RDM

Excellent video PSU. Makes me want to get back out on the slopes. The snow encrusted pine trees at the 2:00 mark remind me of Zao in Japan. Zao is known for their "Snow Monsters" which are the top 10-20 feet of pines sticking out of the snow. The area around Zao is one of the snowiest places on earth. Interesting thread about the altitude and folks getting sick. How is the difficulty of the runs at JH? I've heard JH vies with Whistler Blackcomb BC for having the most vertical in North America - around 4000' or so, yes? The snow looks great. The runs appear fairly flat cruiser type runs for a large part. Like the part in the trees - a past favorite of mine. I'm a tele-mark skier myself. Spent most of my younger days on 3 pin bindings throughout the Alps, in Japan with a stint on the South Island in New Zealand. The Alps have the most vertical by far - with Zermatt and Chamonix offering around 8500' of vertical. Japan has phenomenal snow depth and quality (skied down Mt Fuji on pins too - that was fun - it pretty steep at the top). New Zealand is a must visit for the heli-ski expert. Their back country is pure unspoiled wilderness and the Kiwis really know how to have fun.

ROTFLMAO. Great video. Reminds me of the last time I drank too much Apfelkorn and/or Ebblewoi (apple wine in Frankfurt old German dialect). Stuff goes down so smooth... You don't realize the impact until you try to stand up and wonder what's wrong with your legs.

OMG - PBR... Almost as bad as Old Dog Light (Old Milwaukee Light). Brings back memories of college - those parts that I remember anyway. Right down there as well were Hudepohl and Micky's Big Mouth... Couldn't afford the "good" stuff like MGD. Still remember when Coors first became available in Ohio in the late 70's. What a momentous event that was...

Haha - Think I know which cartoon you are talking about. I'm a big fan of Far Side. Was the end of an era when Gary Larson retired. The oddities of how he looked at real world events was a big part of my collegiate and early professional careers. As for the devil's prodding... just leaving well enough alone and not opening either door was never a consideration. The "guy" just HAD to open one of them. Just like "Let's Make a Deal" and Monty Hall.

Darn - No rest for the weary with what you and the other mods deal with. Damned if you do and same if you don't. Once the cat is out of the bag it's hard to get it back in there...

Rgr - see your point and don't disagree. My comments were more in general over the past several weeks, as more eloquently captured by Showme. As for the mods, I'm a bit loath to ask the mods to police what we should be able to mind ourselves. It's just subjective on where the line lies between reasonable side-bars and too much. Wouldn't mind diving into any of the off-topic subjects listed - love exotic cars and having lived in Germany for 6+ years had some interesting experiences there on the Autobahn. Like the time I was behind 30+ Ferraris southbound on A5 by Mannheim in my little Honda Civic with my 100+ year old high wheel bike strapped to the roof... but I digress.

Your part in bold says what I was thinking better. That's exactly how it felt a few times recently in the MR/LR. Had to double check which thread I was in several times thinking maybe I'd clicked on the the wrong one with hopes the "real" MR/LR would have more meat to it and "hope". Certainly not pointing fingers at anyone as we're all tired of chasing unicorns. Your comments are invariably worth reading as part of the core contributors of this forum. We are all better off from the mentoring and analysis your posts provide. Keep em coming whenever you can! I'm still learning and have been for 20 years + dating back to Eastern. Since I know my analysis is not up to par I may err on the overly conservative in not cluttering up the MR/LR. When I have a banter-like comment to a comment in the LR I move it here, be it worthwhile reading or not.

Don't feel it's an exaggeration, but that's a subjective thing. Yes, there is some decent analysis and that is always good to see and learn from. A substantial amount is off topic too and it adds up. Not calling out the mods here at all, they more than enough to do and shouldn't be bothered. Likewise, realize we're not in storm mode (unfortunately), but stand by the opinion much of it is/was banter. Just prefer it to be here where it belongs so we we see there's a lot of unread msgs in the MR/LR it means something...

Sad how the Med/Long Range dialogue has gone down the tubes. Even with nothing on the horizons, many check periodically with hope. When you see a substantial number of unread threads the temptation to muster a glimmer of hope is dashed when you realize the preponderance of posts is more stuff about dandelions, pest control and similar unrelated hoopla that should be here in banter. Sure is disappointing. Would rather there be nothing in the Med/LR than to have to weed through that "stuff" only to realize it should be here. Please folks, if there's nothing to track then let the thread lie and die in peace.

Heck of an end to the NC/Duke game. Wow.

Now THAT'S funny! Why on earth does he give a sh!t where his sh!t falls and how? There MUST be some particular reason why a hippo has developed such a finely tuned capability to spread his sh!t in such a refined manner. Can't say I've seen that before, but how often do we have the chance to observe first-hand how a hippo disperses their sh!t? If only hippos lived on the Galapagos Islands then Darwin probably would have developed a theory...

Yup - agree on all points. Couldn't agree more with the desire for a more middle-ground approach to things. Like Ronnie used to do with both sides of the isle in Congress. I remember mandatory desegregation busing in the 60's, to include some pretty infamous riots, the debate over Elvis and his stint on Ed Sullivan, Woodstock, the draft, pot, abortion, etc. All very emotional for man and many of those topics still are. But it seems worse now than ever. My family and I returned from an extended stint overseas immediately prior to Obama's election and the divisive nature of our culture took us back and seems to have gone downhill further in the last 10 years. I've learned a lot from reading this thread, the length of which underscores how dire our winter weather situation has become. If we just had something/anything to track, would conjure a guess we would have all let this one die a long time ago - me too. Hard to contemplate a good ole Jeb walk when it's nearly 70F outside...

As I said before, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Respect mine and I'll do the same. To say anyone's opinion about a very subjective topic is right or wrong is in it's own right, contrary to having a healthy debate on the same.

Haha - Believe me, I ain't no bible thumper, but don't begrudge those that are. To each their own and I've worked 30+ years providing the security for us American's to exercise the freedoms we tend to take for granted sometime. It's just that the pole dancing and synchronized pelvic stuff was beyond the line of reasonable. It's sad the exploitation thing has degraded to the point it's at. Some of yesterday's game reminded me of why I don't watch the NFL much anymore. Same for the NBA... You'd think every play was the greatest play in the history of sports. The "All about me" syndrome is an insult to Team.

Any game where the outcome is in question with 3 mins to go is a good game. The half-time show was disappointing. With the patriotism theme in the pre-game and on some of the commercials, I had hopes of something more inspirational and family oriented at half-time. Those comments on the Fox thread are not surprising in the least. As a hetro male both performers are no doubt attractive... However, as so-called family entertainment it was a sad example that missed the mark. My wife and I discussed the same with our 22 year old daughter. Sadly, the predominate focus these days is on "what can we do to up the advertising rates?" and sex sells. With the inclusion of pole dancing and the side by side syncronized pelvic thrusting, they were one step away from porn. Considering the group of pre-teens on and/or around the stage during the exhibition in coordinated gyration, it's surprising the FCC didn't interject (they still have a 10 second pause built into the broadcast as a result of the wardrobe "malfunction" of Janet Jackson many years ago). In some circles the combination on display tonight would have garnered a visit by child social services. The NFL F/O must have greased the skids there somewhere. Pretty poor post-game celebration too. So much confetti you couldn't see what was going on. Too many visual distractions all over, but congratulations to the Chiefs.

Sounds like my wife. After 23 years we long passed the point of me trying to explain anything about the variables. Now I just tell her what coat to wear when she goes out. Straight to the basics. Yet, she continues to tolerate my unceasing hope for something that resembles winter, no matter how dire the outlook.

Based on current NWS Radar it looks like Garrett Co MD is getting nailed right now. Radar is confirmed by traffic cams on WeatherBug. Impressive fetch of SN is all the way from the UP in Michigan. Seven Springs, PA picked up 3" overnight. Current cams there look look great with SN or SN+.

Interesting topography plot. Looks like they used a FDM machine (Fluid Deposition Machine used for rapid prototyping). Would be interesting to compare the COand/or CA relief plot to the Swiss Alps. When you go down in the valleys in CO you're still at 5000+ ft in altitude. In the alps, the altitude at the bottom of the valleys is measured in hundreds of feet - the elevation difference is much more stark. Likewise, the amount of vertical is more compared to CO and CA's major resorts. Max vertical in N. America is either Jackson Hole or Whistler Blackcomb, BC at around 4000' (both vie for the most vertical). In Zermatt, Switzerland you can ski 8500' of vertical in one continuous run. Not sure if that's the max vertical in the Alps - Chamonix, France may have more.

ROTFLMAO - Yup, no matter how much shellack you put on a turd, it still stinks to high heaven. Speaking of bacon, if you've never been to Vienna, Austria it's interesting to note they have a particular affinity for bacon. Way back when the Suleiman laid siege to Vienna the Austrians developed a slick way of testing for internal spies. At every planning meeting they had everyone eat some bacon as a test. To this day, Vienna strongly resents what the Ottomans did on multiple occasions (they were especially brutal sieges) and bacon is a relished delicacy with very special meaning.

Noted sarcasm on target. Dunno what happened in the main thread the last few days. The sad outlook for sn hardly justifies filling it it up with what's akin to banter. The banter of repeated postings of percentage maps and other "stuff" such as ski trips as a thin attempt to put lipstick on a pig overshadows the occasional learning opportunity from the posts that are worthwhile. Realize the outlook is bleak, but if there's nothing to report, we gotta preserve at least some minimal standards... When you see there's 30+ unread posts in the medium range and get hope there may be something new worthwhile, it's a real letdown when you read through them only to discover the majority of the posts should be here... Give the mods a break please.

Is that a slight neg tilt developing in the isobars? 540 right through DC

So wrt the 3000 mile reference, so you're saying there still a chance!!! (I am joking!). Was looking at the same but didn't want to clog the main MR thread with my gibberish. Although, at this stage seeking out some humor in all of this may be the only alternative we have. The other comment about the frustration in this year's models constantly teasing us in the med to LR to just go poof a few days later pretty much sums up this entire season dating back to Oct. There were hints of an early start mid-Nov only to go poof, indications Dec would start off well - same - poof - then hints of a white Christmas, ditto... Then we were looking at a rocking Jan, only to.... SSDD (Same Sh*t Different Day). Getting excited about last night's downpour about 4am pretty much sums up how dismal this year has been.

PSU - we've talked about this before and I for one would be one of the first to sign up if you ever go for it with your own site. That said, don't belittle yourself by referring to JB in any context (tic). You are WAY above anything he could ever bring to the table relative to JBs constant "hype and recant" for profit model. Amongst those here who also respect and appreciate what you bring to the forum, you'd have quite a following in no time. IMHO, you may under appreciate the potential...

Woke up at 4:00am to a torrent outside. Ended up with 1.62" overnight. Just perfect to turn the yard into a swamp and the east coast ski resorts up through PA into slush piles. If only it were 20 degrees colder. A "mere" 20 degrees....

Now,,,, IF we can get through about 20 runs and all the models show a similar setup, then I'll get excited. Until then, one run of one suite with so many things that CAN go wrong. Sigh...