Snow Days!

Fun Graphic, considering the blizzard in my area today. Yeah – we have about 30″ right now, and still coming down at my house. The neighborhood snow-bunnies rushed out this AM to shovel the walk and clean their cars…The problem being it has snowed another 12″ since then, and with the 40 MPH wind whipping – erased most of their labor.

Map: ‘How Much Snow It Typically Takes to Cancel School in the U.S.’

The geography of the snow day, courtesy of Reddit user Alexandr Trubetskoy

 

How much snow does it take to close the schools?

Weather-related school closings are a constant source of anxiety this time of year. Sometimes the anxiety is generational: “They never canceled school in my day,” parents and grandparents complain when a new snow day gets announced. Sometimes it’s regional. D.C. isn’t as “flinty” as Chicago, President Obama sighed when schools closed during his first winter in the capital. Northernerswatched in puzzlement as two inches of snow crippled Atlanta earlier this week.

A new map from Reddit user Alexandr Trubetskoy (a.k.a. atrubetskoy) is sure to stoke this regional competition. Using data “taken from hundreds of various points from user responses…interpolated using NOAA’s average annual snowfall days map,” Trubetskoy made a map showing how much snow it typically takes to close schools in the U.S. and Canada. Notice that for much of the southern U.S., all it takes is “any snow” to shut schools down. For the Upper Midwest and Canada, two feet of snow are required for a closure.

Trubetskoy includes the following clarifications:

1. In much of the Midwest and Great Plains, school closing often depends more on wind chill and temperature than on snow accumulation (“cold days”). Thus, this map may be misleading in those areas.
2. Many jurisdictions in California and other western states have significantly varied snowfall, depending on elevation. This makes it difficult to find an “average” number, or often makes it misleading.
3. Urban areas like Chicago and New York have more resources to clear snow and often need more to cause closings.
4. Clarification: The lightest green says “any snow” but also includes merely the prediction of snow.
5. Clarification II: This is snow accumulation over 24 hours/overnight.
6. Hawaii does get snow! Just… not where people live….

 

Things Not Looking Good for DC!

Last night less than an inch of snow paralyzed the Washington DC Metro area…

Now DC not really being a Northern City, my rule is to stay home (if possible) through the early parts of the first 2 snows, while Darwin eliminates a) the folks who have never driven on snow, and b) the morons in mega SUVs who haven’t learned yet that 4 wheel drive won’t stop you on ice – by allowing such folks to either crash into each other, innocent victims, or inanimate immovable objects. With such self-eliminated from those trying to get from place a to b – the roads become much safer. Don’t even think about going to the grocery store as ever ounce of milk and bread will be bought as folks stock up for 6 months even for a 3″ snowfall.

Inch of Snow Grinds D.C. to a Halt

After just an inch of snow Wednesday night, Washington, D.C., traffic was plunged into traffic chaos by a small storm system. Wednesday’s untreated roads led to icy conditions, with more than 100 area accidents and drivers at a standstill for nine hours. Even President Obama’s motorcade slid on the roads, making his evening commute stretch to nearly 90 minutes. A second, far larger storm may drop up to two feet of snow in the coming days, forecasters say.

Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted Thursday: “Last night the District failed to deploy the necessary resources in response to the snow – for that I am sorry.”

Seeing as how Meteorologists are forecasting a full-on Blizzard this weekend, ranging from 24″-36″ of snow…

This is not encouraging. Parts of the Bus System was even out this AM – and the Subway will be out for a day or two as they clean the ice off the above ground track should the snow be as bad as expected.

After “Snowpocalypse” of 2010 when 2 separate storms each dumped 15-18 inches a day apart, and I was without electricity, heat, or water for 5 days – BTx3 bought a “Snow Emergency” kit, including Generator, gas camping stove, water storage, Indoor propane heater, and propane camping lights. Being an outdoor sportsman, I also have the sort of clothing suitable to subzero temps and camping equipment. The Generator is only short term use, as it is a portable and is loud as heck. It can run the microwave and toaster oven – but not the refrigerator.  I also have a Computer UPS system – although when the power goes out – usually the Internet dies as well.

Bunker Up!

 

 

 

Global Weather – Sharks on the Beach and Now Snow In Hawaii In the Summer????

Weather this year has been a bit strange. From my area getting a full summer’s worth of rain in one month – to the oceans, where fish species have migrated to inshore and shallow waters.

Whale Shark – Adults reach 30-40 ft in length

Sand Shark common to my area. Generally 2-3′ in length.

Black Tip Reef Shark. The little guys stay n the rivers and creeks and generally are 2-4′ in length. Adults can reach 6′ or more in open ocean.

We have all heard about the raft of Shark attacks this year along the South Eastern coast of the US. At my home on the ocean, I caught 7 sharks in one afternoon (less than 2 hrs) of fishing off my dock, located on a “creek” behind the barrier islands in Virginia. They weren’t very big – and weren’t a species which attacks humans. They were the silver Sand Sharks. In most years, I only see Black Fins which are known to migrate to the inland creeks to breed. Ran into what appeared to be a juvenile Whale Shark in the 8-12 foot range the next day in the Creek on the way back from the closest inlet. I have never heard of one coming inland, although I have caught Bull Shark in the inlet over 7′ long and weighing in over 200 lbs.  It (the Whale Shark) was swimming just below the surface, which is common for this species which feeds on plankton.

Then … There is SNOW in HAWAII!

Hawaii Just Got Hit By A July Snow Storm

July snowstorms are weird enough. July snowstorms in Hawaii boggle the mind.

But that’s what happened at the summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island on Friday morning.

The combination of passing thunderstorms and near-freezing temperatures led to 1.5 inches of snow and icy conditions, according to a ranger’s report.

Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that rises 13,796 feet above sea level, gets snow regularly in the winter months, but rarely in the summer.

 

 

Aircraft Causing Weather Changes

Old folks used to claim that the airplanes flying high in the sky were causing weather changes. For years, scientists laughed at this as preposterous…

Until now. Turns out the Old Folks were right… Again.

Aircraft Induced Cloud Hole in Anartica

Airplanes Can Cause Extra Rainfall

Airplanes flying through super-cooled clouds around airports can cause condensation that actually results in more snow and rain for nearby areas, according to a new study. The perfect conditions for such a freaky weather event occur about 5% of the time—but 10% to 15% in winter—according to the study’s lead author. Aircraft take off into the wind, so if they are generating extra ice particles upwind of an airport, the result can be snow right on the airport. That could mean planes will require more de-icing.

The team was investigating holes or canals that are sometimes seen drilled in clouds after an airplane has passed through. They found that increased snow and rainfall occurs in areas where the unusual cloud holes appear, usually within 60 miles of the airport. The added rain or snowfall occurred when the clouds were made up of water droplets that were colder than freezing, but which had not yet frozen: When an airplane passes through one of these clouds the movement causes a sudden cooling of the air, sometimes down to the critical point where the droplets freeze. They then can fall to earth as snow or rain.

 

Cory Booker – The Twitter King!

Cory Booker is one of the new generation of black politicians who is going places. And he is doing it the old fashioned way by working – sometimes with shovel in hand – for his constituents.

Notice to other Mayors – “Don’t try this in your city – these are trained Tweeting professionals!”

Hizzoner On the Job!

Cory Booker: The Mayor of Twitter and Superhero of the Blizzard

 

If you’re a mayor of a northeastern U.S. city, you probably despise Cory Booker right now, because the tweeting mayor of Newark, N.J., is now a social-media superhero, able to move towering snowbanks in a single push — or by sending the shovels and plows your way.

After a blizzard started blanketing the Northeast on Dec. 26, an event that earned the Twitter hashtag #snowpocalypse, Booker turned the microblogging site into a public-service tool. Residents of the city, which has a population of around 280,000, swarmed Booker’s account (@CoryBooker) with requests for help, and the mayor responded. He and his staff have bounced around Newark shoveling streets and sending plows to areas where residents said they were still snowed in. “Just doug [sic] a car out on Springfield Ave and broke the cardinal rule: ‘Lift with your Knees!!’ I think I left part of my back back there,” he reported in one message. One person let Booker know, via Twitter, that the snowy streets were preventing his sister from buying diapers. About an hour later, Booker was at the sister’s door, diapers in hand.