Weather So Awful that Colors Don't Matter

[deluxestogie]

National Weather Service map colors are always worse than no color. In the above weather forecast map from this evening, the color key is only marginally useful. If you live in the eastern 2/3 of the US, consider if it is worth risking life and limb for a traditional gathering or visit.

Bob

 

[FrostD]

That’s more colors than a box of Crayola’s!

 

[deluxestogie]

I whine too much. My baby sister, living in Fairbanks, Alaska, will not get above -10°F for at least a week.

Bob

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I whine too much. My baby sister, living in Fairbanks, Alaska, will not get above -10°F for at least a week.

Bob

I didn't discern your first post as being whiny. I don't know what the colours mean, either, and why the gentle encouragement to be antisocial. This thread is all a big mystery.

 

[deluxestogie]

gentle encouragement to be antisocial

I am suggesting that "prior plans" and "tradition" are insufficient justification for making unwise travel choices during hazardous weather. Blizzards, icing and snow accumulations do not cause highway accidents. Severe weather is associated with an increase in highway accidents, because drivers (especially middle-aged, male drivers) pretend that the weather and road conditions are not of concern, when choosing to fulfil their travel plans.

Bob

EDIT: I originally posted the weather map because seeing nearly the entire country splattered in colors, like a pizza or exploded stromboli, is truly unusual. Colors always indicate some sort of "watch," "warning," or "alert."

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I am suggesting that "prior plans" and "tradition" are insufficient justification for making unwise travel choices during hazardous weather. Blizzards, icing and snow accumulations do not cause highway accidents. Severe weather is associated with an increase in highway accidents, because drivers (especially middle-aged, male drivers) pretend that the weather and road conditions are not of concern, when choosing to fulfil their travel plans.

Bob

So the pink, blue, purple, green are varying levels of snow. (I googled it). They're saying two to five feet in some places. That's nuts. (Unless, of course, you're a generation-x'er and male.)

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

I would be staying home, ready to start a fire if the power went out.

 

[deluxestogie]

Here's the real deal map, complete with color key:

National Weather Service

It auto-updates every few minutes, if you refresh the page. At the moment, it's worse than what I captured in my first post of this thread.

Bob

 

[Knucklehead]

80% chance of rain tonight with low of 12F. Tomorrow high is 19F with low of 10F. Those aren't record lows but we're still not used to that in Alabama. Ice and snow are usually once a year pretty little things that are gone in a couple of hours. If we get three inches of snow that lasts three days it's total pandemonium. Wrecked, stuck and abandoned cars litter the side of the roads. There are no snow plows or chemicals. The county is unprepared. People don't know how to drive in the stuff. Really wild. I look down on the highway from my porch on the hill and the roads look and sound like a demolition derby. SMH.

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

If it rains and drops to 12, that's a disaster. Everything is going to be coated in ice.

 

[HillDweller]

Where I am the internet tells me it will be 40 degrees and raining at 3AM. 3 degrees and high winds at 3PM.

 

[Alpine]

Unusual weather here instead… temps do not drop under 0C at night, the little snow we had is rapidly melting and the ski area owners are mourning.

pier

 

[deluxestogie]

Today's jet stream.

In 1888, the National Weather Service had not only acquired the capability to gather meteorological data, but could generate weather warnings, and telegraph them to endangered regions of the country. The "Children's Blizzard" of 1888 was an early example of sending out weather warnings to a public that was unaccustomed to paying any attention to them.

Bob

 

[skychaser]

-23f here this am. That's -30.5c. 36 inches of snow so far this year, which has settled to 22-24 inches now. There have only been a couple days above freezing since the first week of November. We finished harvesting my tobacco seed on Nov 6th. Three weeks later than usual. It snowed 4 inches that night and none of it has ever melted. Temps have been in the teens most days and single digits or below at night. It warms up to the low 20's when more snow comes. The last snow came at 16f. Nice a fluffy stuff. But getting my diesel tractor to start at that temp so I could plow was a real challenge. More snow coming tomorrow. The weather wizards are now predicting a big warm up to above freezing next week. lol We'll see. Those 7-10 forecasts are next to worthless here.

 

[deluxestogie]

Bob

 

[skychaser]

The weather service posted a pict of the thermometer in Bonners Ferry Idaho, which is about 90 miles northeast of me. They had -45 this morning. Another 100 miles east it looks like this today from Apgar Mountain in Glacier Park. It looks pretty much the same here, but without the lake below. It got up to 6f here today and is already dropping again.

 

[deluxestogie]

My elevation is 45 feet higher than yours. You should ask for a refund.

 

[PressuredLeaf]

It was 67f here today, brrr.

 

[FrostD]

Dry & Brrrrrr here!

 

[ChinaVoodoo]

-36°C / - 32°F isn't unusual or record breaking for Edmonton, but looking around and seeing extremes carrying to the coast and south where society isn't as prepared for the cold is concerning. Hang in there folks.