Festus

Considering how much of PA is covered by an Extreme Cold Watch, I can't say I recall that product being used before. Upon further review. as of October 1st: Wind Chill Watches will be renamed to an Extreme Cold Watch Wind Chill Warnings will be renamed to an Extreme Cold Warning Wind Chill Advisory will be renamed a Cold Weather Advisory

And then there's this - Project 2025 also said the National Weather Service should become a “performance-based organization” held accountable for achieving specific results, even if the head of the agency must “deviate from government rules” to achieve those results. Sounds like they'll be breaking out the retroactive Sharpie on the GFS maps.

Not to beat a dead horse but the phrase snow showers is defined as: "Snow falling at varying intensities for brief periods of time. Some accumulation is possible." At least in my neck of the woods, an 8 hour event depositing 4-8" is not brief and exceeds "some". But as mentioned, 4-8" of flurries, snow showers or blizzard is still 4-8". But alas, I remain amused by the terminology chosen is this case.

Agreed but Joe Q Public sees snow showers and thinks what we got yesterday. But then again, does Joe Q Public actually read NWS verbiage?

I mean this really is priceless - A slight chance of snow before 7am, then snow showers, mainly after 7am. High near 33. North wind 8 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible.

I see Trump's inauguration has been moved indoors. Guess he didn't want to pull a Harrison. At least there will be no crowd size disputes.

Soft commodities (wheat, corn, soybeans, etc.) are one place very weather dependent where markets are very liquid. Energy markets are another but they are pretty schizophrenic. I actually did pretty good at coffee futures using weather in Brazil like 15 years ago. It's gotten much more sophisticated nowadays but the principle stands.

Mood flakes here. Can still see the grass. Should have mowed lower on that last cut of the season. At this point, I'd say the Total Storm Posts / Total Storm Accumulation ratio is pretty high for this one. We need a bigger denominator!

Yes indeed! I'd plow my way along in my 1970 Chevy Impala. It would get stuck on like a 0.1% grade so the trick was to keep moving at any cost. Drivers nowadays have it too darn easy with front wheel drive, all wheel drive, traction control, ABS, blah, blah, blah. With that said, it's amazing how crappy some folks still manage to do when conditions are poor.

It's easier nowadays to breakout the virtual learning day anytime there's even a minor weather threat as it still counts as a school day. WAY back in my HS days, the calendar was loaded with Snow Days and still had days tacked on at the end of the year which royally sucked. I do remember driving to school in some pretty sketchy stuff that no way would be the case today.

Warnings now hoisted for PA counties previously under Watches. Stil no love for York or Lancaster.

Just outside of East Petersburg. Manheim address, East Hempfield Township. Right on the edge of the district so we get plowed last .

I'm in Hempfield School District and they've made extensive use of the "virtual learning day" these past number of years.

Posted in MA. This dude is pretty darn good...

As we anxiously await the next run of the SNOWINPA model, today is a two-fer. It's the latest sunrise of the year AND it's perihelion. When the Earth is closest to the sun, it is travelling faster in its orbit (Keplar's second law for extra brownie points). As such, meteorological winter is roughly 2 days shorter than meteorological summer in the northern hemisphere.

One day later we'd have a record high temperature for Millersville. The record for the 30th is 62. But alas, the record for the 29th is 76 (which is the 2nd highest December temp since 1914). That was quite a hill to climb.

Just missed the WWA down this way. Maryland border counties and Chester were included. Don't think the HWO counts as a consolation prize.

Just heard from daughter who lives west of Hershey. Back roads are awful. Black ice city.

Squall line moving through York looks nasty. Might have to buckle up here in LANcaster.

Doing my annual tradition of pointing out that today is the earliest sunset of the year. Enjoy the extra few seconds of evening light tomorrow and it only gets longer from there. The latest sunrise isn't for another month or so. The culprit basically is the discontinuity between calendar and solar time. If you really want to waste a few minutes, here's a more detailed explanation: What Is the Equation of Time?

Sorry if this has been asked/answered. Don't get on here much during the warm season. What's the "official" calculation of Heat Index? For example, local WU site says Temp 93, DP 74, Index 111. Same numbers plugged into NOAA calculator shows Index of 103. WU Index is always way higher than NWS. Do they use some home grown method?

Interesting - just felt what was most likely an earthquake. Lasted maybe 5, 10 seconds. Curious to see if that really what it was or if my house is collapsing into some kind of sinkhole or something.

Flood Watch hoisted for Adams, York, Lancaster and Lebanon Counties. 1.5 - 3" rain possible. Itstrainingtime's lawn may need a thrice-weekly trim come April.

Chester County down this way has an SPS for heightened fire danger concurrent with a Flood Watch. A rather rare combo platter. My grid forecast adds up to 1.25 - 2.5" qpf. Hmmm, at 10:1 ... (if only )

I'm sure the hype machine will get cranking soon but here's a few details regarding the upcoming total solar eclipse: - Monday, April 8th. Starts approximately 2:00 PM, maximum around 3:20, done around 4:30. - Several counties in northwest PA will experience totality lasting around 4 minutes. - Nearly all the rest of PA will reach over 90% with increasing coverage as one travels southeast to northwest. - The next total eclipse anywhere in PA will be in 2144. Fingers crossed regarding cloud cover. Unfortunately Accuweather's 90 day forecast shows rain on the 8th so I guess we're whamboozled. But at least Memorial Day looks nice.