Whats The Weather Like Up North?
 

I missed the snow until I turned on the TV! Can someone post some snow pics? ~~Eric

Only about 6" of snow here...Temps are hovering around 6ºF for the last week...Schools have been closed due to low temps (buses won't start; boilers breaking down; etc)...Lots of activities canceled...Watermains bursting...

Supposed to warm up to freezing this coming week... :D

Weather talk on TV has been whether the Super Bowl will be rescheduled if a storm hits NYC... :rolleyes:

Despite the recent potential for snow in Florida's pan handle this week, you guys down there will NEVER have to deal with lake effect snow! My home town of Watertown NY is located on the northern edge of one of these zones, and three-foot overnight snowfalls are not out of the question!

How it works: The prevailing winds bring cold air from Canada. This cold air is loaded up with moisture as it crosses any of the great lakes, and this moisture is dumped on the leeward land areas in the form of snow. Rich and I are in areas where lake effect snow is not really the norm, but the potential exists--triggered by just the right conditions and wind direction. The usual "bands" of this snow run roughly West to East, which is why Buffalo (from Lake Erie) and Parish (from Ontario) can expect to do battle with snow regularly. The wind has traveled the entire lengths of these lakes, picking up the max moisture.

I'm too far South of Lake Ontario, too far East of Erie, to be threatened regularly. A North wind will dump white stuff on Rich--near Rochester--because it has traveled the width of Lake Ontario, which is enough to pick up that moisture. When the wind is just-so, out of the N/NW, it will have picked up enough moisture, having traveled the length of Cayuga Lake, to result in a mini lake effect for the city of Ithaca, itself, but would not affect outlying areas since the band is narrow.

SUNY Oswego is reputed to have guide ropes on campus, so the students don't get lost in white-out conditions while walking from one building to another. My nephew attended Oswego, and I think I remember his confirmation of this.

Finally I've learned about about lake front snow. I assume they also get hit in Chicago!!I havent seen one flake in 22 years. Just one reminder please for us both!!! It doesn't have to be a "Currier & Ives"!

The weather outside is frightful, but inside the safe's delightful...
The collection of Lugers grows... Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!

Eric, here are some pictures from this morning in North Carolina! It was my sincere hope, when I left there 35 years ago, to keep the snow in Chicago and (20 years ago) in New York state...

I agree with what David has said. It's only recently [15 yrs?] that 'Lake Effect Snow' has been identified with the jet stream. The jet stream travels West to East, roughly from the Pacific, along the US-Canadian border until it hits the first of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior., where it makes a 90º turn South to the bottom of Lake Michigan. Then it turns 90º East to the bottom end of Lake Erie. Now it makes a 90º turn North to the border again, and finally turns 90º East again to the Atlantic. Whenever the cold air dragged along by the jet stream travels over a warmer lake it picks up the moisture and carries it along until it hits a colder landmass. Lake Effect Snow is the result.

The jet stream is a constant, and stays in the same position in relation to the Sun year round. It is only the axial tilt of the Earth that makes it seem to travel North in the Summer and South to the US in the Winter.

The Japanese actually launched 'balloon bombs' during WW II that rose to 32,000 feet and were carried by the jet stream to the continental US and Canada. Very interesting story on the History Channel on these balloon bombs.

Now, we get bombed with snow.

The History Channel/Discovery/PBS Home Video special is called "On A Wind And A Prayer" and is available on DVD.

http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index...w=wpra601&sr=1

http://qpbs.imageg.net/graphics/prod...5044432reg.jpg

Here they are!!
 

Found them on U2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO6-96Pyi0o....Eric

No new snow in Virginia, but we have had a warming trend. Last week we had two days that when I left for work it was minus 3 degrees... this morning the thermometer in my car said 8 degrees. It was all the way up to 10 degrees by the time I got to Washington DC at 8:30 -- be still my heart..

When I was in Washington in the 70s for interviews it was both the hotest and coldest city I ever visited!!! Hands down~~Eric

20 degrees above. Clear blue sky, not a cloud in sight. Saw three moose this morning. Unseasonably warm.

Are there eskimos in Alaska??

Are there really Canadians in Florida??? :eek:

When Canadians talk about migrating South for the Winter, I thought they meant Toronto... :confused:

Here's a pic of my back yard taken last night...About 6" of snow on picnic table... :)

Back to the deep freeze in Virginia... -3 degrees again when I got in the car this morning. Glad I have a good battery...

As far as Canadians, Yes! They drive slow in the fast lane with their huge cars always slowing down to look for something! They are lousy the worst tippers!! It seems those from Quebec sont un mal au cue! We will take New Yorkers or Jerseys any day instead!

Also here in Italy (North, Turin) in the last two days we had some snow, not much here in town, but much more has fallen on the Alps near us though.

Does this answer your question.

Wow! Kenny, that is the steepest mountainside I have ever seen! :eek: I'll bet those trees have roots that poke out the other side!!! :)

[original pic below] :evilgrin:

Ok,Ok, I should have checked rotation before posting! Lol

I travel fairly regularly to Philadelphia, and Carlisle/Gettysberg, and some of the Pennsylvania mountains I drive through are pretty amazing...They seem to go straight up...I can't see how the animals [deer] can even climb those peaks...But the hunters say they do... :eek:

I bought a motorcycle from a guy in Southern Pennsylvania about 6 years ago; really rural, dirt roads, no street signs, had to be talked in by cellphone to find his place...Talked with him about deer hunting, he said he walked out his back door to go hunting one day, there was a deer about 75 feet away...He shot it, hunting over... :D

During Law School I lived just outside Valley Forge. It was the coldest winter I ever experienced. After admission I took the hint and applied for the Florida Bar and never looked back! ~~Eric