"Well, here go the alarmists again, creating panic with another winter storm warning," I said to Marge, my wife, as each TV weatherperson tried to outdo competition with grim and grimmer Christmas Eve forecasts.

Snug in my "up north" winter savvy, as always, I remained a nonbeliever. After all, it was 75 degrees yesterday!

Well, I was done in, big time, by our roller coaster weather patterns.

The winter storm, packing powerful winds and heavy snow, grounded flights, delayed holiday drivers, caused hundreds of accidents and forced the cancellations of Christmas Eve services throughout the area. And West Texas made history as it experienced its first blizzard on record.

The 3 inches recorded Thursday at DFW airport was the first measurable Christmas Eve snow since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1898.

According to the Weather Service, it has snowed on Christmas Eve only a couple of times, but not enough to officially measure. In 1943, flurries fell for about a half-hour. In 1955, the high was 88 degrees, a record. In 1975, after continuous cold rain most of the day, there was a trace of flurries. In 1983 the low hit 7 degrees, a record. And in 2002 there were flurries, but no accumulation.

And then, as I was eating crow instead of Christmas turkey, I happened to read what TV meteorologist Steve McCauley said about winter storm forecasting.

"Forecasting the exact path of a winter storm is always a challenge, but predicting the amount of snow it leaves behind is even more difficult. Not only does the forecaster have to calculate how much snow will form in the clouds, but he/she has to determine how much of it will actually make it down to the ground. And then one must also take into account the soil temperatures and predict if the rate of snowfall is greater than the soil's ability to melt it on impact."

So here's my first New Year's resolution: Listen to the weather forecast, keep my mouth shut, and hope for the best After all, Toto, we're not "up north" anymore.

Ken Gaidziunas is a staff writer for the Van Alstyne Leader and The Anna-Melissa Tribune.