Scarlet Pimpernel

I know, right? It's really beyond insulting with his comments and assertions. It insults the scientists and programmers who work hard and diligently on NWP and it displays an almost willful lack of understanding on how to use and interpret numerical models.

Well, to be fair (you shouldn't be too hard on yourself), I think a lot of people were getting pretty bullish in January of last winter for our prospects in February. The longer range models kept showing a classic El Nino with blocking, strong southern jet, etc. It looked like an absolutely ripe snow pattern that would continue for weeks into early March. Like drool-worthy. However, as we got into late January, and as that time period got more in range with the regular ensembles, that great pattern evaporated quickly. We all know what happened afterward (nothing, in terms of winter!). Honestly, I still don't quite know what happened or why things suddenly appeared to flip to nearly the opposite of what was being advertised day after day after day for awhile. But I do recall something @Bob Chill mentioned, a caution, that he didn't quite like what he was seeing "under the hood." And it was either Chill or perhaps you and others as well, who mentioned that as that time got closer, we really didn't see "big hits" on ensemble members showing up, which you normally would see with such an advertised pattern. And that raised some red flags.

Ahhh, the onset of winter with the possibility of snow the first part of December! I await "Guys Folks Day" from @stormtracker for one event sometime in the not too distant future! Or, dare we dream and hope for the ultimate...Jaws music???

Fair enough, that's fine. I hope I am waaaay underestimating snow for everyone, of course, and would gladly be much too far on the low end. Thanks!

Well, no, I actually don't think it's an absolute shutout at DCA or anywhere. My "negative" snow amount guess was just for humor. In all seriousness, I can see this winter being like last year in the end. Nothing great, not even really close, but definitely not as awful as 2022-23 (when I literally got 0.5" on the season, that melted by 10AM the morning it fell!). So...something like a couple of weeks that actually feel wintry, with maybe a couple of minor to moderate events. Just a wild-ass thought and guess.

My useless, wild guesses pulled from the nether regions! Hopefully vastly underestimated! BWI: 3.0" DCA: -2.5" IAD: 2.2" RIC: 1.5" Tiebreaker...SBY: 4.4" --------------------------------- And yeah, I put a NEGATIVE value for DCA, just for fun! I was reminded of that old SNL skit years ago, called "Chicago Superfans" that had all these guys in a bar (including George Wendt, who was Norm on "Cheers"!) drinking beer and eating fatty chicken wings, saying "Da BEARS!!!" every 5 seconds. It was funny! At the end they would predict the score of the upcoming Bears' game (always a Bears' win, of course!). One time, one of them said something like, "Bears 92, Lions -20!!" (or some negative score). One of them asked, "How can they get a negative score, that's not possible!" To which the other replied, "Hey, Ditka will find a way!!" So...my feeling is, "Hey, DCA will find a way!!"

Congrats! I have a couple of friends who were runners years ago and did marathons, so I know that's quite the accomplishment!

Oh, you mean the 30 minutes of a cold blast right before Christmas, that only slightly interrupted very warm conditions before and after!!

Climate change. He cancels even earlier than he did back in the day. Our old Ji analogues for canceling the season don't apply anymore.

Thanks! Yeah, I invested in going to a mirrorless camera and lenses a few years ago (after using traditional DSLRs for years). Glad I did so, I really like the mirrorless system and it seems everything has been moving in that direction for awhile. Gradually sold and traded in the previous equipment and eventually got a Canon R5, which is a wonderful camera and the higher resolution allows me to crop a fair bit when needed.

Here's a couple from the other day, plus the October "supermoon" rising from the other week...

Damn cutters!!! (I say this jokingly, as a native of Cleveland, so I'm rooting for the Guardians!)

Hey, all! Haven't been in here for awhile but coming out of "hibernation" as we approach winter! Even if it's "meh" this year. Here's a monarch butterfly I got a photo of the other day. Didn't think butterflies were still around this late in the season but I guess these guys are still migrating.

Damn that looks tasty! I always like a good omelet!!

Yes...it was reddish due to the haze and whatever else in the air plus the moon being so low on the horizon (lots of refraction...notice how the moon looks rather oblong in that photo due to that). The "blood moon", I believe, refers to what you'd see during a lunar eclipse...which is a totally different thing, the moon passing through the earth's shadow and it turns a spectacular orange-red when total, then moves out of the shadow. Here's what the moon looks like during a lunar eclipse, from the one we had recently in Nov. 2022:

I took that Friday evening from the rooftop of my place. The moon really was that reddish of a color as it rose.

Moon rising this evening, on the horizon...

Dafuq????

Sounds like the bar scene for @ravensrule back in the day!

Took these during, and just after, the severe thunderstorms that went through right around sunset. A couple are black and white.

Thank you for the kind words! Glad you liked those! There are so many tulips I've seen around the Bethesda area, it's like I couldn't decide what to choose for taking photos!!!

@mappy...TULIPS!!! (2nd one is in black/white)

There won't be such a thing as "threads" in 21 years, as we currently know it! Well, other than the Panic Room, where the ageless Reaper @WxWatcher007 will still remain to guide us hapless souls, even well into his retirement by then!

Thanks! It was interesting getting shots with the filter on because essentially everything but the sun was black (by design with a solar filter). Had to look up a bit on the flip-screen and zoom out to "find" the sun and then zoom in to the full 500mm on my lens and take the shots.

Nope,no tracker or anything. I was outside through that time, about 2:00pm through 3:30pm and took many shots. Then yes, I post-processed them to get the same size image afterward and changed the white balance temp to make the sun a bit more yellow looking (through the filter it was almost white looking).