Fall/Winter 2018-19 Complaint/Banter Thread

[Hoosier]

3 minutes ago, zinski1990 said:

I agree. It seems like the Southeast sub, Mid Atlantic, Northeast, and West all have us beat. The only comparable forum is probably the Tennessee Valley. Again like someone else said it is a good and a bad thing. I'm glad that we don't have a million posts every 5 minutes but again sometimes it is just dead and the same few of us try and get the chat going again.

Maybe you meant New England instead of West?  

[hlcater]

17 minutes ago, Hoosier said:

Maybe you meant New England instead of West?  

Yea the central/west is a ghost town. Even on big severe days there's really only 9 or 10 people that post. Same goes for winter, just a largely different set. By far the quietest sub. 

[Jackstraw]

1 hour ago, Snowless in Carrollton said:

There are way many more people in the midwest than there are in the Mid-Atlantic, yet the Mid Atlantic has double the number of posts. Guess there arent a lot of weather weenies in this part of the country. Even when there isnt a big storm on the horizon,  that forum is pretty active.This forum is a snoozer compared to even the southeast, which also has over 100,000 more posts than the midwest.

Sure there are in the geographic carving of this board, I never said there weren't.  I said density.  You also said NE AND Mid Atlantic.  Combining the East coast bias of this board (it was originally Eastern Wx and manifest destined its way west to American Wx) with the fact that due to natural storm tracks a single event will tend to affect a greater population of the subs you mention than a single event in this sub. You're naturally going to get more IMBY posts from those subs.  The late Nov. storm here was boring IMBY but was a big deal to the NW.  A gulf hurricane such as Michael will affect nearly every state in the SE sub.  The tornadoes of 2013 here only affected parts of 2 states for the most part yet it was one of the biggest fall tornado outbreaks in history.  I mean just the NYC sub has almost twice as many posts as all the other subs, is their weather all that exciting?  Density, IMBY posts.  Perhaps I misunderstood your Midwest is boring comment.

[Jackstraw]

Compare this map to the natural tracks of storms across the conus...

[hlcater]

37 minutes ago, Jackstraw said:

Sure there are in the geographic carving of this board, I never said there weren't.  I said density.  You also said NE AND Mid Atlantic.  Combining the East coast bias of this board (it was originally Eastern Wx and manifest destined its way west to American Wx) with the fact that due to natural storm tracks a single event will tend to affect a greater population of the subs you mention than a single event in this sub. You're naturally going to get more IMBY posts from those subs.  The late Nov. storm here was boring IMBY but was a big deal to the NW.  A gulf hurricane such as Michael will affect nearly every state in the SE sub.  The tornadoes of 2013 here only affected parts of 2 states for the most part yet it was one of the biggest fall tornado outbreaks in history.  I mean just the NYC sub has almost twice as many posts as all the other subs, is their weather all that exciting?  Density, IMBY posts.  Perhaps I misunderstood your Midwest is boring comment.

2

lol I love that

[hawkeye_wx]

I don't mind that this forum may not be exceptionally busy.  I like to read what everyone has to say, and I really don't want to find hundreds of new posts every time I visit.  If that was the case, I'd probably skip over a bunch of posts and end up missing some good commentary.

[Stebo]

I am glad we don't post as much as NE or SE. Both have useless characters posting all day long trivial stuff that they feel they need to repeat and it drowns out the actual important posts. We do a great job here when there is something important to track, case in point the last 2 weekend storms. Quality over quantity is always a great motto we have had here. All the more reason why we don't have problems with endless weenies asking foolish questions because 99% of the time the information is already said before it is asked.

[Stebo]

2 hours ago, hlcater said:

lol I love that

That actually is true though, Eastern was east coast focused, so much so that when the forum expanded they had to make subforums. This region would have a thread but it would get buried by threads for every 50 feet up the east coast for areas that ended up getting rain.

[Stebo]

1 hour ago, hawkeye_wx said:

I don't mind that this forum may not be exceptionally busy.  I like to read what everyone has to say, and I really don't want to find hundreds of new posts every time I visit.  If that was the case, I'd probably skip over a bunch of posts and end up missing some good commentary.

Yep exactly how I feel. I like the smaller group feel because we all feed off each other when posting and it is a really smart group, both amateurs and meteorologists.

[Chambana]

I love the feel of our sub. It’s a tight knit community with lots of great analysis. I love that the sub isn’t drowning in nonsense posting. Every morning I grab my coffee, and instantly jump on to read what everyone is saying. I’ve learned so much from my time here, and I’m grateful for you guys.

 

As as far as the Midwest being boring, I totally disagree with you. Sure a lot of us are flat with cornfields, but we have some of the most dramatic weather across the country. 100’s in the summer during a boiling heatwave to negative teens during an arctic outbreak. Severe weather outbreaks in the spring, to monster blizzards in the winter. 

[zinski1990]

17 minutes ago, Chambana said:

I love the feel of our sub. It’s a tight knit community with lots of great analysis. I love that the sub isn’t drowning in nonsense posting. Every morning I grab my coffee, and instantly jump on to read what everyone is saying. I’ve learned so much from my time here, and I’m grateful for you guys.

 

As as far as the Midwest being boring, I totally disagree with you. Sure a lot of us are flat with cornfields, but we have some of the most dramatic weather across the country. 100’s in the summer during a boiling heatwave to negative teens during an arctic outbreak. Severe weather outbreaks in the spring, to monster blizzards in the winter. 

I like this forum too. I was wrong too lol I did use the wrong name. The west forum is definitely slow. The Tennessee Valley one only has like 36000 total posts. I dont know if it's just newer or if they mix in with the southeast sub. 

[michsnowfreak]

15 hours ago, hlcater said:

I like the slower threads here, to be honest. This place has some good posters with lots of good things to say. Whereas in some of those big threads that are flying at a mile per minute, lots of the people with good, constructive things to say get drowned out by people that seem like they're just posting for the sake of posting. I'd rather have quality over quantity. Not saying there aren't good posters over there(because there are) but it seems like they're the minority -- especially in bigger events.

Agree 100%. As you said there are some knowledgeable posters. The New England forum is certainly the 1st to start hounding on what Winter will be like (they do that in like June lol) so i pop in there occasionally but often it's just way too much to sift through all the junk and clutter in their threads to get to the actual meat so I just pass

[michsnowfreak]

12 hours ago, Jackstraw said:

  You're seriously going to compare the Midwest with the NE/Mid Atlantic areas which are the most densely populated areas of the country?  Sorry, I perused the SE boards for many years (still do) when I lived there and if there wasn't a cane or a severe outbreak there wasn't a whole lot to talk about except 95 75 every day during the summer and 40 and rain during the winter.  Sure they got a good snow storm last year and again this year.  It was a pretty "boring" board outside of that last winter.  I can guarantee you if  Cat 3 was ready to make landfall in Chicago the thread would crash this site.  When we get our once or twice a decade "Big Dog" you'll see the lurkers come out.  A 6" snow isn't "that" big of a deal around here.  I think you'll find that the posting here is petty consistent throughout the year no matter the weather extremes, something I really like. And btw, just because you live in a geographic area doesn't limit you to your posts or anything else.  I post and read other areas of the country where I've lived and am familiar with the weather.   Don't judge just because it hasn't happened in the couple years you've been here.

Edit:  You have the right to your opinion and it is respected, kinda a "Midwest" thing.  But for someone that's supposedly from the deep south you certainly sound like a Carpetbagger when you post something like that.  Just rubbed me the wrong way being born in the midwest but spent more than half my life in the deep south.  Peace 

Good post and excellent point about a 6" snowfall not being a big deal. We certainly will enjoy it and we certainly will be posting when it happens but there is no need for a 1000+ post thread just because something shows up on the models a week out. Rare snow in the deep South is absolute Comedy Central material for us in here in the North while watching people get stranded and having their commutes take 12 hours to get through 1" of snow.  And even though the mid Atlantic every handful of years gets a massive new englandesque storm, the Midwest and Great Lakes out-snowstorms them by a ton.  And I would not worry about the Midwest's alleged reputation as being boring.  Each state has redeeming qualities and I know first hand that tourism is huge here in Michigan.  It's also comical seeing this on a weatherboard come up because where do you get more extreme changeable weather and change of seasons then the Midwest? Sure as HELL not the deep south or midatlantic. That "boring" reputation primarily comes from elitists on either the East or West Coast stereotyping, and if you think for one minute that they dont stereotype the deep south...l-o-l.

[HighTechEE]

I say it every winter:  Its pretty bad when southern states gets more snow in one storm that we do THE ENTIRE WINTER! (and their max rate per hour is more than 95% of our snow system totals!!!).

[Powerball]

13 hours ago, Snowless in Carrollton said:

There are way many more people in the midwest than there are in the Mid-Atlantic, yet the Mid Atlantic has double the number of posts. Guess there arent a lot of weather weenies in this part of the country. Even when there isnt a big storm on the horizon,  that forum is pretty active.This forum is a snoozer compared to even the southeast, which also has over 100,000 more posts than the midwest.

I disagree with the bolded.

90% of the Southeast forum is filled with people from NC/SC. And while I'm sure most of them are fine people and I don't mean to be rude about this, in large part the extent of their discussion is either whining about the Summer heat/humidity or hyping up snow (which is crazy to me given their climo, but to each his/her own).

In Georgia, a state of over 10 million, there's a grand total of 3 semi-active posters in that subforum and then 1 additional poster who only posts occasionally, 3 of which are in Metro Atlanta (the 3rd fastest growing place in the country with 6 million people and counting) and 1 of whom is a mod. And even those users are more often than not MIA when there are severe weather events in the Summer (which is their perrogative). I have yet to see any posters from MS/AL/TN/FL.

The Midwest subforum isn't perfect, and I can't speak on the Mid-Atlantic forum, but at least the geography of the posters in this region is evenly spread throughout the entire region and there's always an active group of posters tracking severe weather events AND winter storms. There are also more meteorologists on this subforum too (although, admittingly, some of them are too quiet and the others may not be the most professional).

[Snowless in Carrollton]

1 hour ago, HighTechEE said:

I say it every winter:  Its pretty bad when southern states gets more snow in one storm that we do THE ENTIRE WINTER! (and their max rate per hour is more than 95% of our snow system totals!!!). 

I think the south is in a better location for extreme snow events due to their proximity to the ocean. Outside of the Lake Effect snow region, you just don't see a lot of big snows in the midwest, especially the area of the midwest I am in. The biggest snow we saw last winter was 4" !! I saw 8" in GA last December and there was a foot just 10 miles away lol.  And now the south is getting another huge snowstorm. It's amazing how many cold and cloudy days this part of the country gets, but doesn't get a lot of snow to show for it.

[Powerball]

20 hours ago, zinski1990 said:

no, It sucks here. We never get a good widespread storm anymore. I bet it was up there though for GHD 2011 and some in 2014 but I haven't seen one since joining a few years ago

One thing I do miss is when I would get hit by a decent/severe t'storm or experience impressive weather (I.E. record-breaking heat), or (more often than not) when I would bitch about a weather event going wrong, there would always be other posters in the Detroit area or the general IL/OH/IN/MI/WI area who came along within hours and respond with something (even if it was nothing more than a smart ass remark from certain individuals).

Down here, majority of the time, I'm literally saying "Bueller...? Bueller...?", because the folks in the Carolinas don't really give much of a **** about GA weather.

You may think it sucks, but the grass isn't always greener.

[Snowless in Carrollton]

2 minutes ago, Powerball said:

One thing I do miss is when I would get hit by a decent/severe t'storm or experiencing impressive weather, like record-breaking heat, there would always be other posters in the Detroit area or the general IL/OH/IN/MI/WI area who came along within hours and respond with something (even if it was nothing more than a smart ass remark from certain individuals).

Down here, majority of the time, I'm literally saying "Bueller...? Bueller...?", because the folks in the Carolina don't really give much of a **** about GA weather. 

Yoy may think it sucks, but the grass isn't always greener.

there is another weather forum that talks a lot about severe weather. It has a lot of AL and GA posters.

[Snowless in Carrollton]

You just dont get a lot of bang for your buck here. Given the amount of cold this part of the country gets, and with the huge Gulf to the south supplying copious amounts of moisture, I would figure 50" per year would be easily attainable around here. The East Coasters get less cold but often get more snow. Plus they get more sunshine in winter too, which is a plus in my book. And before someone tells me that if i dont like it here i should move to the east coast, the answer is NO. Ive visited the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and I find midwesterners to be nicer. I will say that I do like southerners better but maybe thats because I am from the south. 

[Powerball]

50 minutes ago, Snowless in Carrollton said:

You just dont get a lot of bang for your buck here. Given the amount of cold this part of the country gets, and with the huge Gulf to the south supplying copious amounts of moisture, I would figure 50" per year would be easily attainable around here. The East Coasters get less cold but often get more snow. Plus they get more sunshine in winter too, which is a plus in my book. And before someone tells me that if i dont like it here i should move to the east coast, the answer is NO. Ive visited the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and I find midwesterners to be nicer. I will say that I do like southerners better but maybe thats because I am from the south. 

Another thing to keep in mind too is that weather occurs in cycles.

I know you've only been there a short time, but the past few years up there in general have been nothing to write home about in terms of big storms/extreme weather because the overall pattern has not been favorable (I'm sure at least partially due to the solar minimum). I think you just arrived to the region at an unlucky time for a weather enthusiast.

That said, things were really on and popping around here during the roughly 2006 - 2011 time frame, while east coasters were practically about to jump off cliffs because the big storms kept cutting NW of them. Specifically, during the 2007 - 2009 window, there was virtualy significant weather for us to track every single day, whether it was severe weather, LES or a snow/ice storm. And I'm sure the region will experience a similar pattern again at some point in the future.

[zinski1990]

yah the period from 04-09 was the best. So many good storms 

[Jackstraw]

Well at least we can live vicariously in these modern time.  l will say big snows in the Blue Ridge are something speial to experience.

http://www.resortcams.com/webcams/king-street-boone/

[Hoosier]

1 hour ago, Snowless in Carrollton said:

You just dont get a lot of bang for your buck here. Given the amount of cold this part of the country gets, and with the huge Gulf to the south supplying copious amounts of moisture, I would figure 50" per year would be easily attainable around here. The East Coasters get less cold but often get more snow. Plus they get more sunshine in winter too, which is a plus in my book. And before someone tells me that if i dont like it here i should move to the east coast, the answer is NO. Ive visited the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and I find midwesterners to be nicer. I will say that I do like southerners better but maybe thats because I am from the south. 

I don't disagree that the snowfall averages are less than what you would think for this part of the country, considering that it can snow for basically a third or more of the year.  That being said, we are still a good 700-800 miles from the Gulf (maybe more in my case).  The east coast often gets a moisture supply from multiple bodies of water, not just the Atlantic Ocean, and they have the thermal gradient with the ocean that makes it easier to get deeper systems.  We can get Atlantic moisture thrown back into the Midwest/Ohio Valley but it's not as common.  

[AppsRunner]

On 12/7/2018 at 8:18 PM, Stebo said:

Yeah if he thinks the UP is boring, he needs drive across Iowa or Nebraska.

I drove an Ames to DVN round trip yesterday. It wasn't fun. Although I still think NW Illinois (anything past Joliet on I-80) is my least favorite place to drive. At least most of Iowa has some small hills to look at, IL was just flat. 

[Hoosier]

SIC, here's a map I put together in 2012 that shows the biggest snowstorm in various cities.  Since then, Springfield IL set a new record for biggest snowstorm (18.5" in late March 2013)... I think they are the only one but not sure.  

You can see what appears to be a bit of a dead zone where you are, but do keep in mind that some of it comes down to luck... like there was a storm in 1982 that produced 2 feet just east of St. Louis.

[Snowless in Carrollton]

I must say that I am really enjoying the sunshine lately. I think I have already seen more sun in Dec than all of Nov combined !

[Snowless in Carrollton]

I am on my way to Fort Wayne. Will be my first time visiting.

[Jackstraw]

1 hour ago, Snowless in Carrollton said:

I am on my way to Fort Wayne. Will be my first time visiting.

Don't know how long you'll be there but we always try to hit the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory especially around Xmas it's pretty cool.

PS: When you first came to this forum I told you the weather around here can send you to the looney bin lol.

[Indystorm]

Thanks for that Boone N.C. webcam JackStraw.  Having visited Boone and Grandfather Mountain I can say that the street looks fairly well plowed for the amount of snow which they have.

[IWXwx]

I lol when the point forecast algorithm does this. Can you say wintry mix?

Wednesday

A chance of rain and snow before 2pm, then a chance of rain between 2pm and 3pm, then a chance of rain and snow after 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 38. Chance of precipitation is 30%.

 

Wednesday Night

Rain likely, possibly mixed with snow before 7pm, then rain likely between 7pm and 3am, then a chance of rain and snow after 3am. Cloudy, with a low around 32. Chance of precipitation is 60%.

 

Thursday

A chance of snow before 7am, then a chance of rain after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 40. Chance of precipitation is 30%.