GFS Model to Appear in PLAYBOY!!

I love it when the weather maps look more like a page out of Playboy magazine. After all, those are a nice pair of vorts!!

Roller Coaster Weather Pattern

March certainly came in like a lion this year and I do not think much is going to change. This La Nina pattern that we have been in all weekend is leading to many storms. The long range models that I have seen this week show that the gravy train of major storms will continue through the end of March and into April 2008. The steering patterns continue to keep the low pressure centers near Albany or west of us and this means more rain or wintry mixes of sleet and freezing rain (ice/glaze). So, the stormy pattern will keep on keeping on with storms every 3 or 4 days. These will not be snow but rather a high likelihood of rain or ice. The outlook for the summer. I think I see a hot and drier pattern coming...which is welcomed in my book.

Come Fly the Angry Skies

I recently came across this video on a weather discussion board I belong to. It is unbelievable that some pilots of commercial airliners put peoples' lives at risk with stupid actions like this. There is no way they should have even tried to land with these strong crosswinds. Apparently a wing reportedly hit the ground as they tried to land. This, my friends, is why plane crashes and fatalities occur unnecessarily. What DUMB-A$$es.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ddb_1204404185

It's AMAZING how much Verizon Wireless SUCKS!!

Each month when my monthly bill arrives I become even more amazed at how incompetent Verizon and Verizon Wirless really are. I was charged 2 times for each of my 3 phone lines for supposedly being over my alloted minutes plan...yet the total number of minutes was well below what's allowed. I also returned the overpriced data package and hardware that I know longer wanted. They refunded me for the hardware but 'conveniently' forgot to shut off my recurring monthly charge of $59.99.

If my company made as many mistakes and treated customers as poorly as Verizon Wireless does, I would be out of business.

Can someone reccommend a good wireless phone company that actually treats there customers right and doesn't screw so many things up so regularly? I'd sure like to swicth over ASAP.

Historic Snows for the Western US?

How's this for the craziest weather you've ever seen. This is the National Weather Service Forecast and is an accurate forecast (no typos here). Note the wind speeds and the snowfall forecasts in bold. LOL.

CAZ096-051215-YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK-
253 PM PST FRI JAN 4 2008 ...
WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM PST SATURDAY... .

TONIGHT...RAIN AND SNOW. STRONG WINDS. COLDER. SNOW ACCUMULATION UPTO 40 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL 5500 FEET. LOWS 24 TO 34 IN YOSEMITEVALLEY...13 TO 19 IN THE HIGH COUNTRY. SOUTHWEST WINDS 50 TO 70 MPHOVER THE CREST WITH GUSTS TO 130 MPH...DECREASING AFTER MIDNIGHT..

SATURDAY...RAIN AND SNOW. VERY WINDY. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO18 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL 4500 FEET. HIGHS 31 TO 41 IN YOSEMITE VALLEY...21 TO 27 IN THE HIGH COUNTRY..

SATURDAY NIGHT...RAIN AND SNOW. WINDY...COLDER. SNOW ACCUMULATIONUP TO 37 INCHES. SNOW LEVEL 4000 FEET. LOWS 20 TO 30 IN YOSEMITEVALLEY...7 TO 15 IN THE HIGH COUNTRY..

SUNDAY...SNOW SHOWERS. VERY WINDY. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO24 INCHES. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 119 INCHES. HIGHS 28 TO38 IN YOSEMITE VALLEY...17 TO 25 IN THE HIGH COUNTRY. GUSTS UP TO50 MPH OVER THE CREST IN THE MORNING.

Record Cold Outbreak On or About Jan. 20, 2008?

If the 18z GFS 384 Hour Model run is close to being accurate, we could be looking at some record breaking arctic air for much of the northern half of the United States. 850 Temperatures in Northern Minnesota are forecast to max out a -36 degrees Celsius. This would likely relate to surface temperatures not exceeding the -20's F (or even -30 F) for highs.

If this does pan out, Florida will be in really big trouble with a deep freeze and crop damage/loss and this weeks cold weather with be something they wish they had. Will watch and wait to see if the models are consistent with this or if it will do the flip-flop thing.

WINTER STORM UPDATE: 12/16-12/17

The latest computer models continue to delay the secondary low pressure development along the Mid-Atlantic coast. This means that as the main low continues further inland over the Ohio Valley, a southerly wind will pump up warmer air in the low and mid levels of the atmosphere. While snow will fall heavily and accumulate significantly during the first part of the storm, I now believe that a changeover to sleet and even rain will occur into the Albany area. This will cut down on snow accumulation quite a bit. Nevertheless, snowfall will be heavy begining around 11pm-1am Sunday morning before the changeover during the day Sunday. Total snow accumulation will be 5-9" followed by sleet and rain. The storm should gradually wind down as some additional snow comes to an end by about 3am Monday morning.

Many areas in the Adirondacks southwestward to Syracuse, NY will see upwards of a foot of snow with many higher elevations close to 24" before all is said and done.

COMMENTS WELCOME!!

Blizzard Conditions Possible This Weekend

The Capital District is expecting a wide variety of snow accumulation with this weekend's storm. The snow if expected to begin a few hours before sunrise on Sunday and it should snow heavily for a good part of the day.

Sleet is expcected to mix in to some extend and keep the snow accumulations down but we should still see 5-9" of snow before the changeover. The bullseye for this storm should be the deformation zone that's expected to develop to the NW of Albany. In these areas where all snow occurs, 18-24" is expected with higher amounts in the 'Dacks and the 'Skills (Adriondacks and Catskills). If the storm stays a little further east, then we could stay with all snow. If that happens, then it seems that we could easily exceed a foot of snow. Stay tuned.

Why Amtrak Sucks?

So, I travel to the Amtrak station in Rennselaer, NY to catch my 1:30pm train to Rochester for a trial tomorrow morning. The taxi gets me to the train station on time despite the heavy snow and 4" of accumulation we had on the ground alreeady. I arrived 1/2 hour before my train departed to learn that the Locomotive broke down in Penn Station, NY and hadn't left. HAVE YOU SEEN HOW MANY EXTRA AMTRAK LOCOMOTIVES THEY HAVE SITTING AROUND? Instead, it took them 2 1/2 hours to get a new locomotive to bring the train to Albany. Finally at around 4pm the train arrives. I board the train and we start hauling west toward rochester. Not so fast. 7 Miles away at Schenectady, the train is stopped and we learn that there's another train coming east-bound and that there is only 1 track in that area. Being the nice train controllers that they are, they let the other train come 1st...it should onlyt be 10 minutes.

About 1/2 hour later we find out that there is a switch problem in Amsterdam and the east-bound train was stopped. After about 1 hour of sitting in Schenectady, NY, we finally get moving. As of this writing, I am just west of Syracuse and if we stay on schedule and all goes well, I should be arriving by around 9:30pm.

All Aboard Amtrash!!
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WEEKEND NOR'EASTER UPDATE:

Models have come into excellent agreement that the Northeastern U.S. will get a huge kick-ass storm Sunday into Monday morning. This storm is going to be in the perfect location for some incredible snow totals in some areas. There will be some sleet mixing in in some spots and that can become very tricky as far as snow accumulations go. But as of this writing (7:30pm Thursday), I think a 12-18" snowfall is certainly not out of the question. Northern NJ and the NYC area could see 6-10" from this storm. Parts of the Adirondacks and Catskills should see 18-24" or more if all plays out. The snow should begin early Sunday morning.

UPDATE: 11pm Wednesday Night

I have adjusted my Snowfall Totals upwards to 4-6" for Albany.