Weather!

[owlice]

No nap (yet, anyway!), but no bike ride either. Probably not tomorrow, either:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON HAS
ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM
6 AM SUNDAY TO 6 AM EST MONDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO
LONGER IN EFFECT.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE...SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...6 TO 10 INCHES.

Yeah. This storm was supposed to miss us.

Oh, you're in DC? And you say a snowstorm is coming? That just means there's a global warming rally of some sort going on so that the news guys can take ironic pictures of them.

lol!

[geckzilla]

Blizzard warning for me!! Snow begins early Sunday morning and keeps on until we have a foot or so... that's what they say. We shall see. I am stocked up on chocolate. Time for some peace and quiet in NYC for a brief moment when the cars and planes and even the birds hush.

[bystander]

Good Luck to both of you! I had my Christmas blizzard last year. I think I'll sit this one out.

[Beyond]

A little farther up the East Coast than owlice, the weather or not prophets are promising us one to two feet of snow and 50 to 60 MPH wind gusts with four or five foot drifts, if they don't get blown away, that is. I'll finally get to see how my spray-on stuff works. Yea.

[owlice]

Looks like the further north, the worse the forecast. Boston may get "UP TO 2 TO 4 INCHES PER HOUR." Four inches an hour! Wow. And beyond, "one to two feet of snow." Two feet! WOW!

Throughout the 23rd and Christmas Eve, the forecast was "this will miss us; no need to stock up." The forecast changed after most stores closed for Christmas. I want birdseed, so may run out first thing in the morning to get some, assuming there isn't enough at 7 AM to make me slide down the hill.

[Beyond]

If it's DRY snow EH, if it's wet snow, EGADS!! Now they're srarting to cut back on amounts a bit. Apparently the storm center may be a little bit inland which will more than likely add sleet or rain and cut down on the overall amount of snow on the ground. But it's still going to be aWILD AND CRAZY DAY! YEE-HA!!

[owlice]

Yeah, our expected snow totals have dropped, too. Now the scary all-caps forecast has "ACCUMULATIONS...5 TO 8 INCHES."

And none here yet; it's in Virginia now and working its way up the coast.

[owlice]

Oh.Make.Up.Your.Minds.

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM EST MONDAY...
...WINTER STORM WARNING IS CANCELLED...

* PRECIPITATION TYPE...SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...1 TO 2 INCHES.

For that, I spent eight bucks on birdseed?! Sheeeeeeeeesh!!!!!!

[orin stepanek]

We did get enough snow to have a White Christmas. About a half of an inch. Most of the snow went East of here. My grand children came over and cleaned my drive and my walk. It is flurrying now; hopefully that is all that will happen. owlice I hope they clean your bike trails so you can get your biking done. As far as the birdseed goes; I'm sure the birds will need it before Spring.

[owlice]

Saw my first snowflake at 10 AM. Now 6 hours later, it's still flurrying. There is the merest dusting on cars and nothing on the roads.

Looks much worse further north, though, with NYC and Boston still forecast to have significant snow fall.

[Beyond]

It's a bit strange in the N/E corner of Connecticut. Even this morning the weather prophets were saying that we would be in a blizzard around (4)-pm. It's now 6:00-pm and NO Blizzard.
So far there's about a good (2)-inches. Just enough to cover most of the ground. It's 16'-F, but there's some snow stuck to the green trees and at the same time there are little clouds of snow that get blown off the roof. So the snow sticks and doesn't stick at the same time. Sticking a broom out the door and testing the snow suggests it may make a good snowball. Looking at the radar from Hartford CT., it looks like it's clearing to the east.
Earlier in the day i took a picture of a red tailed hawk that stayed put long enough. A couple of hours later i looked out from another part of the house at just the right time to see the hawk trying, but failing to invite a grey squirrel for an afternoon meal.

[owlice]

Oh, please post the picture!

I have the news on and the forecast says that Philly will get another 8" or so, and that the far eastern part of the Delmarva peninsula is under a blizzard warning. Ten inches in Delaware, and strong winds there, and here, too. Many many flights canceled, and there is some scary footage of cars on -- sometimes off -- the roads.

Here, it's now sticking to the streets and accumulating; it's also now snowing rather than flurrying. I'm grazing for dinner -- crackers, cheddar cheese, cucumber spears, little carrorts, and hummus on a platter -- and finishing off the asti spumante I opened yesterday. (I rarely drink alcohol, but every Christmas, open a bottle of Asti.) I'm happy to stay in even with so little snow here. I hope all Asteriskians in the storm's path can stay in and enjoy looking out at the snow with a hot cup of cocoa in hand.

[Beyond]

The storm must have slowed down a little. Now the weather prophets are saying that it wll be an overnight Blizzard for new Englanders. I suppose that we will get the 1-2 feet of snow that they originally promised. I've still only got 2-3 inches of snow on the ground at 7-pm, but there is more snow dust blowing around. I can hear an almost constant wind roar to the south of me.
The hawk picture was taken at almost 100 yards/meters away, so it's a bit of a stretch for my canon A490's 13 power zoom.
I couldn't actually see the hawk by looking at the viewer on the back of the camera, but i pointed the camera at the area where the hawk was.

I'm going to try and post it on a separate posting. I already tried it once, but my web browser said it couldn't display the web page and i had to re-do this post again. I won't say how i feel about that, but it involves a liquid waste product.
If i can't get it to work I'll let you know.
The hawk is almost in the midde of the picture.

[Beyond]

The hawk.

[geckzilla]

This storm has pretty much dead on aim at NYC and surrounding area. My forecast has been upped from a minimum of 11 inches to a minimum of 15 inches. Looking through my window right now it's hard to see the neighbors' houses across the street. Here is a crummy photo. Bonus points if you can determine what time the clock in my room read when the photo was taken.

Hint:

Double glazed window strikes again!

You know you want to see the full size.

---

[owlice]

Pretty hawk, beyond, what I can see of him! And geckzilla, I see where the time is, but would need to get my reading glasses to determine the time. That's some snow, but I think we'd see it better if you stood just outside your front door to take a picture of it!

[geckzilla]

That would require the bitter winter storm to actually touch my delicate skin. .... I'd have to put on a whole bunch of layers just to take a photo. That wind is no joke. (I'm wimpy when it comes to cold)

[Beyond]

This storm has pretty much dead on aim at NYC and surrounding area. My forecast has been upped from a minimum of 11 inches to a minimum of 15 inches. Looking through my window right now it's hard to see the neighbors' houses across the street. Here is a crummy photo. Bonus points if you can determine what time the clock in my room read when the photo was taken.

Hint:

Double glazed window strikes again!

You know you want to see the full size.

---

Your clock makes no sense.It looks like 00:85. Of course that is a reflection. But if it is switched around, it then becomes 58:00. Of course it is most likely showing 00:58, but i wouldn't know how to arrive at that.

[geckzilla]

There, This morning before the sun came up we tried clearing some of the snow in case the plows came by. They still haven't come by though so it's kind of a futile effort until the street is cleared off.

Click to view full size image

Click to view full size image

[Beyond]

BLIZZARD???? Where i am in the N/E corner of Connecticut, the wind practically died off during the night and looking at the tiny drifts and almost bare ground, it doesn't seem as though there's more than (5)-inches of snow on the ground.
However, New London CT. had a wind gust of (68)-MPH. The weather prophets also said that New England has received (14)-(30)-inches of snow. The higher amounts as you get up to Maine, although New York also has some hefty amounts.

Geckzilla - I see you put on layers and went out into the cold-cruel-world to take some pictures. How many cups of HOT CHOCOLATE did it take you to re-couperate

[rstevenson]

The leading edge of the storm reached Nova Scotia last night, leaving behind (here, near the Atlantic coast) as much rain as snow, so that the 2" of snow is now the consistency of a thick white puddle. We're supposed to get lots more snow and rain over the next 36 hours; the exact mix will depend heavily on local conditions.

Rob

[orin stepanek]

Keep the snow! We had enough last winter. I know eventually we'll get some; but right now it is supposed to be a warming trend for this week.

[Beyond]

Yeah! Suposed to be warming in New England also. The weather-or-not prophets are now threatening us with (40)-degree weather!! I guess we'll just have to grin and bear it. YEE-HA!!

[bystander]

Thunder, Lighting and... Snow
Scientific American | Nikhil Swaminathan | 27 Dec 2010

Scientists study winter storms involving thundersnow to pinpoint where heavy snowfalls may occur.

(Editor's note: This article originally was published March 4, 2009. We are re-posting it because thundersnow was observed in New York City during the storm that hit the East Coast in the past few days.)

Winter blizzard disrupts travel in northeast
Scientific American | Reuters | 27 Dec 2010

A winter blizzard moved across the northeastern United States on Monday, disrupting air and rail travel and forcing motorists to deal with blowing snow and icy roads at the end of the busy Christmas weekend.

Transportation in Disarray After Blizzard Tapers Off
The New York Times | 27 Dec 2010

[Beyond]

GADZOOKIANS!! I look to the east and can see some blue sky. I can look to the west and see some blue sky. I even have some sunshine falling about.
But for a little while now, I've had just about as Horrendous winds as i had yesterday when we were actually having a Blizzard!!
I'd hate to be farther north with what they must be getting!!