February 2009
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
|
|
Main
AccuWeather's forecast floor is buzzing, it seems like we could finally get a big ticket item. I'm personally expecting a little sleet, then some rain. AccuWeather article here.
Midnight here and another snow storm looks to be turning into flurries, sleet and ice. I don't know who took our winter, but I'd like it back...
We recently had snow, which is probably entirely Alert Reader Pam and family's fault (more on that later.) I think we actually ended up with 4-5 inches. (The official reporting station in State College claims 4.6") It was a good packing snow, too, so Cassie and I went out and made a giant snow serpent.
Photo of Giant Snow Serpent just before it ate Cassie
I discovered a number of important lessons during and after helping with the snow serpent, which I'm passing along in case they're of any value:
1. If you sit in the snow without snow pants for longer than five minutes, your butt goes numb. But not before feeling really cold and a little damp.
2. Good packing snow is heavy.
3. If you kneel in the snow without snow pants for longer than five minutes, your knees go numb, but not before feeling really cold and a little damp.
4. If your legs ache the next day it's probably because you were kneeling and sitting in the snow for too long, or you're old, or probably a combination of the two. And, you probably didn't have any snow pants on.
That's about it. I guess the other thing I learned is that it's perfectly okay to eat snow - in fact, I highly encourage it - unless the snow you're eating is pretty close to the ground and then in that case you have to look out for little rocks, dirt, grass, little sticks, small frozen mammals, etc.*
Needless to say, Cassie did a great job with the sculpture (I generally supervised, ate snow, and made my knees and butt numb) and she had a lot of cars slow down as they went by. We're on a street corner, and so had the benefit of some traffic. Only once was there a backup, but fortunately no accidents or fiery explosions.
There's a small possibility of a good storm this weekend for State College, and I'm blogging about it at AccuWeather.com, which means there's almost no chance of it happening. But we'll see. Cassie says the next time we'll make something "really unusual." I'd love to do Godzilla, or maybe a giant Twinkie, but that would involve serious snow.
And some good snow pants.
*No small frozen mammals were harmed in the writing of today's post.
I'm really not up on the weather folklore, but I do understand that lots of acorns means a bad winter. I learned this from Joe Bastardi, who may or may not use this to compile his upcoming winter forecast.
I think the rationale goes something like this: God knows when it's going to be a bad winter and God, being an animal lover in general and a HUGE fan of squirrels specifically, causes trees to drop a prodigious amount of acorns right before the severe winter. Squirrels, being the thrifty lot that they are, collect all of the acorns and put them in their secret squirrel lair, usually under the mattress. Then the severe winter comes, but the squirrels just lay back and pig out in style, having stored an amazing amount of acorns.
Well, yesterday I left work and went out to the parking lot and I couldn't find my car. It turns out that I parked under some trees that were planted near squirrels, and the acorns had completely buried my car! I wasn't sure what to do but just then a group of squirrels, all carrying A-Team Lunch Boxes, leapt out of the brush and started packing the acorns away.
The point of all this is to warn you about the Hundred-Year winter. If the Acorn Index™ is any indication, State College will need Henry to buy a few more snowblowers.
Has anyone else noticed the acorn thing, or is it localized to State College? And is there any word on those fuzzy caterpillars?
Some outlets are referring to the coming northeast, late-April snow storm as "Historic." I've also heard the terms "50-year storm," "100-year storm," "devastating" and "icky." Terms I haven't heard used but wish they were include "ninja-like," "apocalyptic," and "Biblical." (Just to be clear, at this point we're talking about a snow event, no frogs or meteors or anything like that. One model does show locust, but it's a widely derided model and not terribly accurate.)
My nemesis still has an area of 6-25" for central Pennsylvania. But it has shifted north and east a little bit and looks like less of a State College event to me. AccuWeather.com has the following graphic now:
If you look real hard, and kind of squint your eyes, you can make out Centre County. And inside Centre County you'll see a dot for State College, and in that dot you can see me. I'm waving - wave back! Anyway, I think I'm on the line between 1-3" and 3-6".
Other outlets are saying rain and snow with no amounts for snowfall.
Based on all of this I've come to the careful, considered conclusion that no one really knows what's going to happen. If it weren't for Don Imus this storm probably would have been hyped a lot more. As it is, we'll have to go into the weekend in the sorry state of not only not being able to hear Imus anymore* but also having no idea how much bread and milk we really need. Ah well. Anyone traveling in the Satuday night - Monday morning timeframe in the northeast please take extra care and stay tuned to local weather forecasting.
*I really never watched or listened to him, so I don't have much of an opinion. I'm a firm believer in the free market system though, and if advertisers don't want to support the show, it seems perfectly reasonable for his boss to fire him. I really haven't thought through the larger issues of what can and can't be said on the airwaves, what is protected speech and what is not, etc. Feel free to leave a comment on this. When I think about what things a person should say I think of Proverbs 21:23 - "He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity." Sounds like good advice to me!
Update 1: The NWS is sort of saying in a roundabout, maybe it will, maybe it won't sort of way that we could possibly get 6-12" if it doesn't rain.
Here's the latest graphic from AccuWeather.com. You'll note that I'm in the area that says "Big Snow."
I'm trying to figure out what this "Big Snow" is. I have several questions. For example, "How big is Big?" And...well, okay, that's mostly all of my questions.
Further bulletins as events warrant.
Update 1: Henry says "Big" means 6"-25"
Update 2: Here's what that channel about Weather is saying:
And here's what the NWS is saying, via Weather Underground (Not the radical left self-proclaimed communist group, the weather website)
So AccuWeather is hanging out there, it would appear.
Ugh.
There's a lot of buzz around the office today (the AccuWeather office) about a potential monster snow storm this weekend in the northeast. Of course, it's mid-April and these sorts of things are exciting for meteorologists and people who (have to) work with meteorologists, but for the ordinary, common folk - well, we just want to be able to open the windows and wear shorts already.
This past weekend those of us who live in State College (the home of AccuWeather and Penn State University) awoke Easter morning to fields of white. Several inches of snow had fallen, although the sidewalks and roads were spared. Easter should be a time of celebrating dandelions and cherry blossoms and dancing around bulbs that have started poking up through the formerly frozen ground. Not a time for wondering how much salt you have left in the garage, or if you can start the snowblower one more time without hurting yourself.
But here it is - a potential history-making snow storm. I say potential because I'm mostly a regular Joe and know how likely these things are to happen just as the models say. But I also say history-making because I (have to) work with a bunch of meteorologists. Here's one model snap:
Joe Bastardi of AccuWeather.com's Professional site said the following in his latest blog post:
"SEVERE LATE SEASON NOREASTER, LATEST, AND GREATEST SINCE APRIL 1983 BREWING FOR NORTHEAST."
Of course he said that in his own inimicable caps-lock-on way. But he's pretty passionate about the weather. AccuWeather.com has begun to weigh in and has the following graphic:
It will be interesting to watch the forecast unfold in the coming days. I'll try to post updates here; keep AccuWeather.com bookmarked as well. And please don't forget to panic Saturday and rush to the store to buy bread, milk and salt for the driveway one last time. That is, until our May snow storm.
That's the rumor for this weekend in the northeast; a monster storm that bombs out off the coast and dumps (according to one model) 12-15" of snow on me. Some will say that this is what I deserve for wishing for snow all winter. But, you see, I was wishing for snow all winter. Now that it's spring I'm wishing for spring weather, and probably in summer I will wish for summer weather, except towards the end of summer when I will be tired of being hot and will be wishing for fall weather.
Sigh. Further bulletins as events warrant. My nemesis, who still sits next to me, says there's a 0-100% chance of something happening. He's helpful in that way.
It may be the Year of the Spite Snow, if this AccuWeather.com forecast proves to be correct:
AccuWeather.com Professional Guru Joe Bastardi is also predicting an April cool-down for the east. I suppose we'll see. It may be that Alert Snow-Repeller Tammy has let her guard down, resulting in these late-season forays* by winter.
*Blog Hero cool word of the day! Foray: to ravage in search of spoils (Thanks M-W.com!)
Alert Reader and soon-to-be Former Cashier Tammy recently noted, during our brief warm surge, that Winter was gone and dead and wasn't that wonderful?* Because, as we know, Alert Reader Tammy dislikes the snow, particularly if she has to drive in it.
This Friday (well, that would be tomorrow) Alert Reader Tammy is scheduled to work her last shift at Target®. However Winter may have another idea, as I mysteriously alluded to her earlier in the week when I warned that a person should never insult Winter. Because, usually, when you do that Winter takes it personally. I know this because I insulted Winter one year, and Winter came out of no where (actually from behind my neighbor's tool shed) and ran up and plowed right into me, knocking me down on the pavement in a most abrupt manner. I was hit so hard I was sort of stunned, and could only kind of wiggle my libs, there on the pavement, on my back, unable to get up. Winter then took off down the street and eventually ran into some guy's shrubs and hid there for many months.
So now it appears that Winter, feeling slighted and insulted by Alert Reader Tammy's prediction of demise, is striking back just in time for her last scheduled shift. Here's the latest thinking from AccuWeather.com:
For those of you who are not meteorologically minded, "Significant Snow" is a code phrase for 4-18". So don't pack up that snow blower yet. We may have one more storm to deal with. ("Heavy Snow" means 18-400".)
*In all fairness the blog wishes to point out that this is a loose paraphrase of what Alert Reader Tammy actually said, which I quote here in painful detail except that I forget most of it. But if I was Winter I would definitely be miffed, at a minimum.
As I mentioned previously, there was a good chance we were going to get a Spite Snow today. It turns out that we did - it snowed maybe 4", but as of this writing a majority of it has melted. If you remember, one of the characteristics of a Spite Snow is a snow that falls and then melts before you have a chance to enjoy it. That usually takes a day or two, but today it appears to have taken only a few hours.
Based on the long range forecast it looks like the snow is done for the season. Truly an ugly, forgettable, anti-winter season. I suppose there's always next winter...
Charlie Brown, I got a rock.
Spite Snow: Mostly a Noun. Usually the last snow of the winter season. Total accumulations from a Spite Snow never exceed 4". Spite Snows are often accompanied by extreme cold temperatures, or high winds and wind chills, or both. A Spite Snow will be useless for playing in because it will either be as dry as sawdust from the extreme cold temperatures, or it will be gone in two days by a freak spring warmup that see the temperature raise 40 degrees in 20 hours and an inch of rain fall. Spite Snows are often cited as the cause of irrational behavior in people who love snow but have experienced a far-below-normal snowfall for the season. This irrational behavior can include writing nasty letters to meteorologists who kept predicting snow but never seemed to get it right; spraying graffiti on snow blowers, and mailing chocolate chip cookies to your favorite Blog Hero.
I bring this up because it appears that our Spite Snow is coming:
AccuWeather.com graphic copyrighted and owned whole and in part by AccuWeather.com. AccuWeather.com - the greatest weather on the web ever. Go there now and email people and tell them to bring back 38below - they really love to hear from people like that.
We appear to be right on the 3-6" edge. This would suggest to me that we'll get less than 3", even though the AccuWeather.com site is calling for 4.2". Based on its timing I would expect school to be cancelled Wednesday morning* although my children, home schooled as they be, will have their regularly scheduled grumbling-whining-moaning learning experience.
*The Blog Hero wishes to state in an emphatic and completely legally responsible way that he does not inform the school district in any way, is not even here and now providing any information to the school district, and will not be responsible for the crushing of the spirits of little boys and girls who want one more day off, even if it will be bone-chilling cold and snow like unto sawdust. Yea, verily - the disclaimer hath ended.
I've often said, to Alert Automotive Passenger Tammy who now knows to just ignore me, that Pennsylvania roads are the worst. I say this with some confidence, having not even been to that many other states. I don't know what it is about Pennsylvania. Everything here is in a constant state of construction. They start working on a road, it takes 14 years, and then they have to start over again. When we came back from the funeral in Ohio recently the roads were fine, and then we hit Pennsylvania and construction began as soon as we crossed the border! It was unreal.
So this story about hundreds of motorists being stranded on I-78 for 24 hours comes as no surprise. Now, I'm a big personal responsibility type of guy, and if you were driving around in the blizzard well then expect that problems can happen. However, from what I've read Pennsylvania did an extremely inept job of keeping roads clear and then shutting down access to roads that were hazardous because they couldn't be cleared.
Here's another article that describes problems starting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, and the first sign of help didn't arrive until 2 a.m. Thursday - 8 hours later.
The Secretary of Transportation Al Beihler had this to say about the response: "We were certainly ready to deal with a storm, whether it was snow or ice. The problem was we couldn't get to the scene because we had trucks and other vehicles blocking our way," Beihler said.
Generally that will happen if you don't close the roads.
This whole story creeps me out as I have (as some of you know) this irrational phobia of being stuck in traffic. I can't imagine being parked on a snowy highway for 24 hours. Ugh.
Well the storm is finally over. I don't know how it can snow for more than 24 hours and yet accumulate 6". Of course, that's not an official measurement, that's a Bitter Schaad Measurement™ so, you know, take that for what it's worth. Actually, in some places in my yard there are 0" because the wind has removed it all. The rest of my yard is a total mess because the kids went outside and now there are footprints everywhere. I mean, can't we have that beautiful, peaceful, undisturbed blanket of white for at least a day? Now I have to go out there with a shovel and smooth it all out.
You can check Jesse's blog for a wrap-up of the State College storm. I'm sure he has everything on there (well, he won't go so far as to put up a picture of himself using the snow blower, but everything else should be there...)
On an unrelated note, if I disappear it's because I made a killing in the "finest replica Watches" arena. I just received a message that is dated Jan 18, 2038. 2038! Clearly, a message from the future. The message promises "selection of the highest quality replica watches available today." Well, since today would be 2038, these watches must be even more amazing by 2007 standards! So I've sold everything and am buying 400 cases. I figure I'll sell them on eBay.
Amounts actually jumped up this time. We may get anywhere from 12-25", and AccuWeather.com's Joe Bastardi had this to say:
Snowfall rates tonight and tomorrow could reach 4-6 inches/hour for a few hours in a row starting this evening in central PA...
That's so much snow you could actually get buried walking somewhere. Here's the latest map projection:
The ground is already white and it's starting to look a lot like Christmas. Well, a few months late anyway.
An updated graphic shows the 3-6" line moving towards State College. At this rate, the forecast will soon call for "Warm with a slight chance of rain." Amazing.
Just once I'd like to put a storm map up that wouldn't change. But such things, where the weather is concerned, aren't possible I guess. Here's the latest AccuWeather.com map:
You can see that our 10-12"+ has been cut down to 6-12". I haven''t studied the situation yet, but I'm going to guess there will be ice and sleet mixing in, keeping the snow accumulations down. At least one "mad" meteorologist at AccuWeather.com is sticking to the higher amounts and telling everyone to ignore the models.
Whose forecast will reign supreme? I won't tell, but I think I'm going to put the frosty sign out front just to make it interesting.
AccuWeather.com is letting it all hang out:
State College, along with most of Pennsylvania, is in the big 12"+ area. Normally I would be more excited, except that I knew this would happen. How did I know? Well, let me explain.
Way back in October of 2006 I was cleaning the garage and I found this little decorative yard sign that Alert Shopper Tammy had purchased. The sign has a cute snowman on it and says "Frosty" and "Flakes" and I, thinking that this would somehow influence the winter, decided to stick it out in the yard early. Of course, Alert Shopper Tammy was out at the time and when she came home she said "Ha. Ha. That's really funny." knowing that I put it out in the yard in an attempt to conjure snow.
Well, after several winter months of no snow at all I put the sign away last week. I thought there was a good chance that someone, somewhere was mad that I in my hubris had put the sign out expecting snow and was preventing it from snowing. Taking the sign down and sticking it in the garage was my way of admitting my folly and apologizing. As it were.
And so, here we are now, a week later staring at a possible 12"+ of snow according to AccuWeather.com. I'm taking my life in my hands here by posting this because as soon as Alert Automotive Operator Tammy sees this she'll likely beat me unconscious with the sign, and then climb out to the ginormous pile of snow that will be left by the snow removal crew after this blizzard and stick frosty at the very top, not unlike some modern day Roald Amundsen.
So, don't say anything. We'll just pretend it never happened.
First, I want to officially be the Last Person on Earth to let you know that upstate New York got four billion inches of snow, and it's going to keep snowing there indefinitely. The final snowfall total will be between five and eight billion inches. There are mass reports of people losing their snow blowers in the snow, and those that have snow blowers apparently take them outside only to watch them choke and die. Below is a chart to illustrate the snow levels for those in the audience who are visual learners:
So, I hope that clears that up.*
Anyway, the actual subject of this post is not the snow in upstate New York, although sure they're gloating about it and, well, good for them. The subject of this post is also not about pulling a pan of brownies out of the oven without an oven mitt. Although, since you asked, I'm going to take this opportunity to rant about the state of adhesive bandage packaging. (You'll note I did not say "Band-Aid®" packaging, as I don't want to tromp all over their trademark.)
The state of adhesive bandage packaging is very grim, not unlike the situation for mail delivery personnel on Ganymede in upstate New York. Sure, the packages look great when you buy them at the store. And they fit nicely on your shelf/in your medicine cabinet when you get them home. But when you've just grabbed a hot pan of brownies in the oven without an oven mitt, the boxes are impossible to open. So, sure, you rip them apart with your one good hand and your teeth, only to watch adhesive bandages fly everywhere. And when you've finally picked one up and tried to open it? Yes, exactly: it's like mud wrestling with an angry, sleep-deprived, humorless African Porcupine.**
But this post isn't really about humorless African Porcupines. It's about the coming snow storm. Certain meteorologists at AccuWeather, who may or may not own snow blowers and will rename maimless***, are calling for a big northeast storm which will dump many inches of snow on State College. This is a great week to predict such a thing, as Alert Automotive Operator Tammy, who may or may not be my wife, has much driving to do. However, on the other hand (the one without adhesive bandages,) this is a horrible week to predict such a thing because we're in State College, Pennsylvania - not upstate New York.
Just in case, though, I've brought the giraffe indoors.
*Bonus points to anyone who actually looked up the diameter of Ganymede and converted it to feet just to check my math.
**Of course, this describes much of life.
***I actually meant to type "remain nameless" but this is how it came out and I liked it so much I just kept it.
Probably not for Pennsylvania. (Sigh.)
I suppose at this point I can't say that winter wasn't. First, that would be very poor grammar and if there's something that I ain't it's a poor grammarian. Second, we've gotten a number of snowfalls of up to .3" at a time, which has triggered our snow removal crew to come out to the house and use (I'm not making this up) a leaf blower to clear our sidewalks. Stop laughing I'm paying obscene amounts of money for that.
As a result of the numerous "snowfalls" of less than 1/2" the roads in State College are blasted white from all of the salt they've dumped down. I mean white like you're driving in Heaven white. When the sun comes out you hear the squealing of brakes, the crunch of metal, screaming and someone dropping a glass. I'm not sure about that last one. I would just look and tell you what happens but everyone on the road at that moment is completely blind.
Another sign that we're actually having winter is the cold. I saw three groundhogs huddled around a large oil drum trying to warm themselves with the fire they had started within. I think they were burning Phil in effigy. Or, in an oil drum. I did notice that the three groundhogs cast long, deep, dark shadows of themselves from the fire they had started, and they kept whipping their heads around to look at the shadows, where upon they would sigh, and shake their heads, and go back to the fire. I'm not sure what that means but I suspect it's bad.
School here was delayed two hours because of the cold. Since we home school, that means the kids have an extra two hours to make their ways from their bedrooms to the family room. Cassie had made it to the top of the steps when I left this morning. I think they'll get there on time.
No, not for State College don't be silly. Alert Reader Kitty sends in this photo of actual North Carolina (Carolinian?) snow, a beast not quite as rare as State College Pennsylvania snow:
And Alert Readers J&J send in this LEGO®l Guy:
LEGO® Guy copyright 2004 A. Raves
At first you might think - hey, that's Carl! But, you would be wrong. First, my glasses are not blue, they're red. And second, I would never own a snow mobile because, well, that would just be silly. (This guy IS unshaven, which I find myself having to deal with more often than I'd like.)
Well... "Not so much"
At left is the prediction yesterday from AccuWeather.com, at right is the current (Wednesday) predicition. By the time it gets here I predict we may see a grass-covering 1", if we're "lucky."
It appears as though we're in the cross-hairs of the first significant snowfall this winter:
I would be remiss in my role as Captain Bitter if I didn't point out that swath of 6-12 that mysteriously stops right before State College and then picks up again afterwards. I mean, that's just plain weird. Maybe the storm senses an abundance of snowblowers in the county, or something.
I'll keep everyone posted. I may have to raid the grocery store for bread, milk and Twinkies like the lemming that I am.
First, the latest forecast. (No, really, I'm not bitter.)
And here's a recent radar image sent in by Alert Reader and Radar Watcher Mark:
This radar shows the "State College Effect" - as it's called in the office. It's also referred to as the "Weather Shield" because the reason weather does this in central Pennsylvania is that we're ground zero for the testing of a state-of-the-art high-frequency weather repelling device. The device is fueled by coniferous trees, slate, beer and college students - so State College was an obvious choice.
In all fairness to the weather, this past week we've gotten some snow. Our sidewalk was covered three different days. Not the lawn, mind you - just the sidewalk and driveway. This covering of the sidewalk to at least .3" triggered the business-starved snow removal people that I contract with, and I was awoken the other morning by the high-pitched whine of something mechanical. I knew that someone was outside, actually removing my .3" of snow for the same fee I would (will?) pay if it snows two feet. Although my blood began to boil it still wasn't enough to get me out of bed because I asked myself "Do you really want to start an argument this early in the morning?" Fortunately good sense won out, and I'll start an argument some other time when I'm well-rested and capable of witty comebacks like, "Well, fine then! I won't pay!" Okay, the comebacks need a little work, I'll still feeling under the weather.
Speaking of under the weather, my nemesis is out of the office for a few days. He and Jesse were packed up and shipped out to Wichita to visit our branch office for a big Weather Summit. I could tell you what it was about but then... you know. You have to feel for Henry; he's been calling for the big Northeast Snow Storm for quite some time now but it just won't cooperate. I hear he has a snowblower, but that's just crazy talk.
Alert Readers Jane and Joe sent this photo from the BBC, which you can find in their In Pictures section as of this writing under the section called "The Big Picture:"
Their caption reads: A young Highland cow covered in Snow at Carronbridge near Denny in Scotland after heavy snow fall. Photo: Andrew Milligan/PA
I think a better caption is simply, "Mmmmmmmm, Snow" which is something I haven't been able to say yet because of a total and complete lack of a first eatable snowfall.*
*Blog Hero cautions all readers that the Blog Hero is not suggesting you eat snow, and is not responsible for any mishap that may occur to you if you do eat snow. Please, eat snow responsibly. Do not eat yellow snow, and do not eat snow that is not white, or well you know light gray. Do not eat snow with little sticks or rocks in it, or mulch unless you can pick out most of the big pieces. Do not eat snow given to you by friends, no matter how well-meaning because really you don't know where that snow came from. Thank you.
Blog Hero says "eatable" even though everyone laughs when he does that. Actually, everyone laughs usually no matter what Blog Hero says. Hmm.
Here's a funny AccuWeather.com Graphic:
This is funny because you have this map of the United States, with this ginormous monster storm which starts with snow in Arizona (Arizona! Just let that sink in for a second) and goes all the way across the country to the east coast, but when it hits Pennsylvania it fizzles out. In fact, the graphics folks did a great job with this image, showing the Pennsylvania Fizzling Effect beautifully.
Sigh.
For those of you actually in the path of the storm, take care, check AccuWeather.com early and often and make sure your stockpiles of bread and milk are up to snuff. Get some ice melt too; I've read that areas of the midwest hit last week ran out in many places. Oh, and take lots of pictures for your friends in Pennsylvania who have to experience winter vicariously through Flickr this year.
Joe Bastardi's column on AccuWeather.com Professional today has this chilling (sorry) warning:
"Two major winter storms from Texas to mid atlantic and New England in period Jan 20-27. Cold continues to deepen nationwide, extreme shot growing more likely week of Jan 30."
You can subscribe to Pro here. Has Alert Reader Tammy's (snow) luck finally run out, or is Carl looking at another bag full of rocks? Only time will tell...
That ka-ching sound you hear is the price of oil rising, no doubt.
Ahhhhhh! Jesse got a snow blower for Christmas! It's a conspiracy.
Sigh. I'm moving to Denver.
Or, bitter about the weather? Snow lovers in State College, Pennsylvania - or most anywhere in Pennsylvania - are crying "foul" and whining a great deal about the lack of snow. What? Okay I made that up. That's mostly me you hear whining and crying. Jesse has a link to this following NWS thingy that says:
...2006 LIKELY TO SET A RECORD FOR LEAST SNOWY CALENDAR YEAR...
AS YET ANOTHER ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLIZZARD UNFOLDS...WE HERE IN THE
EAST WONDER WHERE ALL THE SNOW HAS GONE. THUS FAR IN 2006
HARRISBURG HAS SEEN JUST 5.7 INCHES OF SNOW. UNLESS IT SNOWS IN
THE NEXT TWO DAYS...AND THAT SEEMS HIGHLY UNLIKELY...THIS WILL SET
A RECORD FOR THE LEAST SNOWY CALENDAR YEAR ON RECORD. THE OLD
RECORD WAS 7.1 INCHES BACK IN 1998. Sorry to yell like that, but the NWS loves to put things in all caps. I would de-cap the whole thing but that would give me a headache. Plus, if they're into yelling far be it from me to change the tone of things.
Henry, to his credit, tried to get us a good snow storm on Christmas. He recently posted a mea culpa about the storm here that said, in part:
I was shocked, as most of you were that the storm never really produced any snow, nor was there any changeover. Yep, I will be the fist to say that I crashed and burned big time on this storm. While I got the storm and the pattern right, there was just no cold air at the lowest levels to any significant snow.
You can send him an encouraging note via his blog at AccuWeather.com. Tell him to get rid of the snow blower once and for all.
There is one State College resident thrilled with the weather: Alert Cashier Tammy, who despite getting a job at Target® in the winter has yet to drive in snow flurries, let alone a good snow storm.
AccuWeather.com is tracking a possible eastern snow storm for Christmas Day/Tuesday. I seem to be suspiciously near the rain/rock line:
Further bulletins as events warrant. Check out Hypemaster M (as in Margusity) as he follows the storm.
In Idaho...
Sigh.
For Texas. According to AccuWeather.com's Joe Bastardi. I think my head will explode. (No offense to the Alert Texans in the audience.) Sigh.
From AccuWeather.com:
State College, PA - Thursday December 14
High: 55 °F Fog in the morning; otherwise, periods of sun with the temperature near the record of 57 set in 2001
 My AccuWeather Nemesis, Henry, has a new video experiment underway. The really disturbing part is that he's using an iSight camera hooked to his laptop, so he's actually filming at his desk, which is right next to my desk. In fact, you can see me walk across the background during his first video today. I then sit down at my desk, which is directly behind the camera, and you can see his reaction. If he thought it was hard keeping a straight face today, wait until I get to the store for various props with which to torture him. The iSight mic also picks up a lot of ambient sound, such as my Macintosh booting up.
Some of you know my intense dislike of being captured on film - particularly video - similar to Bigfoot, Elvis and most aliens. (All of whom, incidentally, are quite skilled at avoiding the camera except maybe Elvis who has been picked up on one too many convenience store security cameras as far as I'm concerned.) So having live filming right at my desk is uncomfortable enough. You can only imagine what it's like having Henry doing the filming.
And speaking of Henry, I received a snowblower update the other day. The snowblower was having technical difficulties, and for a moment my heart soared. But then Henry explained that he had it fixed. So it seems like winter is dead. In fact, State College may hit a record high temperature tomorrow. If you watch his video, you'll doubt hear me yelling from time to time, "What about the SNOWBLOWER Henry?!" I'll probably yell that at the end of the video, so he'll be less inclined to re-shoot.
Today's IGAR graphic, courtesy AccuWeather.com:
 The first Rock of the winter season seems to be headed to State College with a vengeance. AccuWeather.com has some news on this winter storm, and you can check in with my nemesis Henry for insights into winter weather beyond this storm. The first storm should leave a good swatch of snow from OK to MI (if you're "fortunate" enough to score in this regard takes lots of pictures!) as well as some "icy mix" in a line to the east. Everyone take care with the bad weather, drive slow (or not at all) and don't overdo it with the first shoveling of the year (this tends to be an issue with the first snowfall.)
The storm that may follow, on Monday, will be to our east and too far to make much of a difference. Alert Cashier Tammy, who may or may not hate to drive in winter weather, will be heaving a sigh of relief. How long will our snow drought hold up?
(I should explain, for both of my new readers, that the rock thing comes from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" wherein Charlie goes door to door with his friends trick-or-treating, only to check his bag afterwards and find out that he was given a Rock. How Charles Schultz came up with the idea of adults passing out Rocks to kids will always amaze me, particularly in the day that he did (nowadays that's probably not that far-fetched.) I love snow, and yet live in State College, PA - a valley that often just misses getting snowed on. This phenomenon of being "just missed" by snow has been named "Getting a Rock.")
(If THAT doesn't clear it all up, I'm not sure what would.)
 Well, okay, not a whole lot but still it's pretty unusual.
WFTV.com reports here that snowflakes were spotted in Central Florida. Furthermore, the snowflakes were in the air at the time. Now this wasn't snowflakes like Northeast Snowflakes. We're talking about 1-2 flakes per cubic meter of air. (According to the National Weather Service, who employs dedicated and highly trained staff to measure this sort of thing.) Although snow shovels were not needed, some flakes were accused of hitting the ground before they melted. They were roundly mocked by the pavement upon contact, and withered quickly from embarrassment.
Whenever I hear about snow in Orlando I think of Disney World. This is due to two things: 1. Everything makes me think about Disney World and 2. During the Christmas Season Disney World pumps fake snow over Main Street. It's not quite the same as real snow, but you really don't want real snow falling while you're waiting in a line 200 people deep to ride Dumbo.
Cold weather in Orlando is pretty unusual too. The low was expected to drop into the 30s, although by this weekend the high will be back to 81. (30 degrees, incidentally, is the point at which native Floridians take the boards off the windows from hurricane season, break them up and set them on fire for warmth.)
I'm still banking on a brutal, snowy winter now that Alert Cashier Tammy is working Friday and Saturday nights. We'll see.
Well it depends partially on who you believe, and partially on the interpretation of "Replay Hazy Try Again."
The National Weather Service is suggesting an above-average winter: "The result, forecasters said, should be a winter marked by above-normal temperatures, though perhaps not as mild as last year’s very warm winter." (Here's a link to NOAA's winter forecast.)
AccuWeather.com's Joe Bastardi is saying a warm start but a cold January and February: "The winter in the Northeast and Midwest is expected to begin mild before turning significantly colder in January and February as cold air pours down from Canada."
Of course all of this really hinges on Henry's snowblower. Right now he hasn't gotten his fuel line fixed, so it's possible we could see a few early snowfalls. Unless he went out and fixed it on the sly... hmmm.
I was speaking with Henry the other day - Henry now sits next to me at work due to some quirk of fate - and the subject of his snow-blower came up. I think it happened something like this:
Me: Henry, you're going to get rid of that snow-blower, right?
Henry: I brought a left-over hoagie today.
Sometimes we have trouble understanding each other. Once he finally understood me, he told me that the snow-blower had a recall issued for it. Apparently there's some sort of problem with the fuel line. So apparently the lack of snow in State College last year saved Henry's life, because if there had been more snow he would have used the snow-blower more often, and this would have resulted in the faulty fuel line dousing him with gasoline and BOOM no more Henry.
I told him that life was funny that way sometimes. And that he should just go back to a shovel.
Elliot Abrams of AccuWeather is having a snow contest - guess "when will New York City (Central Park) have its first inch of snow (1 inch or more in one calendar day)?" You have until September 30 to get your guess together. This is a great way to start out the snow-loving season. The winner gets some sort of wearable something from the AccuMall - which may or may not be the new AccuWeather.com Astronaut Suit™.
And speaking of snow, I have an interesting story to tell about Henry's Snowblower. More on that later...
Well, okay, in Switzerland. But still, it's something. I figure if I focus on all of the cold and snow posts people will start believing that we actually will have a bitter cold (and snowy!) winter, and maybe our collective imaginings will count for something. All of this is, of course, directly attributable to global warming because we know that global warming causes extreme high temperatures, hurricanes, extreme low temperatures and asthma.
In terms of winter - are you looking forward to snow or dreading it? Do you have a favorite snowy memory? Leave a comment!
Okay, not exactly. What I meant to say was, "It snowed on Mt. Hood." I know, that's not as exciting but it's a start. Remember, the Farmers' Almanac is calling for a very cold August Winter - maybe this is a preview of things to come?
The snow was expected to melt rather quickly. You can find the article here. (This may require free registration; I don't know which sites I've signed up with anymore...)
While we're talking about snow, Alert Reader Mark sent in the following gorgeous photo from South Lake Tahoe, California (that's snow up there on the top, we think)
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's photos of the huge blizzards we're going to have this winter...
While we're all sweltering here, South Africa is enjoying a little snow:
Tiffindell ski resort in the southern Drakensberg mountains of the eastern Cape province. Snow fell on South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg for the first time in 25 years as icy temperatures gripped vast swathes of the country, the weather office said.(AFP/Michael Clarke)
It snowed in Johannesburg, South Africa for the first time in 25 years (the last snow was September 11, 1981).
Global Warming? Everyone turn off their A/C today to, you know, help out...
Alert Reader Angela pointed me to this website which has some great photos of snow-clearing in Glacier National Park. I liked this this shot:
Photo by Blase Reardon, USGS, and Mark Dundas, NPS.
Next season when I have to call in some folks to clear my driveway, I certainly hope they bring something like that...
I found all of the State College snow, which has been missing all winter. It all apparently went to Mammoth Mountain, where they set a season snowfall record with something like 4 bazillion inches of snow. You can see their update on the main page of their website. I'm writing their Director of Snow now, and asking for my snow back. If anyone wants me to add their name to my petition just drop me a note. As if getting 4 bazillion inches in one season wasn't enough, they have to go and rub it in by letting people know they'll be open until July 4. July 4! That's just...just silly.
Too much weather happening tonight, once you start looking.
A massive winter storm which is going to spread snow (on the first day of spring, no less) from Colorado to (eventually) the east is well underway. Here's a great picture from a Colorado DOT Cam:
You can find a list of cams on this page, in case you want to experience winter vicariously through the Internet, like I'm forced to. Normally pictures from these "highway cams" don't turn out as nice as this one did. Watch the home page of AccuWeather.com for more on the winter storm.
NOTE: Apparently the CO DOT is using some sort of dynamic URL for the cams page. Here's a new link, but I have no idea how long it will work. You can visit their home page here and click on the "road conditions" link.
|
|
RSS:
