Banter Thread

[frazdaddy]

1 hour ago, magpiemaniac said:

Canes chances have improved over the past week especially considering that some of the guys are waking up and a few other eastern teams are slumping.  I bet some team will miss the WC2 slot on a tiebreaker.  It’s going to be close.

I agree, I'll catch you in the game thread later sir!

[magpiemaniac]

 

[yotaman]

Well all NC public schools are now closed for the next 2 weeks per order of Gov. Cooper.

[magpiemaniac]

It seems like the Southeastern forum has been the least active regional forum lately.  Our weather must really be boring.  Gee, I wish we had a current event to discuss.  Nothing comes to mind.  

[calculus1]

Yep, this place is dead, understandably so.  Not only is the weather rather mundane, but we have an international crisis occupying most people's attention.  Oh, to have a snowstorm to distract us...

[yotaman]

Scored a pack of toilet paper today. Right place at the right time. Feels like I won the lottery. LOL

[magpiemaniac]

17 minutes ago, yotaman said:

Scored a pack of toilet paper today. Right place at the right time. Feels like I won the lottery. LOL

Congratulations!  I found some ground beef and chicken this morning.  Limit of two per customer.

[Justicebork]

Is this the right forum to ask if global warming will save us through buying us some extra time this Spring and Summer?  Asking for a friend.

[yotaman]

5 hours ago, magpiemaniac said:

Congratulations!  I found some ground beef and chicken this morning.  Limit of two per customer.

And to go to 2 stores just to find some chicken. All lunch meat, bacon, potatoes and of course toilet paper are gone. I found the toilet paper at a hardware store.

 

[jburns]

FYI If you want to discuss all the things going on with the virus but understandably do not want to go over to the political board there is a kinder gentler thread running now in our off topic section. 

[kvegas-wx]

First sunburn of the season on Belews Lake today.  Stunning early spring weather!

[magpiemaniac]

The covid-19 thread in the Off Topic forum disappeared.  Did that thread get too rowdy while I was away?

With all this leisure time, I’ve been reading and watching more news and interviews.  (Kill me.)  Several things I’ve noticed especially among people in their 20s and 30s:

• ”Super” is being used excessively as an adverb.  People are now “super excited” or something is now considered “super easy”.  Please stop this madness.
• “New normal.”  Ugh.  New normal is yesterday’s “seeking closure”.
• Inability to annunciate some T sounds in words like important or mountains.  I’m hearing a lot of “em-poor-uhn” or “mao-uhns”.

[jburns]

On 3/21/2020 at 11:23 PM, kvegas-wx said:

First sunburn of the season on Belews Lake today.  Stunning early spring weather!

I didn’t close it but, it quickly morphed into bat-shit-crazy.

[goldsborosnow]

This is NOT a valid image, but I am trying to figure out where this type of warning/watch product is generated or produced? Is it some type of app, or is it something sent out by NWS?  I've seen these products posted on Americanwx before, so I was hoping someone on here cold tell me how to get or produce these graphics. Thanks in advance for any help.

[magpiemaniac]

There’s something sort of sickening when people are almost cheering for catastrophic weather in others’ backyards just for the rubbernecking novelty of it.  WTF is wrong with people?  This planet has had enough crap to deal with lately.  Don’t be bummed out if your tornadocalypse doesn’t pan out like you had hoped.

[lilj4425]

I’m here.  

[yotaman]

Picked up .44" with the passage of those storms. Had Tornado warnings for us but actually got very little wind out of it. Had much higher gusts long before the storms came thru. Was out walking my pups when one particular gust actually stopped me in my tracks. Heard a loud crack and saw a very large branch fall from a tree and 50 yards away from me. Currently 67/65 with winds in the 20 mph + range once again.

[Chinook]

Yesterday was the 9-year anniversary of some terrible tornadoes in NC, including this one that went through the city of Raleigh. I downloaded some data from NOAA to make this map. I hope this never happens again. The year of 2011 just had a way of making tornadoes go through cities.

[magpiemaniac]

The April 19th Severe Event thread is full of interlopers I’ve never seen before.  It’s the weather equivalent to rubbernecking.  I appreciate the insight from several of them.  Others, not so much.

[Solak]

1 hour ago, magpiemaniac said:

The April 19th Severe Event thread is full of interlopers I’ve never seen before.  It’s the weather equivalent to rubbernecking.  I appreciate the insight from several of them.  Others, not so much.

I guess if the storms won't come to them, they flock to the storms. 4/12 was the same way. Lots of new 'faces' in the forum.

[Moderately Unstable]

2 hours ago, magpiemaniac said:

The April 19th Severe Event thread is full of interlopers I’ve never seen before.  It’s the weather equivalent to rubbernecking.  I appreciate the insight from several of them.  Others, not so much.

It's a public forum, not a professional forecasting office. The point is to discuss things, learn, and make mistakes. Also, websites like this operate based on ad revenue. They're expensive, and need eyes and participants. There are plenty of private weather chats you can join on social media apps. If you want only expert guidance, there are many better sources. Bring people in, educate, correct, and comment. 

[goldsborosnow]

I enjoy their commentary on the severe weather.  Theres lots of knowledge being dispensed in that thread.

[magpiemaniac]

23 minutes ago, Moderately Unstable said:

It's a public forum, not a professional forecasting office. The point is to discuss things, learn, and make mistakes. Also, websites like this operate based on ad revenue. They're expensive, and need eyes and participants. There are plenty of private weather chats you can join on social media apps. If you want only expert guidance, there are many better sources. Bring people in, educate, correct, and comment. 

I assume you don’t visit the Southeastern forum during one of our (increasingly rare) winter storm threads.

[magpiemaniac]

19 minutes ago, goldsborosnow said:

I enjoy their commentary on the severe weather.  Theres lots of knowledge being dispensed in that thread.

Yes, there are several providing some good information.  And there are a few wasting electrons.

[lilj4425]

I have a belly button.  

[Moderately Unstable]

39 minutes ago, magpiemaniac said:

I assume you don’t visit the Southeastern forum during one of our (increasingly rare) winter storm threads.

Not relevant. As I said, public forum. If you have a problem with that, there are other places you can chat with folks. Being derogatory doesn't help anyone. First, remember that folks have different specialities. I have a degree in meteorology, and have taught classes on it. Have you? In school, you can take different tracks, and the higher you go, the more you specialize. The skills for forecasting summer severe wx are different than for winter. Also, remember--there are MANY worse ways for someone interested in 'rubbernecking' to spend time than to chat about something on a forum (see YouTube for your assortment of people driving through bad weather and oggling the carnage). At the end of the day, most people who get into meteorology, don't do so because they hate severe weather. That has nothing to do with wanting people to be hurt by weather though. No one wants people to die. But, I'll just be blunt, I didn't go into this field because I was excited by calm sunny days! Definitely, absolutely, not worth all the calculus, physics, chemistry, comp sci, technical writing, misanthropic compatriates and starting pay less than a school bus driver...etc. Sorry, if that's mean. This is the wrong place to be if you're not trying to see people be impressed by bad weather. Be kind, and be grateful people that have knowledge are willing to discuss and share it at all. 80%+ of my met friends are not on this forum. There is a good reason for that. When they're done for the day, they are DONE for the day. I always try to help people when I can, and learn when I don't know. Remember that we are all human, we are not that different, and you'll be much less angry about the world if you try approaching new people with some kindness. Cultivate empathy. Else, you'll go mad. I'd rather personally, and have others, be here, than IN those storms, hopefully you agree. 

[SharonA]

Glad to be getting nice soaking rains in spring, but we could do without the tornados, OK?  After missing the first couple of months of the pre-last-date-of-average-frost seed starts period, I'm playing catchup.

 

The garden centers are being stripped bare of seeds that normally languish until they go on 75%-off in October to be snatched up by people willing to risk they won't be viable for spring 2021.

 

And I'm getting the usual frustrations:  Salvia coccinea at $1 for a ten-year-supply of seeds is popping up at near-100% germination, meanwhile 30-some Scarlet Runner Beans are *zero* .. suspecting both bean packets (from different suppliers, but same store of purchase) got left out in a seriously-freezing-cold night or something grrrr.  Of course, it's the Scarlet Runners that can't be found at any local store and the online suppliers have 2-6 week delays because they're overloaded.

 

 

[landof2rivers]

Is Blacksburg unable to update for some reason? The HWO hasn’t changed since 6:03 AM today and it didn’t update yesterday or maybe the day before more than almost 12 hours. I thought it usually had 2 updates in a 24 hour period.

[Solak]

NOAA NWS National Hurricane Center

15 mins ·

Today we announce the retirement of senior hurricane specialist Dr. Lixion Avila. "Lix" issued countless forecasts for hurricanes that included names like Gilbert, Andrew, Katrina, Wilma, Michael and Dorian. Now after 33 years of federal service, all of it at the National Hurricane Center, he's ready to enjoy the next chapter in his life. We will miss our friend and colleague, and wish him well!

In this interview, he reflects on his career at NHC: https://www.weather.gov/careers/meteorology-avila-lixion

[Anonmet_GSO]

Not sure the best forum to post these questions/thoughts so here I am, and here goes.

Posting this on May 5th after an exhaustive search for April NC average temperature departure from normal and I'm looking in the wrong places or it's not published.

Question: There are many AmWx threads dedicated to forecasted weather, daily observations, severe wx,  but am I the only one who thinks a Historic Wx forum that posts data such as prior month/year temperature departures, rainfall departures etc. would be of great interest?

This forum could also include a place for paid and amateur Mets/enthusiasts to restate what they forecast and why and what verified and why the departure from the forecast happened. 

I think this could be especially helpful to learn from winter wx under or non-performing events which happen a lot.  Why?

Meteorologists like Matthew East are excellent examples of Mets who do not hide from busted forecasts - instead, he uses them as a teachable moment to share his thoughts on a) here's what I thought, and why and b) here is what happened and why. 

Of course on-air time is limited but just a few words that address what most curious, even angry, viewers are thinking to at least use the busted package to teach the public about the inexact science of forecasting.  

I've been there when a winter storm warning is posted and cold rain results, then, the next on-air wx segment uses my most dreaded phrase used by Mets "we dodged a bullet."

Really interested to read what others think about these ideas.

One day I hope to have a home wx station to plot my data and post to Wx Underground...come to think of it, that may be where I should search for April departure values.

Thanks.