Itstrainingtime

17 here. It woke me heading out for work this morning for sure.

Dude...it was cold. I love cold. But after about 2.5 hours I cried uncle and quickly moved the fam towards the parking lot.

It was a cold night in Hershey. Had a dusting of snow upon our arrival, after that just biting wind and cold.

Agreed. It'd be nice to have a chilly Christmas during an overall hostile period of weather.

There it is! I've been patiently waiting for that picture for a while now. That must have been one heck of a squall...enjoy your snow!

Looks like we might get a backdoor front sometime on Christmas eve?

Dusting here at work. Had near zero vis for about 3-5 minutes. Sorry Brian! I was watching it and wondered if you were in on it. Missed your post above.

There are yellows showing up on CTP's radar. Extremely rare from recollection. I'd hate to be driving in that but I'd love to be sitting by MY window staring at it.

Very dark here across the river from you. Wife reports a squall at home.

Amen. Let's get some snow with low sun angle and keep it around for a while.

Wife and daughter insist that we're going to Christmas Candylane tonight. Why did they have to pick tonight of all nights?....

It's always snowing in Tamaqua!

? That seems more like an observation than banter...

I agree. This group is special and to Bubbler's point we've always sort of managed model discussion and banter all in one thread. (though we do/did have a complaint thread in the past) Because of our numbers it's easy to get to know a little bit more about people which helps make it more personal. I really do enjoy being here.

I remember it well. First big one to hit after I bought my house in Maytown. I had less sleet than Lancaster city did, but it was enough to shave a few inches off the board.

Yes! Although I'd argue that we flip quicker more like 9 out of 10 times, but your point is spot on. With that...ANY time we get a SE component to the wind direction, we're toast. There is nothing between us and the big pond to our east to impede warm air aloft from flipping us over. A lot of times NO models pick up on that. Doesn't matter. We're going to flip.

I appreciate your encouragement and your own personal anecdotes. I am a firm believer in microclimates and totally believe and understand what you're describing for your area. And...this is a discussion board, so there's that as well. Still, I need to be careful to balance things so that our thread doesn't disintegrate into a whine fest. Speaking of which - there are people who complain that rub me the wrong way. I'm sure I rub a lot of people wrong and that bothers me enough to want to post better. One poster who doesn't bother me is Ji. Personally, I love the dude. He has an incredible knack for whining in a way that find hilarious instead of grating. I know he PO's a lot of people but I can't tell you how many times I will literally laugh out loud at my computer reading his comments. I would miss the heck out of him if he ever stopped posting. He knows his stuff, too. Continue...

This really is a great post. I say that with some conviction because I've been guilty of some of the things you're talking about. I sincerely hope that I've improved since last January, I came to understand how I was affecting others with some of my rants and I made a commitment to myself and to each of you to never go there again. I marked a few of your words in bold. This is where I struggle as what I would describe myself as an extreme weather "nut." My fascination with weather began in June 1972. Tropical storm Agnes was what started the journey. I was still 6 years old at the time. That year for Christmas as a 7 year old kid, my parents fostered my passion by getting me a Meteorology textbook as a gift. I still remember pushing my toys aside and sitting on our sofa and reading about all things weather for hours. By the time I was 12 I was keeping full, 365 days worth of weather notes in yearly journals. Full weather notes...daily high, low, humidity, wind direction, speed, pressure, cloud cover by percentage, and cloud types. Included with all of that was personal observations...in winter, where did the center of low pressure exit the Atlantic coast? How far offshore was it when it passed our latitude? Was it inside, over, or outside the benchmark? What was the pressure at various points? What direction was the wind? I made notes on all of that. I continued doing that until the mid to late 1990s when career/marriage/kids became a bigger priority and most of the weather data collection stopped. I studied meteo in school and did exceptionally well. I did not stay and get a degree. I have regrets to this day, that's another story for another time. Having said that, I've been an avid weather follower/observer for 48 years, all of which in Lancaster county. I've watched and observed too many times to count when virtually every model that I saw was wrong. Wrong when they said it was going to snow and it didn't, wrong when they said it would miss and it didn't. I will argue until I'm blue in the face that there are times when...okay, maybe a better word than feel is... past experience? Understanding of local climate? Call it what you want, but what I saw coming for my area this past Monday was little to no snow. And I felt that way even when most if not all models supported accumulating snow in our area. To me, the trajectory of the low (I mentioned this before the storm) was off for us to be under the best rates (lift, forcing) and my sense was given that, what was heading our way was going to dry out. I need to do a better job going forward at vetting that out so it doesn't come across as nothing more than being a deb or making wild guesses with absolutely nothing behind it. There is so much, so much that I don't know and don't understand. Obviously, there are times when things are obvious...and many times they aren't. My "feel" or experience, or local knowledge has served me well for a very long time. Our organization has a snow "cancellation" process and the executive team taps me (they really should tap Brian @daxx but I regress) to get my thoughts and opinion on what is going to happen. And sometimes conversations get awkward in the office because they're seeing snow maps on Facebook and other social media and then I have to explain to them why I think they're all wrong. So, @pasnownut I agree with you and I take to heart what you post. You have my respect and admiration to be perfectly clear. I'm just saying that for me..."feel" matters a whole lot. I guess it's how I get to the point of why I feel the way I do that I need to share better.

Exactly. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon...

I first heard JB say those words many, many years ago when he was a hot shot meteorologist on Weather World. For a long time he was a favorite until he got caught up in the hype game.

One thing I want to say: Most if not all of us are here because we love snow. It's a shared passion of the chase, the euphoria that comes with the storm itself, and the exhaustion that follows thereafter. Most of us can relate to that in some way... At the same time, we're all very different. Some want early snow followed by early spring. Some want wall to wall winter. Some want many light to moderate snowfalls while others would exchange it all for a big crushing. Some love to watch it fall and some want to see it on the ground for weeks and weeks. No one is more right or more wrong than the next person. We all things that WE want...and that's okay. We can all respect what others want. Me? I want snow cover. I want it to stick around for a good long time. That means if I could choose between a 30" snowstorm or a 20" storm with a few hours of sleet on top...give me the latter please. Because...it will last. But that's me, your mileage will vary. Enjoy the ride guys...it's the only ride we have.

I know what you're saying. I think...a lot of people are overly nervous and it's somewhat understandable. Last year the perfect pattern seemed to be in the 10-14 day range, and for weeks it never got any closer. So now this year it was looking like a good pattern was imminent and now some respected posters are saying it might be mid-January until things break our way. And given what happened last year... Winter is alive and well. I believe strongly we're going to have a solid season. I 100% do. Right now we need some patience and that can be kind of hard for some....

My office friends reminded me of this yesterday. They know how much I love it when it's dark before 5pm.

Daxx is right about March snow. Numbers don't lie. Bubbler, I agree with you in the sense that I'd much rather have snow now than in March IF I HAD THE CHOICE. I'll take snow any day, any time. But for pack preservation I want snow from mid December through the end of January. Again...that's if I can order it up.

So many things to say... So, yeah. It sure looks like it's going to get cold out later tomorrow.