Blizzard strikes the northeastern part of the country

With Obama-bucks pouring into my program, I have had no time (and still don't have any) to breathe, let alone blog, but I figured I would pop in quickly and share an extremely brief update. In a pattern of ferocious winter weather, the northeast is now facing their turn with blizzard conditions knocking on their doors, stopping everything in its tracks, schools and businesses have been closed, flights have been cancelled, no doubt sending a surge of delays and missed flights throughout the country. With the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics just two days away, let's hope the weather here doesn't put a wrench in some of those athletes' travel plans. As always though, better them than me. I live in a place where snow hasn't accumulated in the 16 years that I've lived here. We have to travel great lengths to get a snow experience for our children... which is fine with me. I don't like the cold, and I don't care much for snow. The wording of the blizzard warning is chilling (I'm so punny)

...AN EXPLOSIVELY (strong word) DEVELOPING NOR/EASTER WILL BRING HEAVY SNOW TO MUCH OF OUR AREA TODAY AND THIS EVENING...WITH BLIZZARD CONDITIONS EXPECTED FOR MANY AREAS.

A COASTAL STORM DEVELOPING OFF THE CENTRAL MID ATLANTIC COAST BEFORE SUNRISE WILL INTENSIFY EXPLOSIVELY (there's that word again!) TODAY. STRONG WINDS GUSTING TO 40
TO 50 MILES AN HOUR THIS AFTERNOON...BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED AT TIMES MAINLY FROM ABOUT MIDDAY AND THROUGH THE AFTERNOON... TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 8 TO 16 INCHES INTO EARLY TONIGHT...

NEAR-BLIZZARD OR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE RARE FOR OUR AREA...SO IT IS LIKELY THAT PEOPLE WILL NOT REALIZE THE PERIL (another strong word) THAT EXISTS IN VENTURING OUT IN SUCH STORMS. LIFE-THREATENING CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE...AND DRIVING WILL BE HAZARDOUS AT BEST DURING THIS WINTER STORM TODAY AND EARLY TONIGHT. IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT TRAVEL BE CURTAILED DUE TO THE DANGEROUS CONDITIONS...AND ONLY DRIVE IF IT IS TRULY AN EMERGENCY SITUATION.

TRAVEL EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. DO NOT TRAVEL. IF YOU MUST TRAVEL...HAVE A WINTER SURVIVAL KIT WITH YOU. IF YOU GET STRANDED...STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE

Ominous and serious warning. Be safe.

Sometime, I will try to post some pics from a recent adventure with my wonderful groom.

Have a great and safe day!
~Dewdrop

What do I love about Spring???

Sorry for the ridiculous delay folks... ran into major internet connection problems then had to retype my post and now that we are in the middle it seems obsolete, but it seems a shame not to share this post... Where most people (myself included) are pointing out the amazingly striking bursts of colors dancing out of the ground in splashes of color painting the budding trees, bringing plants to new life, turning the grass brilliant shades of green, I feel compelled to enjoy the other side of Spring's nature... the weather. I am thoroughly fascinated by the power, the strength and the existence of severe weather. I don't want anything bad to happen. It breaks my heart to hear about fatalities and destruction, but the AWESOME power of the storms truly FASCINATES ME!!!

We have officially entered severe weather season... I mean spring. I mentioned in my previous post that at this point last year, we had seen over 500 tornado reports, but this is typically when you would start to see real severe weather action... in the spring, and here we are, just three days into the season, and we are seeing a doozy of a storm, which some are actually dubbing "A BLOCKBUSTER STORM EVENT". A moist warm front is racing up the plains with a jet stream carrying 120mph winds (seriously) dropping buckets of rain on an already drenched region. With the amount of snow-melt and previous rains, they are looking at the flood impact that this system will present. They worked tirelessly overnight to prepare 2 million sandbags, in an effort to protect life and property.
That moist warm front is currently interacting with a low that developed off the Rockies over the northern plains. So technically, an area that yesterday breached high temperature records set back in 1945 with a high yesterday in Rapid City, SD at 77°F, is currently under both a tornado watch AND a blizzard warning because hot on the heels of this ferocious interaction which I will talk more about in a second, is a "POWERFUL SPRING BLIZZARD", which should cause white-out conditions from the heavy snow, as well as power outages. As if that's not enough though, you see on this graphic that there are tornado reports within a hundred miles of blizzard reports. The storm as it crashes in is creating tornado outbreak with warnings popping all over the place. It's not often that you see an area under both a tornado watch and a blizzard warning with tornado warnings at the same time. CRAZY!
A Public Severe Weather Outlook has already been issued for the hatched area of Moderate Risk for Severe Weather, as defined by the Storm Prediction Center (SPC). You see in the above graphic that the same area is told to have a 15% likelihood of tornadoes, but at this time, there have already been two tornado reports... in Brownlee and Oneill, Nebraska. I've stayed in Oneill. There are actually two reports now on the cell in Oneill which is racing north being at the far northern end of the area of low pressure, which is not where I have seen low's initiate tornadogenesis. It's almost happening backwards from what I would have expected... I would have expected the more southern end of the storm to start firing before this... but what do I know...? I guess things are just slower in the south. The much warmer than normal temps is the cause of this initiation.

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OK IS FORECASTING THE DEVELOPMENT OF TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS OVER PARTS OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. A SECONDARY AREA OF POTENTIAL WILL BE OVER CNTRL AND NERN NEBRASKA.

THE AREAS MOST LIKELY TO EXPERIENCE THIS ACTIVITY INCLUDE

CENTRAL AND EASTERN KANSAS
NORTHERN OKLAHOMA

Apparently... 2nd came 1st this time.

VERY STRONG WIND SHEAR WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR LONG-LIVED...ROTATING STORMS/SUPERCELLS. SHOULD SUPERCELLS FORM...THEY WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE A FEW STRONG TORNADOES...IN ADDITION TO SEVERE HAIL AND WIND.

ATHOUGH ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS MAY OCCUR ANYTIME BETWEEN NOW AND SUNRISE TUESDAY IN THE HIGHLIGHTED REGION...THE BULK OF THE SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE THIS EVENING.

I will try to keep an eye on things as the night progresses. Hopefully, I can update things tomorrow without problem.

Have a great and safe day! Keep those weather radios on!!!
~Dewdrop

Severe weather headed east across much of the US, dropping snow and tornadoes...

Well, another freezing morning. At least this time, the bus arrived on time, so we didn't have to sit out there for forever-and-a-day this time, which is nice. It was a beautiful sunrise. It was nice to sit and watch it for once. There were layers of varied textures painting the sky, and as the sun rose on the eastern horizon (behind a patch of trees in my case), shades of golden yellow, salmon, pink and purple dressed the clouds in layers of magnificent brilliance, striking them at each moment with a fresh new color. I knew my camera wouldn't do it justice, so I just sat and absorbed the ambiance of the moment. What a glorious way to begin my day! Later in the morning, I decided to take a pic of what I was seeing through my sunglasses, and I snapped the picture above of the sun through my sunglasses. I think it's cool how the corner hasn't behind the sunglasses, so you can see the actual coloring of the sky in the same shot with the polarized view, very cool. Kind of interesting and not necessarily picturesque, but I like it, so you are stuck with it. Until I can get out and do a real shoot to get some wonderful pics, I will be posting spontaneous whim shots such as that one. SDS is bad. To see the full effects of SDS, check out a SDS treatment facility future patient's blog. Jeff's blog demonstrates the full impact and symptoms of SDS. You crack me up, Jeff! Thanks for the backlink. You rock! ;O)

This morning, I have seen two meso discussions released by the SPC. One was about a blizzard in the northern plains... ewww... the other talked about severe weather in Arkansas/Louisiana. Looks like Arkansas already has some powerful squall events rolling across that state. The SPC actually has much of the CONUS in a slight risk for severe weather, with the system moving across the nation. Looks like it's building some moisture now. We actually have the thunder line incorporating my neck of the woods, and Rick has been trying to pursuade me to plan to go after it tonight, but with Mini-Dew, it's just not likely. If anything, I can shoot from the backyard. I have had tremendous success with that in the past, so I will just go with what works. I would love for one of these systems to set up during a time when I can actually pursue them and a better photographic locale, but the Dewvoid prevails. The SPC still has a slight risk area highlighted to my west for Thursday (of course). With the speed that these early weather producers have had, I wouldn't be surprised if that area changes drastically as we get closer to Thursday, but it is all expected to deteriorate overnight. They mention that it could be strong to severe, but it looks like that will be more to the southwest of me...

FOR TIMING AND LOCATION OF THE GREATEST CHANCE OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THIS AREA WILL BE LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS...OR TOWARD MIDNIGHT. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE DAMAGING WINDS AND TORNADOES...MAINLY ALONG THE COASTAL AREAS.

Heck, they are mentioning a strong to severe possibility here for tonight, but come on... We know it will fizzle out before it gets here. It's the nature of the Dewvoid. They rather expect everything tonight to happen well to our Northwest. This looks like Alabama and Tennessee Mikes' system. Sorry, Rick and Meso Mike, looks like the Dewvoid might be "stealing your thunder"... again.

Anyone see that news story about the man who got 42 months in prison for using a stun gun on his 18 month old, supposedly to "toughen" him up? What kind of monster...? Anyways, I was completely repulsed by the story. What is wrong with some people?!

11:30 updated outlook (moderate risk added):1:30 update: Oh yeah, it is hitting the fan in the plains. A tornado watch has just been issued, and I just noted 3 mesos on one line tracking through Arkansas. Busy day out there.Toodles,
~Dewdrop