09-10 analogy

Pity this isn’t May with a 75/68 spread

Yeah the severe threat down there seems mostly mitigated to a certain degree by modest thermodynamics. But if that insanely powerful LLJ can push the warm front north far enough, it could be a real nasty outbreak in the New Orleans to Tallahassee area. And then the next day, the coastal Carolinas are under the gun, as well as Florida. This on top of the Gulf of Mexico acting like the North Atlantic during the The Perfect Storm. I mean, hell, we're just getting another wind and rainstorm around here, so might as well live vicariously in other regions.

Tom Waits. On another note, the Gulf is evidently going to be blasted by this storm. Maybe the worst non-tropical event in a long time. This AFD from the Mobile office is energetic reading: https://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=MOB&product=AFD&format=CI&version=1&glossary=1

Sheer genius. Maybe we need a STEINER! model.

Madrid then Seville and now Barcelona. Flying back tomorrow. Seville was charming but it was a bit like a theme park for Spanish culture and history lovers. The Moors and Magellan and orange trees. Madrid is huge and we were there over Xmas so prolly didn’t get the city’s normal vibe, but you can get Campari as easily as you can catch a cold in kindergarten. Royal Palace was pretty cool and reminded me that monarchies are only worthwhile in retrospect. *Barcelona is just fantastic but the Familia cathedral, one of the big sites (it’s never been finished), is, to me, an architectural schizophrenic: a gothic cathedral with eagles and fruit topping some of the spires. No can comprehende. But the city is glorious and can hold its own, IMHO, with some of the other big name European urbans that I’ve been to and loved . The Baleric/Mediterranean really adds cachet. only regret was not seeing the Prada or “Gunerica” in Madrid, or the Picasso museum here. Holidays and long waits kibboshed those plans. Needed to get tickets in advance but didn’t. Another reason to always heed my wife’s advice. jeez this post was long, particularly with the first real winter threat in two years looming. So apologies and if this needs to be deleted, understandable. At least it’s in banter. *edit: Spain is still a constitutional monarchy I suppose, but it’s like the 384 hour GFS: not taken real seriously

Coming back from Spain Wednesday and will be depressed after a great trip. But the chance (emphasis) of a MECS over the weekend will help take the sting out. Doesn’t snow much in Barcelona. But what a great city!

Here we come Spain! 12 days in Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona. I was gonna rent a car in the latter and drive to Andorra and the Pyrenees -- I'd certainly see snow there -- but it's just not feasible. 3 hour drive each way and nowhere to park once you get to the postage stamp capital of the multiverse. But still playing with the idea of renting a car in Seville and going to Gibraltar. I want to see the coast of Africa and the only place in Europe they have monkeys (other than zoos, of course). And, yes, we'll be on the lookout for Barcelona's notorious pickpockets.

I propose that slipping in the basement, as I just did, from standing water resulting from a near 3" rainstorm, should warrant an LSR to Sterling. After all, I could have landed on my head instead of my butt (since I was half asleep) and killed myself, and that would have had a direct cause-and-effect relationship with the elements.

95 thru the Carolina is as dreadful a stretch of interstate there is. No scenery, lots more traffic than you would think. Done it many times and hate it evermore. Rt. 1 is (or was) somewhat nicer. Meanwhile, rain. Almost carbon copy of last Sunday night except we won't get a surprise dusting around 3 this morning.

When the word "damp" was first coined, it was on a day like today.

Found a nice site on phasing storms (although I'm sure it's been posted before): https://www.greatlakes.salsite.com/Phasing_Storms.html

My wife's picking up my daughter at uni. Central NY was predicted 4-7". Hamilton got about the same kind of dusting I did. Ha.

Did not expect this. Grass mostly covered, moderate snow (although lightening up now), some slight glazing on neighborhood streets.

Lots of folks might have seen this already, but here's a clip from one of last night's Tennessee tornadoes. 0:19 to 0:25 or so is not something you see everyday: (Alert for a bit of *colorful* language; flagged because I'm not sure what this site's policy is on that.)

Well Rubenstein -- as noted -- was born in Baltimore so I imagine he wouldn't try to move them. From the admittedly threadbare article -- although Bloomberg is a very legit source -- I get the vibe he's just another filthy-rich guy (although is $4.6 billion even considered "filthy rich" these days?) who wants a plaything. But if he's hands-off and willing to spend to, say, extend Henderson and some of the other burgeoning stars, that's not so bad. Certainly better than John Angelos, whose tenure as O's all-but-in-name owner can't be terminated quickly enough.

Good to see we still do fog well around here.

BWI: 27.2" DCA: 17.2" IAD: 31.2" RIC: 15.2" Tiebreaker -- SBY: 9.2" My front yard: 365.22" (actually 26.2")

Thanks

Sounds great, do you know if they will be posting a summary of proceedings?Can anyone attend, if they hold it next year?

Warning: quintessential weenie question incoming. If the UA and surface setup before the great Appalachian storm of 1950 had been offset to the east by, say, 200 miles, would the DC area been hit with Pittsburgh-level snows? All weeieeism aside, that 1950 storm has always fascinated me. Blizzard in Pittsburgh while 40 and rain in buffalo.One of my favorite novels, Suttree by the late Cormac McCarthy, was set in 1950 Knoxville and he did the research so throughly that the unprecented Arctic outbreak in that storm’s wake (5 in Knoxville) featured in the book. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Appalachian_Storm_of_1950 The NCEI snowfall map from the storm actually paints DC/Baltimore in 2-6”. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/great-appalachian-snowstorm-november-1950

I guess the O's shouldn't feel so bad about the sweep by the Rangers. Texas is taking apart the Astros so far. Seven game winning streak in the postseason ongoing.

Orioles were in the postseason then as well

Might very well have been a H/R but if it was, that’s an equally stupid move by Hyde. Leading off the sixth or even eighth I could see it but not the ninth. Add it to his collection of poor game 1 stratagems. Anyway onto today. Great thing about baseball it doesn’t give you much time to rehash the past . G-Rod has come thru big a couple times in the second half so here’s hoping becaus I really don’t want to go to Arlington down two.

Transcendentally stupid move by Henderson. Yeah, yeah, rookie. Even the moss growing on the tree in my back yard would know enough not to try and steal in that situation. Certainly was his own choice. Camera showed Hyde screaming. Crappy jump. Not that Hyde covered himself with glory managing. Poor at bats in general. This team is not there yet.

Where'd he get "go to war, Ms. Agnes" from? That is such a unique signature line. One thing the O's have had through the decades: great announcers. From Thompson to Mel Proctor and John Lowenstein (I loved them) and then Jon Miller and Joe Angel and Gary Thorne and Palmer and now Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald. The announcing was always great, even though the teams often sucked. The team doesn't suck anymore. Watching the celebration and most of these guys aren't much older than my daughter. And there's plenty more percolating in the minors. Beware AL East. Yankees and Red Sox -- there's a new beast in town. Deal with it.