Hoosier

Take a trip down memory lane with some old TWC style graphics. Just enter your location. https://battaglia.ddns.net/twc/

Yes I know

In some ways I think we were destined to have some divide on masks, etc, but it was made worse than it had to be. If you go back to the Spanish Flu, Woodrow Wilson basically never even publicly acknowledged that pandemic and yet there were anti-maskers then. Even more remarkable since so many of the deaths were in younger people, so it could not be brushed aside as an "old people thing."

Since it was mentioned, this is approximately what Dec-Feb will look like. I know everybody had the southern US colder than average in this Nina winter.

Besides offering a semi-effective flu vaccine, we as a society really haven't cared all that much about flu related deaths, even though they usually number in the tens of thousands. You raise an interesting issue though. I think it's a hard sell to start making people wear masks for the flu, but I do wonder if some people may decide to wear a mask when they don't feel well.

CFS for one sees a warmer than average month, as visions of Morch dance in weenies heads. I'd take a more subdued warmer than average month.

After massive drops in the metrics, I am seeing some early signs of a plateau in metrics here in Indiana. Will have to give it some more time to be sure. Have not looked around at other states to see if a similar thing is starting.

Will be interesting to see how it all goes. The incoming single shot Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a big deal but even so, not like everybody will be able to go get it right away. I think when we get to the point that everybody who wants a vaccine can get one, that ought to be when things get as close to normal as possible.

Lots of puddles and some typical flood prone streets have standing water. Hard to think about what it would have been like with a warm rainer on top of this.

I saw a line from Fauci about mask wearing possibly until 2022. Couldn't believe it. Maybe he's being overly cautious or something.

It's gotta be about who is considered "essential." Lots of people fall into that category besides healthcare workers. But there's no excuse that your mother hasn't been able to get it yet.

Apparently the bar for what constitutes high dews is low these days. Will anybody in the metro area even have dews above 35?

That usually subsides past the few week mark as the hair grows out more. Some guys get really bad itchiness but fortunately mine was minimal. Of course if you work at a job that requires any facial hair to be kept really short, then you'll never be able to get past that stage of hair growth.

Beautiful

I don't think that's right. INL has 36.5" on the season (it's in the first post). It may be the case for that sliver of northern MN west of there.

That's actually some snow/ice in the beard. Was a little breezy that day and it blew the shovelfuls of snow into my face a couple times. As far as beards, every guy should grow one at some point in their lives. And if you think you can't grow a proper one, you might be wrong. Common mistake is to give up on it too soon if it looks crappy 2 or 3 weeks in.

Man that's brutal. I agree, would also rank it as my top 3 week run of winter. Was going through some storm/aftermath pics. Never had snowbanks and piles like this. Close, but not quite. I'm 6' in my shoes... so yeah. Needless to say this period will dramatically raise my winter grade

Snow has been coming down good. Feel fortunate because as nearby as Kankakee got hosed.

It's early but I'd be surprised if it's not a warmer than average summer. If the areas upstream are in drought (and expands into the Plains), then it raises the odds of generating some intensely hot airmasses out there. Whether or not we actually get into a technical drought in this part of the country, even a few weeks of relative drying out would make it more likely that some of that intense heat would spill eastward.

Obviously there's more to it than this, but with the western/southwestern drought already pretty far along and likely to continue/worsen and the bona fide Nina, it does set off some alarm bells in my head for a potentially active Spring severe season in the Midwest. Certainly if it does turn out to be active, it won't be a thing where you look back and wonder 'gee, how did that happen'?

Israeli data shows Pfizer vaccine nearly 99 percent effective at preventing COVID-19 death 2 weeks after 2nd dose https://news.yahoo.com/amphtml/israeli-data-shows-pfizer-vaccine-185500893.html

My guess would be a combination of factors, because I don't think enough people have been vaccinated yet to entirely explain such a sharp drop. So I'd say it is a combination of vaccines, high numbers of covid infections (thus yielding some temporary immunity in many individuals), getting past the holiday gatherings, and maybe just some other dynamics with the virus. I am still expecting to see the rate of decline slow down at some point, especially with case numbers, since it's going to be a while until a lot of people can get a vaccine.

It's above freezing at ORD for the first time since February 4.

Hospitalizations are right around where they were at the peak of the summer surge, but things feel different now. We have made a lot of progress coming down from the peak earlier in winter.

Should glacier the top of the snowpack if it actually changes to rain for a time and then refreezes. Even if it doesn't change to rain, the snow ratio could trend so low that it essentially has the same effect.