January 2024 Banter

[MacChump]

1 hour ago, Scarlet Pimpernel said:

 

saw spamalot over the holidays, very funny and my daughters loved it (made them watch holy grail first), highly recommend

[H2O]

All these kids today are softies.  Schools out for a slight breeze?!!  WTF?

 

See back in my day not only did we go to school every day, we went in all sorts of weather.  We went during a hurricane one time.  My parents made me walk to school anchored down with two cinder blocks I had to drag behind me so that I wouldn't blow away.  And if the creek was high I had to hold the cinder blocks over my head as I fjorded the crick.  And not get my dog eaten homework wet.  

And then when it snowed, we had 6' drifts that we walked in.  Half the class got lost in the snow and had to make snow caves to survive until crews in horse drawn wagons could come by and get them out.  I survived off beech nuts that squirrels buried.  We didn't have the luxury of roads sprayed with beet juice.  That was our drinks Ma put in our lunches cause it was a known antifreeze to help us with hypothermia.  

And for flooding rains we had to go to school in our gondolas that we worked down the canals we dug in the summers when the droughts hit.  

F*cking kids today.  

[North Balti Zen]

If this were a landfalling tropical storm or hurricane I would totally not have said anything, I guess my confusion stems from the fact that, and I am pretty positive about this, there have been literally at least several dozen or more high wind warning days unrelated to landfalling systems since I moved to the Baltimore area in 2009 and I do not remotely recall this kind of response to any of those other days. It is just...befuddling, that's all. I don't begrudge anyone leaving school early. Hell, I am pretty sure I just authorized closing our office at 2:30. But...it is still confusing to me, I guess.  

[vastateofmind]

1 hour ago, North Balti Zen said:

Dear lord, my boss just asked me if we should give thought to letting people go early today (apparently my status as default official weather person is now more official for the office). I don't even know what to say at this point.

I am gonna say...yes, to be safe. 

I guess. 

I mean, I am still so confused. 

So, I'm always that crochety dude yelling about how kids get a day off from school due mainly to a HINT of bad wx. (Sometimes @mattie gwill join me in the chorus!) I started to think that about these early school dismissals this afternoon, but after reading about potential conditions ON and NEAR the bay later today and other analyses here, I think the early dismissals are warranted (esp in terms of potential flooding).

For us big people commuting to/from work places...based on the timing, I do believe evening rush will be impacted if the worst scenario of wind/rain materializes. Just cushion it with "There's a good chance that XXXX scenario will materialize..." and gently encourage the early dismissal. You're lucky to have a boss (like my own!) who will even consider such options!

[North Balti Zen]

Ima gonna let it go. Safety first. 

 

I guess I am gonna expect some EJ style tree damage now though, gonna need to see reports of whole forests down. My expectations are raised for weather carnage. 

[Maestrobjwa]

Now see, I was due at the school in Balt Co. I play for at 9:30. Of course the decision to close 3 hours earlt comes down 8 minutes before that when I already drove there....man I knew that was gonna happen  Wasted trip (although I did have another brief errand in the area)...ah well, I'm going home and going back to bed, lol

[vastateofmind]

23 minutes ago, H2O said:

All these kids today are softies.  Schools out for a slight breeze?!!  WTF?

See back in my day not only did we go to school every day, we went in all sorts of weather.  We went during a hurricane one time.  My parents made me walk to school anchored down with two cinder blocks I had to drag behind me so that I wouldn't blow away.  And if the creek was high I had to hold the cinder blocks over my head as I fjorded the crick.  And not get my dog eaten homework wet.  

And then when it snowed, we had 6' drifts that we walked in.  Half the class got lost in the snow and had to make snow caves to survive until crews in horse drawn wagons could come by and get them out.  I survived off beech nuts that squirrels buried.  We didn't have the luxury of roads sprayed with beet juice.  That was our drinks Ma put in our lunches cause it was a known antifreeze to help us with hypothermia.  

And for flooding rains we had to go to school in our gondolas that we worked down the canals we dug in the summers when the droughts hit.  

F*cking kids today.  

LOL. Just saw this, AFTER replying to @North Balti Zen.    I'll admit that, having grown up "enduring" 22 (usually) bone-chilling, snowy winters in the northcentral PA mountains, I'm a little biased as to what the kiddies can or should handle in terms of getting to/from school.

True story...my school bus skidded off the road in the aftermath of a morning ice storm on the way to HS in my senior year. Driver told us to unload the bus and we were instructed to trudge -- Uphill! And in ice/snow! -- the final 1/4 mile to the HS. Oh, the humanity. Told my parents about it when I got home and they were all, "Okay...but you sure as hell better NOT have flunked that calc test today!"   

Having said that....it does get a little wearisome that Fairfax County Public Schools close schools for things like a high UV forecast. Okay, they haven't done that (yet) but just give it time. I'm astounded they haven't made a call yet for early dismissal today.

[H2O]

8 minutes ago, vastateofmind said:

LOL. Just saw this, AFTER replying to @North Balti Zen.    I'll admit that, having grown up "enduring" 22 (usually) bone-chilling, snowy winters in the northcentral PA mountains, I'm a little biased as to what the kiddies can or should handle in terms of getting to/from school.

True story...my school bus skidded off the road in the aftermath of a morning ice storm on the way to HS in my senior year. Driver told us to unload the bus and we were instructed to trudge -- Uphill! And in ice/snow! -- the final 1/4 mile to the HS. Oh, the humanity. Told my parents about it when I got home and they were all, "Okay...but you sure as hell better NOT have flunked that calc test today!"   

Having said that....it does get a little wearisome that Fairfax County Public Schools close schools for things like a high UV forecast. Okay, they haven't done that (yet) but just give it time. I'm astounded they haven't made a call yet for early dismissal today.

Vet day storm 87 we got out early and the bus driver didn't even want to touch the street into my hood.  Dumped us off on Rt 236 and said hoof it.  I don't blame her.  She would have gotten stuck 100%.  So we walked uphill and downhill about half a mile in dumping snow.  It was one of the most fun memories I'll ever have.  

Just last weekend they canceled activities at FCPS facilities on Saturday due to the threat that was p much all rain.  That one irked me simply because i saw the models showing rain.  Knew it would rain.  

 

Having said that, I get why schools are more cautious these days.  There are more kids, more roads, more cars.  You have bus drivers that will have to deal with traffic and possible trees, power lines.  If they want to keep kids, drivers, teachers, staff safe and out of POSSIBLE bad weather then I'm all for it.  We've had horrible storms in summer come thru and crush certain areas with winds similar to what's being forecast.  Places closer to water will get hit.  And its only a couple hours.  I will always rather have my kids home safe when the worst hits than worrying about them getting home or having to go get them when its shitty.

[mappy]

36 minutes ago, North Balti Zen said:

If this were a landfalling tropical storm or hurricane I would totally not have said anything, I guess my confusion stems from the fact that, and I am pretty positive about this, there have been literally at least several dozen or more high wind warning days unrelated to landfalling systems since I moved to the Baltimore area in 2009 and I do not remotely recall this kind of response to any of those other days. It is just...befuddling, that's all. I don't begrudge anyone leaving school early. Hell, I am pretty sure I just authorized closing our office at 2:30. But...it is still confusing to me, I guess.  

I think its multiple things. MD has closed schools before for storms, there was one in March a few years ago. So its not totally unprecedented. But when some counties started going early dismissals yesterday, the others followed suite.

Meanwhile, I am hoping we close the studio tonight because honestly I do not want to be driving in that mess in the dark later. But thats just me. 

[WVclimo]

I’ve mentioned this before here, but my memory of having driver’s ed in high school in western MD was when we took the car out with heavy snow falling.  As I was driving up I-68 climbing Martin’s Mt, the instructor told me to stay in the ruts created in the snow on the road by tractor trailers ahead of me.

There was no thought of not sending us out into a snowstorm.  Times surely have changed lol.

[wxdude64]

1 hour ago, WVclimo said:

I’ve mentioned this before here, but my memory of having driver’s ed in high school in western MD was when we took the car out with heavy snow falling.  As I was driving up I-68 climbing Martin’s Mt, the instructor told me to stay in the ruts created in the snow on the road by tractor trailers ahead of me.

There was no thought of not sending us out into a snowstorm.  Times surely have changed lol.

Awesome! I took my son out the week after he got his learners up to airport road KHSP(3700-4000 elevation) and turned him loose to learn how to drive in the snow. There was about 3-4 inches on the unplowed road and it was pouring. After a few spins and almost getting us into a ditch he figured it out and drove for about an hour with no issues. I allowed him to drive to Snowshoe at 16 because I had confidence in him after that and his driving around with me in the passenger seat every time it snowed/iced. He is 32 now, never had an issue in snow and has lived in Breck or Park City for the last 9 years. 

[MacChump]

1 hour ago, Random Chaos said:

New tide forecast out. It's higher than the previous one yet again, by about 2-3".

 

[aldie 22]

2 minutes ago, psuhoffman said:

12z GFS offered another way to fail lol....fails to phase threat 1.   TPV stays west intially to suppress the next wave.  Then it does slide east into the perfect spot...but a NS SW dives down from the north pole and dives southwest!!!! and phases with a system in California and cuts off on the west coast pumping a huge ridge in the east before anything else can come along.   I have NEVER seen that before ever...a system that starts out over the north pole...with a trough in the east and an EPO ridge...dives southwest and cuts off along the west coast.  WTF

It appears to be going around the elephant i suppose

[diatae]

I did not expect "your mother lied to you" in a rain obs thread. *wheezing*

[North Balti Zen]

1 minute ago, diatae said:

I did not expect "your mother lied to you" in a rain obs thread. *wheezing*

The board sat up and chose “violence” today…

[diatae]

4 minutes ago, North Balti Zen said:

The board sat up and chose “violence” today…

And we've only just begun!

[H2O]

Mom always lied to us. She said the tooth fairy was real. And Santa Claus. The only thing I can trust her with now is to make those goddamn delicious yams for thanksgiving 

[mappy]

9 minutes ago, diatae said:

I did not expect "your mother lied to you" in a rain obs thread. *wheezing*

i cackled for sure

[H2O]

[AU74]

We have tickets for a 7:30pm Arena Stage show tonight. We could drive Colesville to Greenbelt, take the Green line to the Waterfront station, walk a long block to Arena Stage or drive all the way and park at the venue. I'm leaning towards driving the whole way, but concerned about potential road closures. Thoughts?

[vastateofmind]

2 hours ago, AU74 said:

We have tickets for a 7:30pm Arena Stage show tonight. We could drive Colesville to Greenbelt, take the Green line to the Waterfront station, walk a long block to Arena Stage or drive all the way and park at the venue. I'm leaning towards driving the whole way, but concerned about potential road closures. Thoughts?

Oh, geez...your tix would have to be TONIGHT, wouldn't they?? So, my thinking is that there won't be quite as many folks out on the roads tonight...and speaking for myself, I'd probably just drive all the way into the District to park as close to Arena Stage as possible. Any walking involved (tonight!) would involve you and y'all getting 500% soaked between the Metro and Arena.   

Sidebar: D.C.'s Arena Stage is such a unique venue. It will always hold a special place in my heart, as a long-ago friend passed along an unused ticket to me in September of 1990 for Closer Than Ever at the Arena, a song cycle of cast-off and unused songs from other musical projects upon which Richard Maltby, Jr. and David Shire (a prolific partnership, apparently) collaborated upon. I went to the show on a whim...and I (one rarely "moved" by anything that combines staging and music) was completely blown away. There is an original Broadway cast recording of Closer Than Ever from that era, and I encourage anyone and everyone to listen to it. The songs are little "pop operas" all on their own...each tells an interesting, howlingly funny, or poignantly sad story each on their own. Maltby and Shire are modern-day Gilbert & Sullivan's...and arguably the most talented musician/lyricist combo I've heard in my entire life.

[paulythegun]

uh oh!

[snowfan]

18 minutes ago, paulythegun said:

uh oh!

Can only imagine the dramatic news headlines around here if that happened. 
 

 

[nw baltimore wx]

@ravensrule

Were you working in town today when the shooting happened?

[BristowWx]

1 hour ago, snowfan said:

Can only imagine the dramatic news headlines around here if that happened. 
 

 

Without snow cover no way.  Maybe with snow cover.  The coldest I can remember ever since living here is -4 driving to work through manassas battlefield in early March I think. I want to say 2017.  Might be wrong on dates but not the temp. 

[ravensrule]

14 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

@ravensrule

Were you working in town today when the shooting happened?

I literally passed by the gas station less than a minute after they shot him. I saw like 8 cops with guns still drawn. Insane.

[nw baltimore wx]

22 minutes ago, ravensrule said:

I literally passed by the gas station less than a minute after they shot him. I saw like 8 cops with guns still drawn. Insane.

I saw the commotion around noon but I turn off of Reisterstown Rd before the intersection. I just assumed it was the typical bad Pikesville driving and an accident.

[ravensrule]

1 hour ago, nw baltimore wx said:

I saw the commotion around noon but I turn off of Reisterstown Rd before the intersection. I just assumed it was the typical bad Pikesville driving and an accident.

That’s usually a smart assumption. 

[North Balti Zen]

Pretty sure my almost limitless reservoir of little house on the prairie related humorous references does not have an audience. Trying it out in the storm obs thread. Tip your waitstaff. 

[aldie 22]

Short rant

I love snow as much if not more than most and it pisses me off that we haven't had any for awhile. What pisses me off more is because I and others aren't constantly bitching and moaning it up in the main thread that somehow means those who are love snow more? Give me a break and take your bs to the panic thread.

Happy Wednesday y'all