Winter '23-'24 Piss and Moan/Banter Thread

[RogueWaves]

7 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Check out this satirical article from the March 4, 1954 Detroit Free Press. It was published the day after a snowstorm (after a mild winter). Some things never change!

 

The part about CLE was no joke!

I once read old newspaper archives about snowstorms and one article mentioned a strong bomb-storm in 1873 that took a KIND->KAZO track.

[Brian D]

17 hours ago, CheeselandSkies said:

https://people.com/al-michaels-wont-call-nfl-playoffs-for-nbc-amid-criticism-8415276

They mentioned the World Series earthquake in SF. I remember that game (lack of one). Was in the Army in NJ at the post NCO/Enlisted Club (bar) sitting there starting to watch, when the announcers all of a sudden got confused/worried looks on their faces. "I think we are having an earthqu......" then fuzz (off air). That was random (or may have said bogus which was used more then  ). WTH! Found out a few minutes later with breaking news about the quake.

[hawkeye_wx]

To be honest, as much as I love heavy snow, this December has been pretty nice.  No blowing or back-straining shoveling, no bundling up, can wear Crocs outside, etc.  I actually kinda liked yesterday's light rain event.  Sure, I'll geek out the next time a big snowstorm approaches, but if this continued all winter, I would not hate it.  I guess this is what happens when you approach 50 years old.

[Lightning]

1 hour ago, hawkeye_wx said:

To be honest, as much as I love heavy snow, this December has been pretty nice.  No blowing or back-straining shoveling, no bundling up, can wear Crocs outside, etc.  I actually kinda liked yesterday's light rain event.  Sure, I'll geek out the next time a big snowstorm approaches, but if this continued all winter, I would not hate it.  I guess this is what happens when you approach 50 years old.

I am a few years over 50 myself and I will agree it has been nice to get out and walk the dog.  Plus now I have everything all set outside so I should be able to wait until May to do any more yard work.  I have been trying to get about 5 miles a day dog walk.  Got 5 miles in this morning before the rains picked up!!  Would have loved it if winter would set in just before 25th and onward so we could have a white Christmas but that not looking likely this year.  

[Brian D]

1 hour ago, hawkeye_wx said:

To be honest, as much as I love heavy snow, this December has been pretty nice.  No blowing or back-straining shoveling, no bundling up, can wear Crocs outside, etc.  I actually kinda liked yesterday's light rain event.  Sure, I'll geek out the next time a big snowstorm approaches, but if this continued all winter, I would not hate it.  I guess this is what happens when you approach 50 years old.

 

7 minutes ago, Lightning said:

I am a few years over 50 myself and I will agree it has been nice to get out and walk the dog.  Plus now I have everything all set outside so I should be able to wait until May to do any more yard work.  I have been trying to get about 5 miles a day dog walk.  Got 5 miles in this morning before the rains picked up!!  Would have loved it if winter would set in just before 25th and onward so we could have a white Christmas but that not looking likely this year.  

I'm in your camp.  Brutal winters have there interesting qualities from a geek perspective, but milder is nice too.  

[Chinook]

what is 103 knots on the Saffir-Simpson scale (which doesn't apply)? I forgot.

[buckeye]

5 hours ago, hawkeye_wx said:

To be honest, as much as I love heavy snow, this December has been pretty nice.  No blowing or back-straining shoveling, no bundling up, can wear Crocs outside, etc.  I actually kinda liked yesterday's light rain event.  Sure, I'll geek out the next time a big snowstorm approaches, but if this continued all winter, I would not hate it.  I guess this is what happens when you approach 50 years old.

 

3 hours ago, Lightning said:

I am a few years over 50 myself and I will agree it has been nice to get out and walk the dog.  Plus now I have everything all set outside so I should be able to wait until May to do any more yard work.  I have been trying to get about 5 miles a day dog walk.  Got 5 miles in this morning before the rains picked up!!  Would have loved it if winter would set in just before 25th and onward so we could have a white Christmas but that not looking likely this year.  

 

3 hours ago, Brian D said:

 

I'm in your camp.  Brutal winters have there interesting qualities from a geek perspective, but milder is nice too.  

Good to see others crossing over to the 'gray' side.  I'll always love extreme weather, especially winter storms, but as I get older I have more and more disdain for the cold.      

[CheeselandSkies]

what is 103 knots on the Saffir-Simpson scale (which doesn't apply)? I forgot.

Category 3, lol.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

[Chinook]

1 hour ago, CheeselandSkies said:

Category 3, lol.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk
 

there we go we have a category 3 non-surface wind non-hurricane, but impressive nonetheless. I wonder if the NWS wind warnings for such areas as Rhode Island will be too low with values of 60mph mentioned.

Edit: the latest HRRR has around 60kt for parts of New England, max gusts, and that is over 60mph, but also, probably overdone a bit.

[Chinook]

Here's something kind of neat. This storm's top analog for this evening's charts is 1/1/1987, also an El Nino winter. Would've been a washout for maybe New Years eve celebrations like it was a washout for Florida this morning

 

[Malacka11]

16 minutes ago, Chinook said:

Here's something kind of neat. This storm's top analog for this evening's charts is 1/1/1987, also an El Nino winter. Would've been a washout for maybe New Years eve celebrations like it was a washout for Florida this morning

 

Happen to be any historic big dogs in the Midwest that year?

[IWXwx]

I'm in agreement with those above.  If it's not going to be a doozy, I'll take the mild and dry. Maybe we should start a Geezer thread for those of us whose are looking for extreme weather, but don't root on every shortwave to become armegeddon.  Leave that to the younger weenies.

[King James]

"One sort of optional thing you might do is to realize that there are six seasons instead of four. The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time. I mean, spring doesn't feel like spring a lot of the time, and November is all wrong for autumn, and so on.

Here is the truth about the seasons: Spring is May and June. What could be springier than May and June? Summer is July and August. Really hot, right? Autumn is September and October. See the pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves? Next comes the season called Locking. November and December aren't winter. They're Locking. Next comes winter, January and February. Boy! Are they ever cold!

What comes next? Not spring. 'Unlocking' comes next. What else could cruel March and only slightly less cruel April be? March and April are not spring. They're Unlocking."

[Lightning]

3 hours ago, King James said:

"One sort of optional thing you might do is to realize that there are six seasons instead of four. The poetry of four seasons is all wrong for this part of the planet, and this may explain why we are so depressed so much of the time. I mean, spring doesn't feel like spring a lot of the time, and November is all wrong for autumn, and so on.

Here is the truth about the seasons: Spring is May and June. What could be springier than May and June? Summer is July and August. Really hot, right? Autumn is September and October. See the pumpkins? Smell those burning leaves? Next comes the season called Locking. November and December aren't winter. They're Locking. Next comes winter, January and February. Boy! Are they ever cold!

What comes next? Not spring. 'Unlocking' comes next. What else could cruel March and only slightly less cruel April be? March and April are not spring. They're Unlocking."

I just call them a bit different for my area.  May/June=Spring;  July/August=Summer;  Sept/Oct=Fall;  Nov/Dec=Boring; Jan/Feb=Winter; March/April=Miserable.  Though I will say they do tend to shift a bit as a season will start early or end late.

[Brian D]

21 hours ago, buckeye said:

 

 

Good to see others crossing over to the 'gray' side.  I'll always love extreme weather, especially winter storms, but as I get older I have more and more disdain for the cold.      

There are a few in my neck of the woods that become "snow birds" when they retire. Live here May-Oct, then head to AZ or FL ( or wherever) for the rest. It does get tougher to deal with cold, and snow as you age. I like living along the big water here because the wx is tempered a bit, and of course I grew up here, and all my family lives in the wider area in general. I have strong roots here, and couldn't afford to have to 2 homes, anyway.

[Lightning]

22 hours ago, buckeye said:

Good to see others crossing over to the 'gray' side.  I'll always love extreme weather, especially winter storms, but as I get older I have more and more disdain for the cold.      

 

5 hours ago, IWXwx said:

I'm in agreement with those above.  If it's not going to be a doozy, I'll take the mild and dry. Maybe we should start a Geezer thread for those of us whose are looking for extreme weather, but don't root on every shortwave to become armegeddon.  Leave that to the younger weenies.

 

58 minutes ago, Brian D said:

There are a few in my neck of the woods that become "snow birds" when they retire. Live here May-Oct, then head to AZ or FL ( or wherever) for the rest. It does get tougher to deal with cold, and snow as you age. I like living along the big water here because the wx is tempered a bit, and of course I grew up here, and all my family lives in the wider area in general. I have strong roots here, and couldn't afford to have to 2 homes, anyway.

I'll slightly modify buckeye's comment:  I'll always love extreme weather, especially winter storms & thunderstorms, but as I get older I have more and more disdain for boring snowless cold.      

If the weather is going to be active or extreme lets go; game on!!! Otherwise just give me some mild/warm sunny weather.

[Stevo6899]

23 hours ago, buckeye said:

 

 

Good to see others crossing over to the 'gray' side.  I'll always love extreme weather, especially winter storms, but as I get older I have more and more disdain for the cold.      

Yea im still a weenie at heart and will hop on a plane from Florida to Detroit for a snow event. Hate the cold, but love snowstorms lol.

[Frog Town]

If my memory serves me correctly, wasn't 2015-16 a Winter where the cold was always two weeks away but ended up staying on the other side of globe all winter??  I also remember a constant modeled SSWE that always threatened but never really materialized.  Am I getting the right Winter??

 

This one is starting to feel a lot like that one...

[SchaumburgStormer]

7 minutes ago, Frog Town said:

If my memory serves me correctly, wasn't 2015-16 a Winter where the cold was always two weeks away but ended up staying on the other side of globe all winter??  I also remember a constant modeled SSWE that always threatened but never really materialized.  Am I getting the right Winter??

 

This one is starting to feel a lot like that one...

2015-2016 was abysmal if I recall correctly. Was the first of 2 back to back sub-20" winters, and I don't think I got my first inch of snow until late January. 

[Lightning]

2015-16.  I believe it was horrible for many on this board but not MBY.  It was a great snowfall winter (Nov - April).   December was the only bad month for winter weather.   No surprise there 

[michsnowfreak]

1 hour ago, Frog Town said:

If my memory serves me correctly, wasn't 2015-16 a Winter where the cold was always two weeks away but ended up staying on the other side of globe all winter??  I also remember a constant modeled SSWE that always threatened but never really materialized.  Am I getting the right Winter??

 

This one is starting to feel a lot like that one...

That winter saw a big early season snowstorm in Nov, a torch in Dec, and more up and down in Jan though several cold snaps and snows. I don't recall what models had. It's enough to keep them straight now, nevermind what they showed 8 years ago lol.

[Frog Town]

Thanks for the feedback.  This Winter just seems to resonate similar to that Winter so far, but I hope that changes.  

[RogueWaves]

6 hours ago, Frog Town said:

If my memory serves me correctly, wasn't 2015-16 a Winter where the cold was always two weeks away but ended up staying on the other side of globe all winter??  I also remember a constant modeled SSWE that always threatened but never really materialized.  Am I getting the right Winter??

 

This one is starting to feel a lot like that one...

That almost sounds like 11-12 (which all seasonal outlooks were predicting "worst winter in history" due to prior 4 years of heavy winters). Obviously, the law of averages was against a 5th such winter. As said about 15-16, while it was a pretty mild winter, some of us cashed-in nicely like mby at 116% of average. December was the only truly bad month, but even it featured that strong sleet storm late in the month. 

[Brian D]

On 12/18/2023 at 12:57 PM, Lightning said:

 

 

I'll slightly modify buckeye's comment:  I'll always love extreme weather, especially winter storms & thunderstorms, but as I get older I have more and more disdain for boring snowless cold.      

If the weather is going to be active or extreme lets go; game on!!! Otherwise just give me some mild/warm sunny weather.

Winter storms with near blizzard/blizzard conditions are very cool. Don't get me wrong, still a wx weenie, there's just the practical stuff that goes with it that gets harder as you age. I remember last winter we had a thunder sleet event with pea sized sleet. That was really cool!  

[Lightning]

3 hours ago, Brian D said:

Winter storms with near blizzard/blizzard conditions are very cool. Don't get me wrong, still a wx weenie, there's just the practical stuff that goes with it that gets harder as you age. I remember last winter we had a thunder sleet event with pea sized sleet. That was really cool!  

I know what you mean.  I figure I eventually will have to pay one of the neighbor kids to do my driveway but I have several years to go before that happens ( ).  

Last year I had the biggest mostly sleet (mixed with a little ice) event I have personally seen (while just to my south was getting a major ice storm).  Boy that was a bugger to clean off the driveway.    

[IWXwx]

1 hour ago, Lightning said:

I know what you mean.  I figure I eventually will have to pay one of the neighbor kids to do my driveway but I have several years to go before that happens ( ).  

Last year I had the biggest mostly sleet (mixed with a little ice) event I have personally seen (while just to my south was getting a major ice storm).  Boy that was a bugger to clean off the driveway.    

No matter how many times you yell at them, "Get off my lawn!!!" in the summer, they'll still shovel your driveway in the winter if you flash the cash.

[roardog]

1 hour ago, Lightning said:

I know what you mean.  I figure I eventually will have to pay one of the neighbor kids to do my driveway but I have several years to go before that happens ( ).  

Last year I had the biggest mostly sleet (mixed with a little ice) event I have personally seen (while just to my south was getting a major ice storm).  Boy that was a bugger to clean off the driveway.    

I think the most sleet I’ve ever seen was early April 2003. The previous night was an ice storm while everyone to the south was getting just rain. The next night everyone to the south was getting an ice storm while I was getting buried in sleet. I remember there was at least two or three inches of sleet. It stuck around for a while too even though it was April. 
 

‘83,’03,’07,’16 were all Ninos that had a real wintry period in early April. Will ‘24 join that list?

[Lightning]

10 hours ago, roardog said:

I think the most sleet I’ve ever seen was early April 2003. The previous night was an ice storm while everyone to the south was getting just rain. The next night everyone to the south was getting an ice storm while I was getting buried in sleet. I remember there was at least two or three inches of sleet. It stuck around for a while too even though it was April. 
 

‘83,’03,’07,’16 were all Ninos that had a real wintry period in early April. Will ‘24 join that list?

I didn't realize that second wave there was all sleet.  Cool to know!! 

I wouldn't be surprise this year to see a bigger April event than the last few years.  

[OrdIowPitMsp]

The past 6 years of seasonal snowfall in Minneapolis. Average is 54”

22/23 - 90.7”

21/22 - 50.2”

20/21 - 48.7”

19/20 - 51.5”

18/19 - 77.1”

17/18 - 78.3”

We are due for a clunker. 

[Chinook]

this ridge is 99th percentile