Posted on 01/22/2005 4:04:20 AM PST by SamAdams76
Well all the stops have officially been pulled out by the weather prognosticators. They are on a "war footing." The Northeast is getting a true BLIZZARD this weekend. Not a "nor'easter". Not just your basic snowstorm dumping 6-10 inches in Boston and New York with a mix and changeover to rain along the coast. No! We are talking 20-30 inches of windblown powdery snow in many locations with no chance of a mix with or change to rain whatsoever.
The temperatures are currently running zero or below zero across most of the Northeast this morning so the cold air is in place and fully entrenched. With the high winds expected with this storm, This will be a true BLIZZARD.
So as I sit in the epicenter of it all (my area is expecting over two feet of snow), I thought I'd start this thead so that Freepers can give us reports of how conditions are in there area. And you don't have to be in the Northeast to participate as this storm is currently affecting Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia as it heads to the East Coast where it is expected to undergo what the weather nuts call "bombogenesis" and literally explode into a superstorm as energy is transferred over the comparatively milder Atlantic Ocean.
So there you have it. Even in areas where plenty of snow falls this time of year, you have people running to the supermarket early this morning to "stock up", as if somehow a few feet of snow is going to stop all commerce and transportation for the forseeable future (the reality is that we should be all shoveled and plowed out by Monday morning no matter how bad things get).
The local TV stations around here have gone absolutely bonkers, as they are wont to do. It's even more extreme this year because TV "broadcast" stations are struggling to maintain their relevancy in a high world of internet, satellite radio and many other distractions that consumers have these days.
Weekday "anchors" are being rolled out of bed early this Saturday morning as they throw on their hairpieces and head to the studios for all-day "wall-to-wall" coverage of this blizzard. Seasoned reporters are being sent to Home Depots where people are already nervously buying shovels (even though they likely have 7 or 8 shovels in their garage already) and supermarkets where silly old ladies are buying gallons of milk (that they normally never drink) and loaves of bread (that they will never eat and end up throwing to the birds). Other reporters will be sent into the streets to do interviews with snow-plow drivers and "public safety" officials. More junior reporters are being sent to the sides of highways for liveshots where absolutely nothing is going on presently. But they will stand there nevertheless, filming the traffic going by and commenting on "how dangerous" this highway will be in just a few more hours. Then when the storm hits, these same reporters will retreat to rest areas where they will continue their liveshots as their cameramen instruct them to "sway in the wind" and "hold on to their hats" to help convince the viewers at home that the storm is severe indeed.
Yes, it's going to be a fun weekend in New England and the Northeast in general. But the beauty of this is that is is on a weekend. If we are going to get a true blizzard, the timing just couldn't be much better. We are able to get our normal errands done on Saturday morning and then in the afternoon, we can retreat to our homes and stoke up the fireplace as the snow moves in. Then tomorrow (Sunday), we can sleep late and take our time shoveling out. Then we have a perfect excuse to sit around the warm house all afternoon watching football as THREE out of the four teams still playing are all in the snow-bound Northeast. The ratings ought to be phenomenal, provided the power doesn't go out.
So post conditions in your area here.
Outside my home (approx 30 miles northwest of Boston near the NH border), it is -11 degrees! It is daybreak and the skies are mostly clear with some high clouds. It is COLD out there, almost too cold for snow. But it's coming, at least that's what they tell me!
North Central West Virginia - What a mess. 32 degrees with a mix of slush, snow and freezing rain. The temperature is supposed to drop this afternoon and bring us 4 to 8 inches of snow on top of this rain and ice.
Just posted to another michigander that I just came in from using my grass and leaves blower on the driveway as the plows drove by in my subdivision.
I remember walking to school that morning (I was 15 then) and it was actually mild - around 40 degrees, but the weather forecasters were practically predicting the apocalypse. So the schools shut down around noontime and I remember walking home (about 2 miles) and I witnessed the most amazing thing. During that walk, it went from being totally calm to being so windy that I had to walk backwards to keep from falling over. About an hour after I got home, I looked out my window and saw nothing but pure white. And it didn't stop for over 24 hours.
There were three huge storms that year. We got two feet of snow on January 20th (in a storm very much like the one today) followed by your Ohio Blizzard that washed away most of it the next week. Then we got the blizzard I just talked about during February 6-7th. That snow didn't completely melt until the end of April!
It was that winter that got me really interested in the weather.
Blizzard of '78. I remember that one, in MA. Lots of folks lost on Route 128 in that one.
Yeah....we're in Downingtown, and it just started! My three-year-old is already lobbying for snowmen!
Upstate NY here, to the lee of the lake. Still 3 below zero here, got down to 19 below last night. We are expected to get 6-12 inches from the storm ( the outer fringes). Then when the storm sits over NE the WNW winds will start dragging the frigid air over the lake, kicking up the Lake Effect. They are forecasting 6-12 inches from that, but Lake Effect is an inexact science. When they forecast 6-12 it very likely could be 2 to 3 feet, perhaps more. It is also based on which direction the wind is coming from over the lake. Not uncommon for one area to get 3 feet and a town 10 miles away to get a half an inch.
Side note. Somebody tell me how to post pics . After nearly 7 years as a freeper I still do not know how.
My son and daughter-in-law also live in Portland. Love the city.
The other thing about that snowblower, you gotta store it all year long.
SE Iowa here. Total white out conditions here. Visability currently 20 ft. This storm is going to last a very long time for those of you in the East.
Current weather maps indicate the 'storm' has moved East of us. Unfortunately the wind is whipping the snow around to the place that it appears the storm is still with us.
It's going to be a long weekend.
Laugh if you like - I've been out and gotten milk and bread (we were down in DC for the inauguration so we needed them anyhow) and toilet paper (a family of five can burn through rolls pretty quickly). I'm a boy scout, and I am prepared. Here on the Connecticut shoreline we are forecasted for up to 21 inches, and I've seen the storms of '68, '74, '78 and '96. Once in a while we really get dumped on. In '68, my neighborhood was at the top of a steep hill and the plows simply couldn't get to us. The men and boys of the neighborhood all got together and shoveled the streets. We didn't get out for four days. One pregnant woman was brought to the bottom of the hill on a tobbogan to meet the ambulance.
Thats the funniest tagline I have read. What made you come up with that? It didnt make me lol untill I pictured doris on her knees with a radiant glowing smile on her face and then I had to shut down my imagination but I was LOL.
My interest in the weather goes way back -- I was born on a farm and farmers live and die by the weather. But like you, my interest in the weather intensified in the 1970s, an active weather decade: blizzards and cold, the super outbreak of tornadoes in April, 1974, (nearest touchdown here was an F2 twister 7 miles away) etc. Had a friend studying meteorology in college in the mid 70s and that also helped pique my interest.
Low pressure now centered over southern Ohio and down to 1000 millibars.
But you forgot one thing. In addition to milk and bread, its a requirement to top off the gas tank. It amazes me how on the one hand people get ready to be snowed in for weeks and on the other hand they have enough gas to cross 5 states.
Up to +8 in Bangor now, a 32 degree rise since 5:30 AM.
"You have alpacas?"
Yes, we have alpacas! They do pretty well in the sonw - they can't get to the grass but there's plenty of hay in the barn. They venture out from time to time, out of curiosity, but they'll spend most of the day chillin' in the barn. The youngsters run around a bit and kick up their heels - fun to watch.
I know. I haven't the slightest idea why the metaphor jumped out of my trivia repository (AKA, brain).
Yikes...........I totally forgot about needing gas in my car. We were supposed to use it to drive to DC on Thursday, but because of our weather we took hubby' 4x4 truck and so never put gas in mine. Not that I'm planning on going anywhere in that little Escort...
Northeast corner of Virginia.......just below MD line on the Atlantic....started snowingmore than an hour ago....real fine stuff, but sticking to the pavement.
Fortuantely the wind hasn't picked up yet.
We're in the northern panhandle, and it's been strange weather so far. We already had about two inches on the ground. Overnight, we picked up another inch or so, then we had a few hours of freezing rain this morning, then big fluffy flakes, now barely doing anything. It's 27 degrees. I'm sure we're in for some fun over the next 24 hours or so, but all we're worried about is how the Stillers will do Sunday evening.
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