Today's crazy rain and flooding in Chicago reminds me of a really, really dumb newspaper tradition: the weather story.

You know the drill. After you walk through six inches of snow to grab the paper sitting in the yard, the paper helpfully informs you that it snowed last night.

I've never understood it. News is, by definition, an account of an event that is recent, unexpected and not widely known.  But we all know about the weather, or at least those of us who have access to a window do. And most weather is expected. Except for, of course, snow in the winter and thunderstorms in the summer. Who woulda thunk?

The Daily News exists at least in part to break with some pointless journalistic traditions, and the weather story is one of them.

You won't read about the weather on our site unless a blizzard kills someone, or the rain turns purple. Now that would be a weather story worth writing.