186 thoughts on “Cantore Watch: The Snowening

  1. 30-42 inches expected in the Blue Ridge of Virginia, other parts of inland VA and MD expecting 24-30. Could be a rapid drop-off near the Chesapeake Bay due to mixing and expecting another rapid drop-off on the northwest side of the storm so we'll see. Glad we stickied this though considering the in-storm updates we're going to get!

  2. Doesn't the Weather Channel make its live stream viewable by everyone when there's a major weather thing going on? If not, bascially my idea was to pin something that gives live coverage so we live blog this Vajayjay storm. If someone else has a better suggestion go for it. (Snow, you're Meteorology Chick, can you advise?)

    1. I am perfectly fine with what you did. I have no idea if Weather Channel does free live-streams of major events (I hope so) but linking to a random weather site and getting a live-blog going was already a thumbs-up from me.

      Edit: It's not live without a cable subscription now, anyway. Not sure if it changes later, though the storm has started for a lot of people in the south and Ohio Valley.

      1. It's started!!

        And yes, that's what I wondered. If TWC isn't viewable by everyone then if there's a better link we can switch it. and that's a good idea – maybe we should wait a few hours and see if it does a free live thing then.

        1. For people with a Roku (not sure about other streamers), the WeatherNation channel/app has a live stream that doesn't require a cable subscription.

  3. Where we stand now

    The storm has begun from Maryland southward, though the worst in the northern areas of that won't be until tonight. It is still likely dangerous in all of these areas.

    Heavy freezing rain is being reported in many parts of central NC, which is notable if only because my aunt just died and her funeral is in Durham today. I obviously couldn't go due to the weather (which somehow managed to be worse than CT last year for the funeral there, ffs) Snow north and west of there.

    Winter Storm Warnings are in effect from the Mississippi River along western KY, TN and northwest MS all the way across the south through northern SC and most of NC, as well as along the Ohio River and then north and east to near New York City. Blizzard warnings are in effect near I-95 from Fredericksburg, VA north to New York City and on Long Island, with Blizzard watches for southern CT and Winter Storm Watches are up for RI and southeastern MA. Snow accumulations drop off extremely rapidly northwest of the system, and where I am in Dayton is expecting a few flurries despite a foot of snow being expected less than 100 miles away. Freezing Rain Advisories are in northeastern SC and southeastern NC for this as well.

    Florida is expecting severe thunderstorms from the system today, because Florida.

      1. I wasn't that close to her (unlike the one last year) so it's kind of a weird feeling. It's family but a part I barely know.

      1. Update lol: Yes, Dale is real but did not come to work. We were kidding around with him and he is safe and sound at home.

        1. I legit assumed that Dale was the name of a town where they had another location. That there is a real person Dale that they were fucking with is just gold.

    1. 40 minutes officially into the blizzard warning (weather radio is angrily telling me about a high wind warning as well). My sister suggested I start the slaughter with the neighbor who doesn't volunteer to shovel our driveway.

      Light snow falling, winds seem calm, looks like about ¼ in accumulation. 26 °F, ambient pressure is 30.09 in Hg (my altitude is like 85 ft, can't be bothered to calibrate) and the graph looks like it's gone down about 0.1 in Hg in 6 hours.

      Used the high predicted winds as an excuse to call out for the first time in forever (I'd likely end up stranded on the Eastern Shore for at least a day, and I am not sleeping on the storied Couch of Doom in the owner's office). The pizza franchisee who is getting sued by his own insurer (again/still) is insisting that the store won't close (while he's at home) (not bitter!).

        1. Our beloved customers, that's who!

          But my anecdotal evidence indicates that the folks who order delivery in terrible weather also tend not to tip well; I'm betting both are rooted in the same lack of empathy. Further, the same people tend not to shovel driveways and/or clear ice from walkways.

          You… really don't like the Bay Bridge, do you? There have been far worse, you know…

          <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Huey_P._Long_Bridge_-_Eastbank_Bound.jpg/800px-Huey_P._Long_Bridge_-_Eastbank_Bound.jpg"&gt;

          1. No, I'm one of those people who love the BB. The views are incomparable – you're up in the light aviation area and there's always something going on in that part of the bay. I just have a healthy respect for it, because when things go sideways up there they really go sideways fast.

            Is that the steel bridge in Baltimore? Nasty! Actually, the old Tappan Zee Bridge inspired far more Fear and Loathing in me. Something about the shifting pylon foundations, and the holes in the deck you could see through to the river, FFS.

            Now, Hate… that's reserved exclusively for the Severn River Bridge. I think you know what I mean.

          2. I remember the old Tappan Zee, we had to take it going from NJ to CT to see both sides of the family in one trip. I remember my parents hating that bridge more than any other.

          3. There's not many drives that put me on edge like that one – The Pennsylvania Turnpike with all the construction, semi trucks, closed lanes, speed and rock walls is a close runner up. White-knuckle rides, they are.

          4. My first long-distance drive was when we were trying to get to NJ to see my great aunt Fran one last time before she died (I know, I have bad luck with aunts, the uncles are all still around) and the path was PA Turnpike-NJ turnpike-195-Jersey Shore at noon on a Saturday in summer. That was a trial by fire if there ever was one.

          5. Well, you have to remember that the end of that trip was getting back to Ohio, and after you spent a week in NJ and went through those areas Ohio feels really easy.

          6. I-90 into Chicago. God fucking damn. Once you start to enter into the city proper, the entrance ramps are basically blind. There's always a wall separating 90 from the entrance ramp. So, if you're going along in the right lane (which I had to do because I was nearing my exit and hell if I'm going to try and cut across 4 lanes of traffic in 1/2 a mile) the cars entering 90 come out of nowhere and they're going at or above speed-limit speed because they assume they have to, even though everyone is going about 40 on a good day. Holeee fuck, that is not fun.

            Also, leaving Chicago on I-90 heading into Indiana one time, there was construction and the road was down to 2 skinny lanes both ways, with only those little orange poles separating you from oncoming traffic. I was riding in the passenger seat when the semi next to us just barely started edging out of their lane and into ours. It was so close, I probably could have rolled down the window and touched it. Then, the damn driver over-corrected and nearly sent the semi, us, and probably about 20 other cars to their doom.

          7. When going to the upper midwest, the only way to go from around here is to take I-74 west out of Indianapolis, hop on I-35 north for a few miles, and then take 39 north to hook up with 90 all the way out near Rockford. It's worth going that far out of the way to avoid Chicago.

          8. The last time I drove through Chicago, about 7 years ago, it was set up so the side the cash tolls and the side that the (whatever their EZ Pass is) tolls were on kept alternating with no warning, so everyone kept having to whip from one side to the other. It was insane.

          9. The pictured bridge is the Huey P. Long Memorial Bridge near New Orleans, before the improvements in recent years. The truss structure to the left is the core railroad bridge (the road decks were effectively duck taped to the side), which you can see continue across the the middle of the picture to the right edge (a far smaller grade than the road decks). Recent years saw improvements granted the bridge lanes wide enough to handle something bigger than a Model T and even something vaguely resembling a shoulder.

          10. Deadspin did a whole post on this today, and, yes, you could tell the dudes (always dudes!) arguing that their right to a pizza during a blizzard was more important than anyone else's safety are straight-up sociopaths who also think "tipping is bullshit" (and, of course, "if you don't want to risk death to deliver my pizza, magically obtain a better job! Or get a 'loan' from your parents [like I did]". So insane.

          11. Fuck those people. Only a sociopath would order take out in weather terrible enough that the State closes the entire Transit Authority, declares a state of emergency and tells everybody – and they mean everybody to stay TF home.

            None of these jokers would be brave enough to go out in this… no…some of them would no doubt be Stupid enough to go out in this.

          12. Absolutely. Back during Hurricane Sandy, there was a big story, made the national news, about a woman who gave birth during the storm. Lived in my old town. What they left out is that the woman and her husband were COMPLETELY AWARE that she was in labor for TWELVE HOURS, but decided it would be a hassle to sit at the hospital during the storm .. so they waited until the VERY HEIGHT of the hurricane to call for an ambulance. It took three vehicles (and 25 people), with two of them getting stuck in the mud, to get her to the field hospital 10 miles away so she could have her fucking "miracle" baby. Assholes.

          13. Yeah, I think I remember that one. Everyone wants to hear the "miracle baby" story and no one's going to air the "fucking irresponsible assholes putting all the responders in grave danger" bit.

    2. If you haven't found anything by now, try weathernation.com. They seem to be way less demanding about accessing their livestream.

  4. I have to go out and do a thing, so if it does turn out that this link needs to be changed from the Weather Channel, if one of the other mods would do that I would much appreciate it.

    Creature, stay safe, and anyone else in the path.

  5. Two CNN idjits are out driving around in Springfield, VA right now. Journamalism! Get off the road and go home, fuckers!

    1. I sent a message to a friend in Springfield to not go out in this, nice to see the media can't even follow that advice, ffs

  6. Right? They seem to have gone through and really upped the expected totals for the northern edge of the storm. I really thought I was going to get off easy on this one.

    1. Looks like it's still a really sharp cut-off though, if they could get away with it I bet they'd have said 5-24"

  7. OT:

    >sign on skype
    >see message from bernie fan: "also Hilary emails went higher than top secret leak and lashed out at LGBT mothers and fathers"
    >sign off skype

  8. The most valuable part about this whole storm is that I've finally been able to easily locate my new residence on a map, at last (it's slightly east of the highest western bump of NJ before you get to NY).

  9. 23 F.
    91% RH
    1020.1 mb and falling
    Winds NNW, 2-5 knots.

    We're up to a little over an inch straight snow accumulation now. Snow and steady, with the same fine crystalline dry powder.

    The real crazy stuff is supposed to hit here late overnight to tomorrow AM, when the second Low goes offshore, turns North and strengthens. Winds, with gusts of 50+ predicted (we'll see higher, I guarantee) will be the factor. We will end up with 16" to 24", depending on the storm track. For sure it will snow until late tomorrow.

    Man, I'm watching the Baltimore station and there are way, way too many people still driving on the roads. Get home you fools, before the EMT's have to go out and get you.

    1. The amazing part is you know that 75% of them are bitching about the other drivers being on the road because they don't need to be driving, unlike ranting person who is out picking up mooshu pork.

      1. And if they get home they'll sit back and have a dinner conversation (possibly with themselves) about why this storm means global warming isn't real.

  10. Back when I was a mailman in Denver I used to try to make the best out of having to walk around in snow (which is way better than driving around in it).

    And here's one good moment: when the snow stops falling and the sun comes out and it's warm enough for the top layer to melt just a bit, everything is shiny and white. Not ice-storm-scary, more like still-wet enamel. The world looks beautiful and full of hopeful possibilities then.

      1. Branch 47, National Association of Letter Carriers, 1974-78 or so.

        Your respect means plenty. How little did you have before?

  11. Selected snow reports (from 4PM, will have a new report near 10)

    Huntsville, AL: 0.3
    Austin, AR: 7.0
    Washington, DC: 1.0 (likely much higher now)
    Macedonia, GA: 6.0
    Bowling Green, KY: 11.0
    Lexington, KY: 4.0
    Louisville, KY: 3.0
    Oxford, MS: 2.0
    Fairview, NC: 12.0
    Asheville, NC: 8.0
    Chesnee, SC: 7.0
    Samburg, TN: 9.0
    Nashville, TN: 7.1
    Union City, TN: 5.0
    Coleman Store, VA: 9.0
    Wytheville, VA: 8.1
    Blacksburg, VA: 7.0
    Roanoke, VA: 6.0
    Lynchburg, VA: 3.5
    Richmond, VA: 2.0
    Dingess, WV: 10.0
    Red Sulphur Springs, WV: 10.0
    Charleston, WV: 9.0
    Beckley, WV: 6.5

    1. Al Roker closed out NBC Nightly News by saying that there's 900 miles of snow, running in an arc across the country from Tennessee to New York. That's some storm.

      WBAL in Baltimore's gone to full blown emergency news team storm coverage, which is appropriate. They're for sure not the only ones, probably all the local stations across the south to mid-Atlantic have done so.

      You know they're going to Get Calls, from grouchy people who are missing the regularly-scheduled program of OW MY BALLS, and America's Got BALLS, and of course Real Nutshots of Orange County.

        1. That's what it said on the storm summary from the Weather Prediction Center.

          Edit: Official storm report from 5:35PM only has 3.5 inches?

          1. I just found a 5.8 from another spot in Richmond from the same time frame, which backs yours up. How odd.

      1. "You know they're going to Get Calls, from grouchy people who are missing the regularly-scheduled program of OW MY BALLS, and America's Got BALLS, and of course Real Nutshots of Orange County."

        You forgot CSI: My Balls! and NCIS: BALLS:

  12. Okay, the front is closing in on my area. I can tell because it feels like someone is smashing my ankles with a sledgehammer.

  13. WBAL's Kata Amara (the woman who was photobombed by Horsehead Guy last snowstorm) is in the field and seriously losing her voice. A woman in a leopard-spotted onesie – complete with hood and ears – comes up and offers her hot tea and throat lozenges. Live.

    So Baltimore.

      1. Who among us doesn't long for a chocolate-covered groat cluster? Or a bucket of Admirable Byrd's Kentucky-Fried Chicken Fingers?

      1. A whole flashy thing with a voiceover and red scroll with white letters. Very impressive. Meanwhile, it still hasn't even started snowing here yet. I'm having flashbacks to junior high dances — everyone else out on the floor, me by the wall all dressed up, no action :)

    1. "What Evans apparently doesn't realize is that because of the thermal inertia of the oceans, within narrow bounds we can already predict what global temperatures will be in 2019, 2024, and 2029. And David Evans is going to lose his shirt."

      AH HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHA HaHaha. ha.

      *Sobbing*

  14. I've been switching around between live broadcasts of various local news channels, so many have reporters driving around out in the snow – this is oddly mesmerizing.

    1. Those fuckwits from CNN are still driving around northern VA, near DC. Every time they cut to them, the dude always mentions how law enforcement and gov't types are telling people to stay off the roads. Yes, I yell "Go home!" at them every time they come on.

        1. Please, Wolf's a big shot now. He doesn't drive himself anywhere. Stay tuned for his driver's autobiography: Driving Miss Wolfie.

  15. New storm totals as of 9pm. Note that some are based on measurements that are a few hours old, that's pretty typical.

    Crossville, AL: 2.5
    Huntsville, AL: 1.0
    Washington, DC: 3.5
    Dover, DE: 2.5
    Macedonia, GA: 6.0
    Beattyville, KY: 16.0
    Bowling Green, KY: 11.0
    Frostburg, MD: 8.0
    Redhouse, MD: 8.0
    Myrtle, MS: 2.0
    Oxford, MS: 2.0
    Old Fort, NC: 14.0
    Asheville, NC: 8.0
    Delanco, NJ: 2.0
    Cape May, NJ: 1.0
    Ironton, OH: 9.5
    Athens, OH: 4.0
    Champion, PA: 6.0
    Jennerstown, PA: 6.0
    Chesnee, SC: 7.0
    Cross Plains, TN: 11.0
    Nashville, TN: 9.0
    Independence, VA: 18.0
    Wytheville, VA: 12.4
    Blacksburg, VA: 10.0
    Roanoke, VA: 6.0
    Teays Valley, WV: 15.5
    Charleston, WV: 14.0
    Beckley, WV: 6.5

    And a few where it's ended:

    North Little Rock, AR: 8.0
    Austin, AR: 7.0
    Homer. LA: 1.0

  16. Wind restrictions on the Bay Bridge, which means it's experiencing wind speeds in the 40's

    My ambient pressure is 29.82 in Hg, so… going down a bit.

  17. 24 F, now but with a wind chill of 17
    94% RH
    1007.8 mb, diving towards crush depth now, forward planes locked
    Winds at 5knots steady NNE. Gusting to 11. (this is well in the wind shadow of the trees. There's 30 + knots out in the open. I can hear it)
    It's a total winter's wonderland out there, 8" plus. We're going to get most of the snow tomorrow. I hope it's still dry like this.

  18. Man, the wind gusts are picking up, blowing the fallen snow up in the air . Visibility's way down, pitch dark outside and snowing harder, if that's possible. Snow's flying sideways, sticking to the glass doors. All the fence posts are growing sno-cone heads and everything else's disappeared under white. Thunderstorm cells are wandering around in the dark out there now, dropping the occasional lightning strike. I'm not going outside until the weather gets way less lethal.

  19. 27 F, wind chill of 25
    94% RH
    1000.2 mb, still falling slightly
    winds 2 knots steady North, shifting to gusts of 5 – 6 NW
    Snow and ice pellets, 10"

    The dry slot came in at around 0430 – 0530 ish, pulling some warmer air in. Rain/sleet/ice to the south and east of the peninsula. Bigger snow bands to the west of B'more. The low is offshore the VA coast now, still strengthening.Lots of lightning strikes offshore in that low – nothing here, yet. It's supposed to snow & storm hard in the area until 9 PM tonight. This will be fun.

  20. Winds are really getting up now, gusts here of 12 knots and average up to 6. Stations in the open are gusting to 50 mph.
    The barometric pressure is down to 999.3, rising slightly now from the low overnight of 998 (but down from the earlier 1000.2) . Big snowflakes & ice pellets earlier have given way again to fine blowing powder. I had to go out at 0530 to clear the HVAC heat exchanger, thought about clearing more snow paths but this wind (chill down to 21 F) is gonna keep me inside.
    Nothing's moving outside except the birds, who are thrilled that I refilled all the feeders before the snowhammer came down.
    Nobody who isn't an emergency worker better be out on the roads in this, although I expect to see the usual 4X4 yahoo's trucks nose down in the roadside ditches when I am able to get out.

    1. although I expect to see the usual 4X4 yahoo's trucks nose down in the roadside ditches

      Pfft, that was Wednesday.

      I drove past a local high school around 9 PM, past a pick-up waiting to turn out from the parking lot onto the road. I look in my rear view to watch him turn out and, no doubt to the driver's surprise, end up on the shoulder rather than the intended travel lane. He corrected and came up behind me to around a car length until the road widened enough for him to pass me like the manly man he no doubt was.

    1. Very nice. Is that lightening in the middle, or are those yellow lights near the bottom lighting?

      Also too, I want to make a fresh thread, that image is perfect.

  21. Wish that I wasn't going from I-70 in Ohio to the central shore or I'd have taken 80. I've taken 80 across going to CT and it's much, much nicer.

  22. I think so, but this storm's seriously weird. It's supposed to entrain a dry slot at some point tomorrow, then a swath of warm air from the ocean (which will mean serious rain in Ocean City), then grab frigid air on the backside. I'm hoping that I'm on the north side of the sleet/freezing rain/rain line, because life would be so much better.

  23. The low pressure center of this storm is only 997, which is somewhat low but shows that you don't need crazy low pressures to get big impacts.

  24. Don't get too attached and give them names though. The last time someone did that it turned tropical and hit the Azores.

  25. Ouch. No rain (yet) here in LA, but I can't count the number of times I get tail-gated on the freeway. Asshole, I am going with the traffic flow: WTF do you think I can do to speed it up?

    Now I know why some say LA can't drive FFS…

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