weather The Weather.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm Watch Issued for 21 December.

published: Sunday, December 18, 2016 22:57 UTC

A G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm Watch has been issued for 21 December due to potential effects from a coronal hole high speed stream.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/g1-minor-geomagnetic-storm-watch-issued-21-december

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by Pharaoh RutinTutin
Removed Old Image

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

The wind is quite noisy outside my bedroom window today.  Makes it sound cold, but the forecast is for things to warm up quite a bit this week.  We might even manage to melt a little of this snow (before freezing again with an icy crust....)

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

In my security job, I often monitor the local NOAA weather radio station.

I find it odd (and somewhat irritating) that the automated voice that repeatedly reads the forecast and alerts mispronounces words that frequently used.

For example, the station I use also covers Saint Petersburg (Florida, not Russia).  Since that name appears frequently in the local forecast, I would think that the regional supervisors would like to make sure the auto voice says it like a person would.  However, the written forecast spells the name of the city as ST. PETERSBURG.  So the auto voice takes a long pause after Saint as if the period marks the end of a sentence.  That makes me cringe a little.

Looking beyond local geographic names, one of the most frequently use words in weather is "wind".  But if the forecast includes the word "winds" the auto voice pronounces it like "the pitcher winds up the clock". 

But enough about Robo Radio.

[malloyd 23]

3 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Looking beyond local geographic names, one of the most frequently use words in weather is "wind".  But if the forecast includes the word "winds" the auto voice pronounces it like "the pitcher winds up the clock".

I doubt this software was specially optimized for reading the weather, it's presumably repurposed from some commercial book reading package or something.  Optimizing would probably cost more than hiring interns to read it into a tape recorder for several years, which makes it hard to justify in the annual budget.  Sure 5 years down the road you'll have savings to show for it, but Congress isn't authorizing the budget for 5 years at a time.

 

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Sarasota / Bradenton, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (KSRQ)

Lat: 27.4°N Lon: 82.56°W Elev: 30ft.

Mostly Cloudy
72°F
22°C

Humidity	82%
Wind Speed	NE 8 mph
Barometer	30.21 in (1023.0 mb)
Dewpoint	66°F (19°C)
Visibility	10.00 mi
Last update	20 Dec 7:53 pm EST

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
FLORIDA.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.

...DENSE FOG/SMOKE IMPACT...
AREAS OF FOG THIS MORNING WILL LIMIT VISIBILITIES FOR A FEW
MORE HOURS. THE FOG MAY BE LOCALLY DENSE...WITH VISIBILITIES OF A
HALF MILE OR LESS. SLOW DOWN AND ALLOW EXTRA TRAVEL TIME IF FOG
IS IMPACTING YOUR AREA.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY.

[mlooney 3,417]

3 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Mostly Cloudy
72°F
22°C

I think I used to say "See panel 4"

[ijuin 572]

On 12/18/2016 at 8:18 PM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Only in the vicinity of the Nile.  And when the Ptolemaic usurpers took over the family job, they were stuck with the responsibility.  Julius, Mark Antony, and Octavius Agustus took the job in the name of Senate under the SPQR banner.  Emperor Constantine gave the Job to the Bishop of Rome.  Eventually, The Vatican added it to the duties of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon

And here I thought that the biggest cause of the Schism between the East and West churches was because the Emperors in Constantinople didn't want to let the guy in Rome claim it all for himself?

[The Old Hack 2,448]

On 12/21/2016 at 3:05 AM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

...DENSE FOG/SMOKE IMPACT...

Is this impact forceful enough to cause damage to structures or cars to crash when colliding with it? Because then that fog or smoke must be really dense.

[mlooney 3,417]

Weirdness alert!
Of the four places I track, all are about the same, with Chicago being the coldest at 36 and every one else around 44.  OK, fine.  But it's going to rain in all four places in the next 24 hours.  So CritterKeep, The Old Hack and I will all be, as the saying goes "Cold, wet and miserable."  And invading France will not help.

Tulsa/Jone's Airport at 4:05 PM
44°
Cloudy
feels like 40°
H -- L 35°
UV Index 0 of 10

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low near 35F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%.  Chance of rain goes up to 90% Friday  Bleh

[The Old Hack 2,448]

12 hours ago, mlooney said:

And invading France will not help.

Historically, invading France never seems to help much. The only one I can offhand think of who got away with it was Julius Caesar. Most everybody else at best got a few temporary goodies and a setup for at least one and in some cases several rounds of years of interminable war.

[mlooney 3,417]

4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Historically, invading France never seems to help much.

Well there is that group of Norsemen that took over southern France.  But they went all native and started calling themselves Normans.

[mlooney 3,417]

Tulsa Jone's Airport as of 10:19 CST
40°
Light Rain
feels like 37°
H 51° / L 37°
UV Index 0 of 10

Light Rain seems to mean "30% chance of rain".  It's 30% right now.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

Well there is that group of Norsemen that took over southern France.  But they went all native and started calling themselves Normans.

Oh right, I'd forgotten them. But they were just a bunch of crazy Danes and Norwegians so they don't count.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Current conditions at

Sarasota / Bradenton, Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport (KSRQ)

Lat: 27.4°N Lon: 82.56°W Elev: 30ft.

Fair

51°F

11°C

Humidity	38%
Wind Speed	NE 3 mph
Barometer	30.25 in (1024.2 mb)
Dewpoint	26°F (-3°C)
Visibility	10.00 mi
Last update	30 Dec 10:53 pm EST

[Scotty 1,061]

Snow squalls in the area, was supposed to work today but a coworker called and said another coworker told her it'd be crazy to attempt to drive in today and to pass it along to me that it isn't worth going in today. So I guess we'll see how it goes and probably go in tomorrow instead.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, Scotty said:

Snow squalls in the area, was supposed to work today but a coworker called and said another coworker told her it'd be crazy to attempt to drive in today and to pass it along to me that it isn't worth going in today. So I guess we'll see how it goes and probably go in tomorrow instead.

I had about 3mm of snow yesterday or the day before.  That's about the same thing here.

Not really, we don't panic until it's over 3 inches.  More or less.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

4 hours ago, mlooney said:

I had about 3mm of snow yesterday or the day before.  That's about the same thing here.

Not really, we don't panic until it's over 3 inches.  More or less.

I remember once playing a game of World in Flames (tabletop WWII game) where the weather report for North Russia was Severe Winter. This means so intense freezing and so much snow that headquarters/supply units are immobilised and so all advances are brought to a grinding halt. An absolutely critical headquarters unit was affected by this. Until the end of that turn where we discovered that it was just exactly south of the line marking the border between North Russia and Mid Russia. It was really only in a region of normal winter where it could advance, just not as fast as normally.

We decided that someone just north of them had called in their weather report and they had thought, "blow that for a game of soldiers." Then they just tucked themselves into warm blankets and shared rum toddies while the gentle snow flurries around them not as much raged as they just quietly fell in a state of mild vexation.

[ijuin 572]

Hey, it beats going out and getting shot at!

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

Strong wind today.  I can hear it blowing outside.  A pity, too because it's both my day off and a lot warmer than it's been or will be for several days.  ah, well, perhaps I'll get up the energy to do some cleaning and laundry?

[mlooney 3,417]

Tulsa/Jone's Airport as of 3:28 pm CST

40^°

Mostly Cloudy

feels like 33^°

H -- L 32^°

UV Index 1 of 10

 

3 days of rain, most of it freezing.  Freaking joy oh joy!

[CritterKeeper 1,102]

Didn't get the chance to post at the time, but we had very strange snow a day or two ago.  It wasn't flakes, it wasn't little pellets, no.  It was spicules of snow, little individual needles.  I brushed my car windows clean, and could see these little slivers landing on the clean glass.

I'm told that the Inuit language, like German, likes to turn a string of words into one long compound one, so the "hundred different words for snow" would translate as "fluffy snow good for snowballs" and "wet heavy snow" and "snow that's slush as soon as it hits the ground" and the like.  I do wonder what their word is for "snow coming down in little individual needles".  Perhaps something as simple as "needle snow"?

[The Old Hack 2,448]

16 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Didn't get the chance to post at the time, but we had very strange snow a day or two ago.  It wasn't flakes, it wasn't little pellets, no.  It was spicules of snow, little individual needles.  I brushed my car windows clean, and could see these little slivers landing on the clean glass.

I'm told that the Inuit language, like German, likes to turn a string of words into one long compound one, so the "hundred different words for snow" would translate as "fluffy snow good for snowballs" and "wet heavy snow" and "snow that's slush as soon as it hits the ground" and the like.  I do wonder what their word is for "snow coming down in little individual needles".  Perhaps something as simple as "needle snow"?

"Snow nearly as annoying as those bollocking Danes who grab our land, steal our uranium and engage in dick slapping contests with the Canadians over another of our islands."

I have been given to believe that in actual Inuit the word is only two syllables long. I am impressed by how much information they can pack into that short a word.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

3 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

dick slapping contests

I would not pay good money to see this.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

It's just a British food fight...

 

Edited August 10, 2023 by Pharaoh RutinTutin
Ran out of attachment space

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

It's just a British food fight...

I have actually had this, although it was the Heinz canned version. It's good, if you can get past the name. Serve with clotted cream or hard sauce.