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CanisLupusArctos · 01-14-2008, 07:48 PM

Rander 7823, I loved your response for its hilariousness!

But comedians often say comedy is funny because we find truthfulness in it, and there is truth in what you say. Many meteorologists would deny it.

Forecasters totally blew it in New Jersey and NYC today because they weren't paying enough attention to the thermometer, and too much attention to the models. NJ and NYC got all the moisture that the models said would come, but it was too warm. Where did I see this? The NBC Today Show opened with it, this morning at 7 a.m. Jeff Ranieri (the meteorologist they always interview when the weather is too serious for the way they usually treat weather) said it when they interviewed him-- "It was just too warm."

A meteorologist on Mount Washington told me of the meteorologist's "non-reality" syndrome the last time I volunteered at the summit. With a degree from Rutgers, he could've made lots of money somewhere else, but preferred a job on Mt. Washington where there isn't much money. He said he had done his internship at a National Weather Service office in summertime. When a severe weather outbreak was happening right outside, he wanted to go out and look. The NWS staff told him not to get in the habit of leaving the computer screens. They said, "Don't let the weather distract you from the weather." In other words, they're glued to the computer models. A lot of times, they have to be... but there ARE many times when your Dodge Grand Caravan Thermometer could totally save their accuracy -- if they only believed in something so simple. The guy on Mount Washington said he enjoyed the fact that his job is mixed between time spent at computer terminals and time spent outside, actually measuring and observing the summit's weather personally.

Today on Black Cat we got shafted again. Would you believe only 2.6 inches of snow fell today. I did drive to Meredith where I found, as Hilltopper said, 4 inches of snow. Here is my guess -- the mountain effects I mentioned last night got a bit more out of control than I thought they would -- or could! The highest totals I've seen today seem to come (mostly) from north- or east-facing slopes, or very near the summit on the other side. However, when one side of a mountain gets topographically-enhanced snow, usually the other side gets a lot less -- it's called "shadowing". Today, I believe we at the NW end of Winnipesaukee got shadowed by the Ossipees and Red Hill. Based on the radar signature, I would say we were too far away from the main part of the storm for it to make up the difference. We were getting the fringes, and they didn't have enough energy to survive the 'milking' they got when they rode up and over the mountains to our north and east.

01-14-2008, 07:48 PM	#37
CanisLupusArctos Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Center Harbor Posts: 1,049 Thanks: 15 Thanked 472 Times in 107 Posts	Rander 7823, I loved your response for its hilariousness! But comedians often say comedy is funny because we find truthfulness in it, and there is truth in what you say. Many meteorologists would deny it. Forecasters totally blew it in New Jersey and NYC today because they weren't paying enough attention to the thermometer, and too much attention to the models. NJ and NYC got all the moisture that the models said would come, but it was too warm. Where did I see this? The NBC Today Show opened with it, this morning at 7 a.m. Jeff Ranieri (the meteorologist they always interview when the weather is too serious for the way they usually treat weather) said it when they interviewed him-- "It was just too warm." A meteorologist on Mount Washington told me of the meteorologist's "non-reality" syndrome the last time I volunteered at the summit. With a degree from Rutgers, he could've made lots of money somewhere else, but preferred a job on Mt. Washington where there isn't much money. He said he had done his internship at a National Weather Service office in summertime. When a severe weather outbreak was happening right outside, he wanted to go out and look. The NWS staff told him not to get in the habit of leaving the computer screens. They said, "Don't let the weather distract you from the weather." In other words, they're glued to the computer models. A lot of times, they have to be... but there ARE many times when your Dodge Grand Caravan Thermometer could totally save their accuracy -- if they only believed in something so simple. The guy on Mount Washington said he enjoyed the fact that his job is mixed between time spent at computer terminals and time spent outside, actually measuring and observing the summit's weather personally. Today on Black Cat we got shafted again. Would you believe only 2.6 inches of snow fell today. I did drive to Meredith where I found, as Hilltopper said, 4 inches of snow. Here is my guess -- the mountain effects I mentioned last night got a bit more out of control than I thought they would -- or could! The highest totals I've seen today seem to come (mostly) from north- or east-facing slopes, or very near the summit on the other side. However, when one side of a mountain gets topographically-enhanced snow, usually the other side gets a lot less -- it's called "shadowing". Today, I believe we at the NW end of Winnipesaukee got shadowed by the Ossipees and Red Hill. Based on the radar signature, I would say we were too far away from the main part of the storm for it to make up the difference. We were getting the fringes, and they didn't have enough energy to survive the 'milking' they got when they rode up and over the mountains to our north and east.