Freezing Fog & Melting Frogs The Bigger Stories During Christmas Week

Well, I certainly was not going to sleep until I had some more answers. You see the map that shook the weather office yesterday afternoon that showed Lafayette with another big snowstorm threat. I proceeded with caution until the other models came in line with it. I knew I could not guarantee another blockbuster storm based on one model run. Our models are updated every 6 hours. So the good news is I got to look at another two model runs and to check out the other possible storm tracks that could bring us snow. Here is what I found. The storm track above was the outlier of all our model solutions or the most outrageous. I have effectively disregarded it. The more likely storm tracks you can see below.

Notice we have too much high pressure in place here in the Midwest so the main storm track is being pushed farther south and east. If track #4 verifies it could bring blizzard conditions to parts of the East Coast but a lot still needs to happen and in this pattern you need to take it one day at a time. So I know all the snow-lovers are saying bah-humbug, but we have had it really good here in 2007. Also this is this is great news for most travelers and even those heading to Detroit to cheer on the Boilermakers in the Motor City Bowl on December 26th. But if you are heading south toward Tennessee or Kentucky and east toward Maryland you may want to check those travel plans.

This means we need to be careful of freezing fog with all the melting snow that is adding moisture to the lower levels of the atmosphere and yes, melting frogs. Check out the picture sent in from Reynolds! Robin Davis made a 5 foot six inch snowfrog in about 2 hours. Since we have had snow it has become a real good packing snow. I am amazed by this. This frog is almost as tall as I am and I wish I had half the talent Robin has to be able to make something like this. I wish she could somehow preserve the frog and it would not melt. Somebody find a train to the North Pole before it is too late. The weekend temperatures could be the warmest we have seen in several weeks. So be careful of the fog and I will have more on the impressive warm-up tonight. I will also post pictures from the good old-fashioned Christmas dinner at Prophetstown last night. The Williams Family which happen to be my next door neighbors were the winners. No, it was not a snow job. But, it was a pleasant coincidence and they were very deserving of it, especially since they have to live next door to the Prangley family. Check back here on the blog for more on this and in the meantime make it a great day.