it’s an excellent analogy. On the other hand, it gave him craving for some tacos long before lunchtime.
“Thanks for that,” he told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “But I give a hat tip for the creativity.”
Despite his appetite, Day said the taco analogy is very apt at describing the differences between watches and warnings.
“The analogy of having all the necessary ingredients for a winter storm is good since everything needs to be put together for the storm to come together,” he said.
Tacos are especially appropriate because the ingredients can come together in different ways, resulting in different dining experiences. Day said the same holds true for winter weather.
“Tacos are messy, just like winter weather,” he said. “With a winter weather warning, all the factors are there for an intense storm, but one or two ingredients might not get used. But they’re still storms, just like they’re still tacos.”
Furthermore, Day said tacos and winter weather share another unfortunate parallel — you can’t assess the full damage and impact until it’s moved on.
“You don’t know until it’s gone,” he said. “Are they going to settle well, or am I going to pay for this later?”
Taco Bravo Blizzard
A professional meteorologist can weigh in on the merits of the taco analogy from a scientific perspective, but how does it hold up to a professional in the taco industry?
Jim Creel, the retired CEO of Taco John’s, thinks tacos ara a perfect analogy for Wyoming’s winter weather. It's certainly better than burgers.
“Every taco is a little bit different, just like every storm is a little bit different,” he said. “Hamburgers are pretty much the same all the time, but the ingredients and sauces that go into tacos are different every time.”
Creel recalled a winter storm that hit Cheyenne while he lived there in the late 1990s.
“It was a terrific snowstorm and blizzard,” he said. “It started as a snowstorm, and then it got wrapped around by a blizzard.”
Someone could experience that winter storm similarly by swinging through the nearest Taco John’s drive-thru. Creel called the snowstorm-blizzard “a Taco Bravo blizzard.”
“It's a regular taco wrapped with a soft flower tortilla,” he said. “That changes the whole dynamic of the taco, just like the snowstorm got enwrapped by that blizzard.”
Food And Sports
Day said food and sports are always good analogies for weather systems. All three have multiple contributing factors that can combine differently, leading to various results while having the same building blocks.
Since moving to Oklahoma, Creel has not received as many winter weather watches and warnings as he did in Wyoming. Nevertheless, he still considers tacos a good way to conceptualize a meteorological menace in his new home.
“My first thought when I saw the Campbell County post was tornadoes,” he said. “Tornado watches and warnings happen much more often than winter weather in Oklahoma, so that made me think of tornadoes first.”
Still, he thinks the dynamic diversity of tacos fits Wyoming’s weather, especially since it can go from ingredients to an entire experience very quickly.
“A watch can change to a warning really fast, just like a bunch of ingredients can turn into tacos just as fast,” he said.
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
