Friday, December 5, 2008

It is So Cold the Squirrels Need Sweaters & Owls Seek Shelter!


Okay you have a right to complain. It was very cold walking to the Purdue-Maryland game last night. I know I warned folks on TV last night, but after I got off the set I became one of those fans walking to the game and it really was a biting cold. Thank you Julie for getting me a ticket to the team I grew up watching. Maryland and ACC basketball is
all I knew. It was great seeing the Terps again in person but I did cheer for Purdue and it did not even feel strange. I moved to Lafayette the year Stephanie White-McCarty led our Boilers to the National Championship and have adopted them as my favorite team and followed them closely ever since. I think the Boilers may have their best team since the late 1990s. They have a lot of talent and played really well as a team last night. The coaching was outstanding. Sharon Versyp was quite a find. The Boilers played a heck of a game and it was a lot closer than the score indicated. To be able to stay with Maryland for more than 34 minutes told us they are very close to being one of the top teams in the country and I do not think we will have to wait until next year. They were worn down a bit toward the end but you would be too if you just got back from Hawaii and then your body had to somehow adjust from 80 degree weather to wind chills in the single digits in just a couple days. Yes, it all goes back to weather. So I am even blaming the weather.....not the weatherman...LOL.

Great job Purdue! Toni
ght if you are looking for a way to stay warm you can go cheer on the women's volleyball team tonight. I love taking my girls to this and it is a blast going in person. Hockey and volleyball are right at the top of the list for the most fun sports to watch in person. The Boilers are the 10th-seeded team in the NCAA tournament and should have no problem exceeding expectations. Have fun while staying warm!

You know it is cold when apparently some squir
rels were spotted with sweaters yesterday in Lafayette. This is our anchor Niccole Caan's Dad's favorite saying and I think it is really funny, but not too funny if you do not have a hat, gloves, and scarf. The anonymous picture sent in above is the most bizarre squirrel picture I have shown since the squirrel with the big piece of pumpkin pie I showed you back in January 2007. Just a few weeks later we had a blizzard. Will history repeat itself? Well I am not looking for a blizzard but a ton of snow. Now I do like snow but remember your safety does come first and you should be safer than most since you know I will give you ample warning ahead of any big storms. That is why I have been talking so much about this on the blog the last couple nights. I do care about you and the latest models are showing our first chance of a bigger snowstorm next week. Timing is tough right now but Tuesday we will have to watch carefully. At least we can monitor it together. We need to name these snowstorms that bring 3 or more inches so I will come up with a list for you by Monday. Feel free to find some names for me. You all always do a great job with that.


You know whoooo also thinks it is cold outside? That is right! Sir Featherton. This was the name given to the owl above who was outside Erna Jo Atkinson's house in Lafayette on North 26th Street last night. Sir Featherton apparently was looking for a warm place and for good reason. We have eye-popping cold that is for sure. As of 11 p.m. last night Lafayette was colder than parts of the north slope of Alaska. (More specifically thanks to Jim in Alaska... it is in east-central Alaska which is pretty far north) Nome, Alaska checked in with 19 degrees while we were at 18. Amazing! Nome doesn't even have any sunlight to work with like we do. (Technically, according to Jim they have 4 hours of daylight on their shortest day but in my book that is not much sun to work with) For all in tense and purposes they are in the dark until March! I want to thank Jim in Alaska for helping me clarify these points. I think Jim in Alaska should be our northern pen pal here on the Lafayette weather blog. I will try to see what I can arrange. Thanks Jim for writing in!! I am humbled and honored to have Alaskan reader!

Now back to the contiguous 48 states. You have a right to complain too Sir Featherton. Lafayette also fel
t just about as cold with the wind chill as International Falls, Minnesota known as our country's icebox. So were we the country's cooler last night? You could make a case. International Falls will be getting ready for -40 next week without wind chill with exploding trees. Here in Lafayette we could even see sub-zero weather as well in the next 10 days.

So we all know it is already crazy cold outside but it is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. We have at least 4 big blast of cold air coming in the next 2 weeks and there are plenty of warning signs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans of enhanced convection and thunderstorm activity. I tell kids at school talks th
at meteorologists love watching those places far from home because if there is a flare-up in active thunderstorms or you have tropical storms or cyclones in the Western Pacific or Indian Oceans they can trigger changes in the jet streams or the high altitude winds that circle the entire earth. Sure enough look at all the action on the other side of the world. This is yet another warning sign for us.


This tremendous energy has to go somewhere. It usually feeds into the upper-level winds circling the globe causing big changes in the weather that can include storms, floods, and fires to fierce winter storms here in the United States and all over the world. There is a lag period. Notice the two tropical systems above that have arrows pointing at them....well they could eventually invigorate and shift the jet streams bringing a possible bigger storm to the United States in about 10 to 14 days which would be in the December 15th to the 19th range. We will see how it works out and time will tell. Check out the Joint Typhoon Warning Center's statement on the Indian Ocean cyclone (known as a tropical storm in the Atlantic).
TROPICAL CYCLONE (TC) 07B, LOCATED NEAR 7.7N 88.8E APPROXIMATELY
595 NM EAST-SOUTHEAST OF CHENNAI, INDIA, CONTINUES TO TRACK WEST-
NORTHWESTWARD AT 04 KNOTS. RECENT ANIMATED INFRARED IMAGERY AND A
050030Z SSMI MICROWAVE IMAGE SHOW CONVECTIVE BANDING TO THE WEST OF
A PARTIALLY EXPOSED LOW LEVER CIRCULATION CENTER (LLCC). UPPER LEVEL
ANALYSIS INDICATES TC 07B REMAINS IN AN ENVIRONMENT WITH MODERATE
VERTICAL WIND SHEAR. THE SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO TRACK WEST-NORTH-
WESTWARD ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE MID-LEVEL SUBTROPICAL RIDGE TO THE
NORTH. DRIER AIR IN THE NORTHERN BAY OF BENGAL COUPLED WITH SUSTAINED
MODERATE VERTICAL WIND SHEAR, WILL MINIMIZE THE DEVELOPMENT OF TC 07B
AND KEEP ITS SLOW FORWARD MOTION OVER THE NEXT 48 HOURS. THE SYSTEM
IS EXPECTED TO MAKE LANDFALL INTO SRI LANKA AFTER TAU 60 AND WEAKEN.
MAXIMUM SIGNIFICANT WAVE HEIGHT AT 050000Z IS 12 FEET. NEXT WARNINGS
AT 050900Z, 051500Z, 052100Z AND 060300Z.//

We will watch our jet streams carefully in the next couple weeks. I think
this whole set-up favors more of a tropical connection for us or more moisture
to work with the plenty of cold air we have in place.
Remember the big picture.

The NOAA 8 to 14 day forecast seems to verify this nicely.


You can certainly see this cold air will not be alone but have ample
moisture as well.


This weekend though I have nothing that will spoil any plans or slow you down.
There will be just a few snow showers
with less than an inch of snow on Saturday. The Alberta
Clipper is tracking too far north this time around for much of anything.

I will be back with your parade forecast
and tell you why the high in the 20s may actually
feel much warmer than that! I
will keep our glass half full even if it does have a coat of ice on it!
Have a great
day!

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Regarding your comment "We need to name these snowstorms that bring 3 or more inches" - I think you should continue the "S" theme and name the next snow event "Sabastian". It goes right along with the current theme. . Siberian Express, Squirrels, Sweathers, Sir Featherton, Snowstorm.

Anonymous said...

Great post today Mike, very informative!

Anonymous said...

I think Brian, would be a great name for the "first big snow" or Bwolfe, after our wonderful weekend weather guy! Brian did a super job filling in for the morning news cast, as well keeping us updated on the weekends!

There have been beautiful pictures posted on the blog of the wolves living at Wolf park, enjoying the snow and I think most of us know Brian loves the snow.

We had one storm named after a member the tv18 weather team, Storm Stefanie! I think another would be fun:)

Teri in Laf.

Anonymous said...

Storm BWolfe, gets my vote!

Jim said...

Regarding your comments: "As of 11 p.m. last night Lafayette was colder than parts of the north slope of Alaska. Nome, Alaska checked in with 19 degrees while we were at 18. Amazing! Nome doesn't even have any sunlight to work with like we do. They are in the dark until March! "

there are factual errors there that would lead me to discredit the value of the whole article. You imply in your sentence structure that Nome is on the north slope. Not correct. We are quite south. Sunlight: Nome has about 4 hours of sunlight on the shortest day of the year.

Also, if you want to compare temperatures, please note that Nome is right on the coast of the Bering Sea (Norton Sound) which moderates our climate. Pick Fairbanks or other inland towns if you want to compare cold temps.

Anonymous said...

WHOA there Jim! I didn't know people in Alaska read this blog. Mike was doing his best to make us realize exactly how cold it is. I can honestly say I dont think he was trying to offend anyone in Alaska.

Jim said...

oops - guess that did come off a bit strong. But I do like to see accurate statements about my home, as I'm sure most of us do. Apologies if I sounded too cranky. (Should we hold ourselves, though, to higher standards? - a question for debate somewhere...)

As for reading this blog - I have google-alerts set up to notify when nome, alaska comes up in blogs. It is quite entertaining at times.

cheers, Jim

Anonymous said...

I like Alberta, for Alberta clipper! Because that is the pattern we seem to be in this year!

It is COLD out there today!!!!! I have 20.3 without adding in the wind chill!! I went outside about an hour ago and the cold just cuts right through you!! A COLD BITE!!!!!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

I like the name Brian or Bwolfe. And hope Monty will keep sending in those photos of the wolves

Anonymous said...

Cold Bite is right Justin:) Glad the sun is out for now at least.

Teri in Laf.

Anonymous said...

How 'bout Harvey?

Anonymous said...

I like the name Monty, My mom likes Brian or Bwolfe:) I like both

Ray in Laf.

Anonymous said...

I like the name Monty, My mom likes Brian or Bwolfe:) I like both

Ray in Laf.

Anonymous said...

Some seem cranky ones on our friendly blog the last week or so. The winter blaas????. I think a lot are feeling already.

Where is our jolly Justin, our witty Brow,informative Mary Anne, and wonderful Teri?

They just dont post as much as they used too, I miss reading. Ya a few postings here and there.

Anonymous said...

Hey Mike...thanks for the forcast at 5:00pm today, Dec. 5th, I was confused and worried when I saw that the moisture for Monday into Tuesday was colored green on the map you used at 5:00. Does this mean it would be rain (a precip. map?), or is that just moisture levels?

Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Dog frozen to sidewalk;
owner arrested
Fat helped the dog survive
Last Edited: Friday, 05 Dec 2008, 1:03 PM EST
Created On: Friday, 05 Dec 2008, 1:03 PM EST

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) - A dog weighing more than 120 pounds survived being frozen to a sidewalk overnight, probably because he was insulated by layers of fat, authorities said.

The Sheboygan County Humane Society says the "morbidly obese" dog, an aging border collie mix named Jiffy, froze to the sidewalk when he was left out overnight Wednesday.

Shelter manager Carey Payne says few dogs could survive the single-digit temperatures, and it was probably the fat that made the difference.

Jiffy's 59-year-old owner was arrested Thursday morning on suspicion of animal neglect, Sheboygan Police Lt. Tim Eirich said. She told police she tried to get the dog inside but couldn't, and instead checked on him every few hours.

The dog is 11 or 12 years old, Eirich said. Shelter workers poured warm water over Jiffy's back end to unstick him from the sidewalk, Payne said, and it was too soon to say whether he suffered any long-term effects.

Just read this on WLFI strange news.

WE NEED TO TAKE CARE OF OUR PETS!
DONT FORGET THEM IN THIS COLD WEATHER!

Anonymous said...

This weather is crazy! Snow sleet,rain and wind, then warmer later in the week gee!

Anonymous said...

Jolly Justin here :-)

Everybody watching the weather for late Monday into Tuesday?? I think this will be our next system!

Cold right now at only 18.1* Degrees!! Is everybody getting ready for Christmas? I can not believe it is only 20 days away!!!!! I think it is going fast and I like it going slow! Gives me time to enjoy it!!

I have to get some Christmas music going! Been listening to it all day! This is my fav time of year so I'M really enjoying it!!

Justin in Lafayette

Anonymous said...

Hi all! Informative Mary Anne checking in! (BIG GRIN)

I am glad Mike checked my wx site or someone else from Rem sent in our FRIGID morning low of 5* this morning! For the first time this season I am actually cold today. I know, I know, some shake their head at that statement. usually when I am cold others are FROZEN solid. I have been wearing just a nylon jacket but think tomorrow for the Salvation Army bell ringing at Mike's IGA here in town I will dress a bit warmer :-)

Stay warm, bloggers and take care! Thanks Mike, Stefanie and Bwolfe for keeping us informed!!

Jim, I really enjoy hearing about AK. Go easy on our Mike...we are very protective of him, but I do understand your desire to have correct facts printed about your state.

MA in REM

Anonymous said...

So.. Mike, I knwo it's early, but, how much snow you thinking about for Tuesday?