2017-2018 Fall/Winter Banter, Whining, Complaining Thread

[RogueWaves]

17 hours ago, bowtie` said:

Wait, a 384 hour map and you expect something other than goofy? Might need to retorque your bolts.

Might need to read closely. He was referring to the actual wx in the period of Oct '89 when IN and MI actually saw a legit snowstorm on about the same date as this fantasy range map (10/19/89). I was further north then, and don't remember the warmth he speaks of, so I'll take his word for it. He's pretty good you know.

[IWXwx]

Here's how wacky the weather was here (FWA) back in Oct. '89:

Oct High Temp

11	73
12	77
13	81
14	84
15	81
16	75
17	55
18	44
19	37
20	35
21	44
22	61
23	71
24	75
25	73
26	72
27	75
28	75
29	73
30	73

[IWXwx]

Imagine this sandwiched between days and days of 70's and even 80's

[Stebo]

I would have to imagine that is pushing once in 100 year type stuff especially with the scope and magnitude of the event.

[wisconsinwx]

On ‎10‎/‎3‎/‎2017 at 2:31 PM, IWXwx said:

Imagine this sandwiched between days and days of 70's and even 80's

 

That would be the perfect October for me, days of ideal weather with a snowstorm sandwiched in between; I was born the next April though 

[hawkeye_wx]

This big late-week system was so promising for the drought area, but much of the good rain has been shifted to the nw half of Iowa, where there is no drought.  A few days ago, models had 3" of rain falling by now in Cedar Rapids.  Instead, we just got our first drops in the last hour.  At this point I just hope we can get an inch.  Grrrrr.

[cyclone77]

2 hours ago, hawkeye_wx said:

This big late-week system was so promising for the drought area, but much of the good rain has been shifted to the nw half of Iowa, where there is no drought.  A few days ago, models had 3" of rain falling by now in Cedar Rapids.  Instead, we just got our first drops in the last hour.  At this point I just hope we can get an inch.  Grrrrr.

The models have been pretty terrible beyond the immediate short range.  

[Powerball]

Talk about one hell of a welcome to Georgia. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for most of the Atlanta area. 

I'm flying out tomorrow to do some house hunting, so I shouldn't have any issues getting there. That said, it may still be fun times with Nate impending upon the region. 

[Hoosier]

7 minutes ago, Powerball said:

Talk about one hell of a welcome to Georgia. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for most of the Atlanta area. 

I'm flying out tomorrow to do some house hunting, so I shouldn't have any issues getting there. That said, it may still be fun times with Nate impending upon the region. 

The crazy thing is that they also had one with Irma not too long ago.

[Powerball]

2 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

The crazy thing is that they also had one with Irma not too long ago.

I think Irma was the first Tropical Storm Warning ever issued for Atlanta too. 

[Hoosier]

It's uncanny how these systems are finding their way to areas where I know people. First it was Harvey and my relatives in Houston metro, then Irma and my friends in Naples, and now Nate.  I have a friend who lives just south of Lake Pontchartrain.

[the ghost of leroy]

7 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

It's uncanny how these systems are finding their way to areas where I know people. First it was Harvey and my relatives in Houston metro, then Irma and my friends in Naples, and now Nate.  I have a friend who lives just south of Lake Pontchartrain.

sitting pretty, is that you?

[Hoosier]

27 minutes ago, cmasty1978 said:

sitting pretty, is that you?

haha

Just so y'all are aware, I don't know anybody in Antarctica or the Kerguelen Islands.

[HillsdaleMIWeather]

All the whiny babies on Facebook complaining that WLNS broke into the programming over the Tornado Warning need to get over themselves.

Public safety is more important than a damn college football game that won't matter in a day.

[Torchageddon]

On October 2, 2017 at 9:09 PM, bowtie` said:

Wait, a 384 hour map and you expect something other than goofy? Might need to retorque your bolts.

Did you see totality during the total solar eclipse after that appointment? Traffic wasn't as bad as thought and it may have been possible to race to it.
 

[WxMatt21]

43 minutes ago, HillsdaleMIWeather said:

All the whiny babies on Facebook complaining that WLNS broke into the programming over the Tornado Warning need to get over themselves.

Public safety is more important than a damn college football game that won't matter in a day.

Some of the comments on the WLNS page are truly despicable, but sadly not surprising. Being the messenger, especially on a day with important programming, is rough.

This past July I cut into The Bachelorette for two tornado warnings. I had over 20 voicemails, lots of newsroom calls and several Facebook posts/messages complaining that my cut in was too long, even though it's our station policy to stay on for the duration of the warning. 

Trying to reason with many of these people is a lost cause! (Although don't get me wrong, for all the nasty comments, there were also a lot of positive ones, particularly from the regions affected by the warning)

[Hoosier]

On 9/29/2017 at 0:27 PM, Hoosier said:

 

I had lake effect snow on Oct 7-8, 2000.  Thunder/lightning and all.  I had been at the movies and it was just drizzling when I came out.  Then it flipped to heavy snow on the way home...big, fat flakes.  Marginal temps hurt the accumulation efficiency but it was a mess.  Enough to take down some branches in my neighborhood.

Hey, it's the anniversary.  This map gives an idea of amounts but it's a bit underdone. IIRC, the max total was 6" north of Kankakee.  I was basically at the IL/IN border and picked up a couple inches of the sloppiest snow I've ever seen, enough for me to shovel.  Temp generally hung above freezing at my location and with it being so early in the season, it was tough to really build up despite snowing for a good 5-6 hours, heavily at times.

Even though the amounts weren't huge, there's probably a pretty good chance I never see another accumulating snow that early again.  Had O'Hare recorded anything measurable (they only had T with this), it would have been their earliest.

 

[KokomoWX]

On 10/3/2017 at 3:31 PM, IWXwx said:

Imagine this sandwiched between days and days of 70's and even 80's

I remember this so very well and loved it!

[michsnowfreak]

On 10/3/2017 at 3:31 PM, IWXwx said:

Imagine this sandwiched between days and days of 70's and even 80's

Talk about an Indiana special! Still Detroit's 2.7" is good for 2nd highest Oct snow on record. 

[RogueWaves]

On 10/8/2017 at 1:06 PM, Hoosier said:

Hey, it's the anniversary.  This map gives an idea of amounts but it's a bit underdone. IIRC, the max total was 6" north of Kankakee.  I was basically at the IL/IN border and picked up a couple inches of the sloppiest snow I've ever seen, enough for me to shovel.  Temp generally hung above freezing at my location and with it being so early in the season, it was tough to really build up despite snowing for a good 5-6 hours, heavily at times.

Even though the amounts weren't huge, there's probably a pretty good chance I never see another accumulating snow that early again.  Had O'Hare recorded anything measurable (they only had T with this), it would have been their earliest.

Strange, I clearly remember some heavy squalls of mixed bag precip as I was traveling to Kalamazoo, but not pure flakes. And the winds were typical NW direction, so I didn't think anything was hitting IL. Was the some ULL spinning in the region that caused that? 

 

On 10/8/2017 at 1:06 PM, Hoosier said:

 

 

[Hoosier]

29 minutes ago, RogueWaves said:

 

 

You're right about the winds, which is surprising that the band got as far west as it did.  There was a trough swinging through the area but it was basically a lake effect event.

[Hoosier]

Pretty good storm being modeled for the Northeast.  Tropical low tries to get absorbed. 

[RogueWaves]

On 10/26/2017 at 10:46 PM, Hoosier said:

Pretty good storm being modeled for the Northeast.  Tropical low tries to get absorbed. 

Yep, when we get flooded with cold this winter, I fully expect them to score some big storms. That natural ocean baroclinic zone will come into play.

[Roger Smith]

Just wondering if somebody more active in this forum than me (inactive) would like to host the snowfall contest that has run here for several years. 

If I don't see one by November 10th or thereabouts, I might post the same material as the past two winters. But it would make more sense to have the contest hosted and organized by somebody who regularly posts here. 

You're welcome to lift out the normal values and list of stations from last year's thread, I think the last posts in the 2016-17 contest were back around early May. 

I could also mention that in the main forum the monthly temperature forecast contest thread has a snowfall contest that applies to the nine stations that we use, one of which is ORD, but since PHX, ATL and IAH have very little snow most winters, I jazzed it up by substituting DTW, BUF and BTV for them.

You could enter just the snowfall contest if you want, no requirement to post any temperature forecasts. 

[rainsucks]

On 10/28/2017 at 3:53 PM, Angrysummons said:

That tropical system was the key behind the last week of October cold shot.

in other words, just terrible luck.

[Indystorm]

Got back yesterday evening after a week of fall vacation in New Orleans.  Great weather there with cool but not uncomfortable temperatures.  What a shock to come back home to central IN and have freeze warnings, rain, and cloudy skies.  A colleague spent the last four days in Columbus Ohio and said there was rain mixed with snow there.  Gotta get into winter mode now even though my local forecast calls for a chance of t storms Thursday night and Friday night.

[Hoosier]

I was in the New England subforum following that big storm and it was interesting seeing some posters saying how unusual it is to get winds much above 40 mph in the valleys and other protected areas.  I searched for wind maps of the U.S. and found this, although it's for 30m which is above standard measuring height.  Still, the trends are worthwhile.  The Plains are a windy place, which I think is probably something that most weather enthusiasts are aware of.  But there's a zone of enhanced wind extending into IL/IN as well. I pulled up a map of forest coverage and it correlates pretty well to average wind speeds.  In essence, the more forested a place is, the less windy it is.  Can also pick out some relative minimums in more urban locations (Chicago is pretty noticeable) where there's more obstacles/friction. 

 

 

[cyclone77]

6 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

I was in the New England subforum following that big storm and it was interesting seeing some posters saying how unusual it is to get winds much above 40 mph in the valleys and other protected areas.  I searched for wind maps of the U.S. and found this, although it's for 30m which is above standard measuring height.  Still, the trends are worthwhile.  The Plains are a windy place, which I think is probably something that most weather enthusiasts are aware of.  But there's a zone of enhanced wind extending into IL/IN as well. I pulled up a map of forest coverage and it correlates pretty well to average wind speeds.  In essence, the more forested a place is, the less windy it is.  Can also pick out some relative minimums in more urban locations (Chicago is pretty noticeable) where there's more obstacles/friction. 

 

 

Interesting.  Pretty interesting to pick out the corn belt in that bottom pic.

[madwx]

31 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

I was in the New England subforum following that big storm and it was interesting seeing some posters saying how unusual it is to get winds much above 40 mph in the valleys and other protected areas.  I searched for wind maps of the U.S. and found this, although it's for 30m which is above standard measuring height.  Still, the trends are worthwhile.  The Plains are a windy place, which I think is probably something that most weather enthusiasts are aware of.  But there's a zone of enhanced wind extending into IL/IN as well. I pulled up a map of forest coverage and it correlates pretty well to average wind speeds.  In essence, the more forested a place is, the less windy it is.  Can also pick out some relative minimums in more urban locations (Chicago is pretty noticeable) where there's more obstacles/friction. 

 

 

This explains the clustering of wind farms you see in north/central Illinois as well

[Jonger]

The tip of the thumb in Michigan has always had a bullseye on it for wind farms. There has been quite a bit of interest in allowing off shore wind farms in the great lakes. I think it's currently banned.