Tuesday, March 5, 2013

WINTER AWAITING?


Is winter coming? That would, of course, be winter weather, seeing as how winter the season has been around for more than two months and has only a few weeks of officialdom remaining until spring takes over. 

If you believe the weather pundits, we're going to have a fairly impactful snowfall tonight, starting around 9:00 p.m. EST. The prediction is 3-7 inches. And the long-range radar shows there's definitely something, weatherwise, stalking our way from the northwest…the question is whether it's snow, sleet, or rain—and how much?

This morning's prediction called for 4-8 inches, to start at 1:00 p.m., with sleet before the snow. A few hours before that guesstimate, the postulated snow amount was 6-8 inches, also preceded with rain and sleet. Obviously, those estimates are being ratcheted down. The rain held off all day, though it has now started a light drizzle. Still, I wouldn't be surprised if the end result turned out to be a couple of inches of wet snow that was a sloppy mess, but a decided fizzle as "a major winter snow event," which is what one reporter on the Weather Channel gushed excitedly. 

You gotta take the Weather Channel crew with a big grain of salt—especially when it comes to their "Local on the Eights!" forecasts. Checking updates from the National Weather Service proves far more accurate and reliable if you want to know both current and future weather for your area. I understand that for the Weather Channel crew, weather is their thing, and that storm chasing and breathless "stand-up" reporting is their game. They live for "major events. I get that, really. But those people need to chill out, lay off the mega-doses of caffeine. All that bouncing around like a bunch of hyper squirrels is seldom warranted. Too much science as showbiz for me, though it makes for exciting television, which, I suppose, is the point. Creating you own channel costs BIG money, and income comes from sponsorship and sponsorship follows audience numbers and audience numbers result from high-energy, exciting TV…even if you have to stir the pot regardless of whether or not anything's cookin'.

Myladylove says I'm being cynical. She adores the Weather Channel. Watching them enthusiastically track and dramatically detail a rain shower moving in from Indiana can transfix her for an hour. Their reporting of a winter snowstorm heading our way can work her into a state of worry bordering on panic. 

Not that this isn't useful. All I have to do is mumble something along the lines of "let's not wait too long to salt the driveway hill," and she's out the door like a shot, flinging Ice Melt everywhere. And while she's relieving herself of all that nervous energy, I log onto the National Weather Service site, see what the weather's really doing…and switch the TV's channels to the latest episode of Duck Dynasty, Swamp People, Wicked Tuna, or Finding Bigfoot. I know good television when I see it!                

10 comments:

Robin said...

Well, if OUR day is any indication of YOUR night... something wicked your way comes, in whatever form.

It has snowed like mad since this morning and I am about to try to take the dog out.

The fir trees are beautiful... laden with so much snow that their tiers of branches make them look like wedding cakes.

I am right there with your Ladylove in my fascination with the Weather Channel. When I had t.v. it was my background noise when it wasn't my focus.

I find that my dad and my nature have taught me well, so that I can read the weather better than they do (and I don't get any residuals for my efforts). It's gotten so obvious that people at work seek me out for my forecasts.

Still, for all the maps and satellites and radar I still relish wandering somewhere and looking up at the moody clouds and thinking.... that's a 'snow' sky.

Joy K. said...

Such shameless manipulation of your beloved.

I'm a fan of Weather Underground.

Grizz………… said...

Robin…

It started snowing here about 8:30, and looked like it might get worse…but hasn't so far, and right now there's less than an inch of really wet stuff down. So I may be right, but we'll have to wait until morning to see. But even this wet stuff is lovely. Moon and I went out for firewood a few minutes ago and I just sat on the woodpile for awhile and looked around at the snowy darkness, which wasn't all that dark, but softly glowing and near magical. I'm no weather guru, but I like to think I have a "feel" for storms…which is probably just me kidding myself. And the truth is, I don't much care about coming storms—it's winter, this is Ohio, it usually snows and I like snow, so what's the big deal?

Myladylove is one of those "TV-always-on" people, who likes the background noise (I tell her it's color radio) whereas I'm a "TV-on-if-I'm-watching" guy. I play CDs, Pandora, or the actual radio (yup, old-school) for background music or audio books—or (gasp!) listen to pure, unadulterated silence which I can do for extended periods without resorting to medication. Trust me, there's enough going on inside my head that external diversions are superfluous.

Grizz………… said...

Joy K…

Oh, I'm somewhat ashamed. Somewhat. A little bit. Sorta.

The Weaver of Grass said...

Our weather does seem to mirror yours Grizz. After one glorious spring day with warm sunshine, we are back to thick fog and freezing temperatures. That is the fickleness of spring of course.

Grizz………… said...

Weaver…

Other than a middlin' snowfall in early January, and a few truly cold days later that same month, we've probably had more "winter" these last couple of weeks than during all the rest of the season. And that has been intermixed with days of sunny blue skies, mild temperatures, and blooming flowers…very spring-like. Even today (see next post) is just a bit of snow looking to be soon gone with rising temperatures. Another example of our strange here today, gone tomorrow winter.

Gail said...

HI GRIZZ - the weather folks your neck of the woods are the same as ours - all cut from the same "If Only-maybe" cloth - we are suppose to get about 6+ inches starting tonite and swirling thru Friday morning with predictions of every possible type of Wintry mix ever known. The wind gusts could be problematic if they 'blow-true' so we will be sure and have water inside for flushing, just in case.
Great post - love the image of your gal ready to salt the walkways and so forth. You are fun!
Love gail
peace....

Carolyn H said...

Grizz: I got about 4-5 heavy inches here so far. It's still snowing but the rate is much less than earlier in the morning. Not much of a snowstorm, as I'm used to them, but it's the only one I've had all winter, if you don't count the nightly dustings that happened in January.

Grizz………… said...

Gail…

Hey, life is no fun if you don't make it fun, and I've never been able to be too serious for very long. If you can't laugh and have a good time, why get up in the morning?

The weather prophets are great targets—too easy, almost—because they stand there gasping with ill-concealed glee at the possibility of Weather Armageddon, and because they so often over-estimate or just plain get it wrong. They're pretty good at hurricane tracking, only fair at tornadoes (they form too fast and are too fickle to be well predicted) and regularly suck at snowfalls and rain when looking more than a few hours in advance.

(And maybe I'm being too harsh.)

(Or maybe not.)

Stay warm, dry, and flush-ready. You never know…

Grizz………… said...

Carolyn…

Not been much a winter here, either. And this predicted storm didn't pan out…though I understand they got a bit more snow a few miles south of here. Ignoring the balmy, sunny days, it has looked and felt more like winter recently than during January. But this seems to me like a "last hurrah" snow. Spring is a'comin'.