Yes, its all hype once again, the 'Beast from the East' is more like a fart in a hurricane.
The so called expert posters on here were predicting sub zero daytime temperatures, lake effect snow bringing vast amounts of snow for days on end, from Russia with love, worst weather for 30-40 years, a once in a lifetime event etc. Once again absolute tosh, not enough snow to make an icecube today and +2 degrees where I live near the east coast. Nothing more than a normally chilly day in winter.
To cap it all it'll turn milder on Friday and its all over by Saturday. In other words a fairly normal cold snap. A few days ago they were saying that the 'cold pool' can't be shifted by the mild air, its locked in for upto two weeks. Utter rubbish.
Tomorrow is meant to be the main snow event - now predicted to bring 5cm - oh hang on a minute let me catch my breath - yep a full two inches. Hardly extreme stuff.
Why these people feel the need to make these outlandish predictions is beyond me based on a few runs of the models. Its ridiculous stuff. Stick to what you know, stop hyping it and realise this is a tiny island surrounded by relatively warm sea.
What we know is that milder weather in on the way at the weekend and any return to colder weather is just fantasy island at this stage.