- Blog post archives
- HD videos
- Blog main

Personal
Extreme Weather Gallery
Storm Chasing
Dan's Blog
Photography
Weather Data
The Message

News/Editorial
Clients & Credits
Subjects & Coverage
Icy Road Safety

Commercial
Storm Chasing Tours
Weather Stock Footage
Video Production
Television ENG
Web Site Design
Van de Graaff Generators
Photographic Prints

Contact
Phone 304.346.7359
Email Form

Friday, January 2, 2009 - 8:54PM

Stronger NWS wording needed for freezing rain

On Tuesday, December 23, 2008, freezing rain took the lives of 32 people in the midwest. It happened again on Friday, December 26, when 10 people died - 7 in Indiana alone. Hundreds if not thousands of accidents - too numerous to realistically count - resulted in countless more injuries and no doubt millions of dollars in damage. The tractor-trailer crashes alone easily resulted in millions of dollars lost in equipment and shipments combined. Entire cities and counties were shut down. People were stranded on highways in traffic jams for hours.

Tornadoes are a fearsome and deadly phenomena. Decades of research, forecasting and warning priority have been given to the cause of protecting life and property from this danger. Television stations go wall-to-wall when a tornado warning is issued. Sirens sound. People stop what they are doing and take cover. And as a result, lives are saved every year.

Freezing rain accidents are the most severe of all weather-related crashes because drivers can't see the hazard. And consequently, they are traveling faster, caught completely by surprise, and when their vehicles lose control, impacts are some of the most severe of all collisions. It doesn't take a well-warned ice storm - all it takes is a little freezing drizzle, a little rain shower that no one is watching.

So my question is, why does a developing freezing rain scenario get little more than a last-minute advisory? I've watched time and time again this winter as National Weather Service advisories are quietly issued in the middle of the night, during rush hour, in mid-afternoon - with little fanfare. Rain moves in with temperatures below 32 degrees, and no one notices - no wall-to-wall TV coverage, no sirens, no warning tones, nothing. People then get in their cars and get on the interstates, oblivious to the fact that they are facing a danger that is more likely to kill them that day than a tornado, hurricane, lightning strike or flood (or any other weather phenomena) in their entire lifetime.

So what can be done? Granted, it is well-known that even tornado warnings have a hard time getting to the people who need to hear them, as they often aren't prepared with the means to receive them. But at least the warnings are there. Freezing rain is a weather phenomena that definitely deserves much stronger wording and more aggressive public dissemination of the warnings than it's getting now.

I'm offering these suggestions:

• Expand and emphasize HPC freezing rain outlooks - NOAA's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center currently issues outlooks for freezing rain twice a day for the continental US (similar to the SPC convective outlooks - Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3). However, the outlooks only denote areas that are at risk from receiving a quarter of an inch or more of ice. The outlooks are more geared at alerting for ice storm potential, not icy roads. The criteria for an outlooked area needs to be expanded to include any area that is at risk for receiving light freezing rain - anything that could cause road hazards.
   
• More aggressive warning dissemination - No more "freezing rain advisories" - I think we need to see something akin to '(life-threatening) road ice warnings'. I think at the very least, tones should go out on commercial radio and TV airwaves. Anything to alert the public of the gravity of the situation. This hazard needs to be given the same treatment as a 'tornado emergency' - it's taking two to three times as more lives.
   
• More aggressive awareness campaigns - Awareness campaigns are already in effect for lightning, tornadoes, floods, severe weather and winter weather. I recommend that freezing rain and icy roads be given their own emphasis separate from the winter weather umbrella. I believe that the public needs to develop the same respect for icy roads as they do tornadoes and hurricanes, to the point of recognizing the warning signs and chainging their decision making process when icy roads threaten.

There is nothing worse than freezing rain. We had an event in my region a few weeks ago and there were thousands of accidents. I also noted that lack of media attention the night before the event. Few people knew there was an advisory. I agree with your above thoughts and am going to send this to my local office. - Posted by Beau from Kentucky

I couldn't agree with you more. I expanded on this a bit over at my blog: http://postitcast.blogspot.com/2009/01/excellent-blog-post-regarding-freezing.html - Posted by Michael W. Moss from New Whiteland, Indiana

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Friday, January 2, 2009 - 5:00AM

Some random stuff to start 2009

From the Random Files: I keep a queue of html files with ideas and drafts for future blog subjects, but most of don't end up meeting the criteria of being compelling or interesting enough to warrant getting 'greenlighted' for posting (yeah, as if anything on here is compelling). I typed out a couple of new subjects this week, enough to add to a couple from the 'scratch pad' file for a post to help start the new year. There are some corporate brand props in here that again, I wasn't paid for, for those that may suspect it. If you're a corporate exec whos brand was mentioned here, at least a gas card for chase season would be a nice way to return the favor (not-so-subtle hint, hint).

Sumatra Coffee

I have never been a coffee drinker, in fact I was never a big fan of the taste of any type or flavor. I would drink coffee if there was nothing else to drink, or if I needed the caffeine boost for one reason or another. Which in both cases, was very rarely. That changed when my parents introduced me to "sumatra" coffee. Starbucks sells it in both ground and unground form (you can get it at most grocery stores), and there are several other brands that carry it online (do a Google search). I've been firing up the coffee maker with Sumatra every morning and drinking at least two cups a day. Even still, my coffee consumption is more utilitarian than recreational (helps me wake up in the morning) - but at least now it's something that's beyond just being tolerable. Anyway, my point is, if you're not a coffee person but could use the boost in the morning, give the Sumatra stuff a try.

Props to Radio Shack

Radio Shack comes through to make a $40 mistake a $3 one, after I left my cell phone charger in Pennsylvania on Monday. I am prone to regularly losing, dropping or finding some other creative yet unintentional way to destroy my cell phone (like on interstate onramps in North Carolina), so I get cheap used ones off of Ebay instead of shelling out hundreds for the new pocket PC/ iPhone grade models. So it's not an easy task to find another charger for my far-outdated phone when I leave the main one somewhere 200+ miles away. Wednesday, I went to Radio Shack for the long shot, and amazingly they had one left - and on clearance for three dollars. Beats having to spend $40 plus either waiting 4 days or spend 6 hours on the road to get back in communication. So Radio Shack gets some bonus points from me.

Shame on Firefox: Flash embed bug

I'm all for alternative browsers to compete with Microsoft, but please Mozilla, make sure everything works correctly in your browser! I found out this week that Macromedia's Flash embed code causes a vertical space about 6 pixels high to appear below any Flash animation in Firefox. This causes any Flash animation that is seamlessly integrated into a larger graphic to break apart the page's layout. This bug included several of my sites, including stormhighway.com - which unbenkonwst to me, had the ugly space breaking apart my main header graphic. The bug fix involves removing all spaces and line breaks between the Flash embed parameter tags, the end result being putting the entire 8-line object/embed/param code tags onto a single line. This makes the embed code pretty haphazard and disorganized, but it's the only way to get rid of the 6-pixel space.

So today, I have to go through all of my client sites to make sure the bug isn't affecting them. Thanks Mozilla!

Finally, an electric razor that works

I hate both shaving and growing a beard - both have always been a thorn in my side (or more accurately, in my face). I can't handle a straight-razor shave more often than once every 5 to 7 days without severe irritation (I've tried all brands of razors and gels/creams), and with my fast-growing hair, that means I grow a full, unflattering beard in between shaves. This of course, after a couple of days, makes me look like that weird scruffy guy on the subway that everyone avoids. Better than the alternative though, which is to shave every other day and look like Freddy Krueger. The last electric razor I had, a Norelco, worked pretty well until its internal battery stopped charging back in 2005. The same Norelco model was long discontinued, and tried two other new models that were total pieces of junk. So I was doomed to the weekly beard cycle ever since. I've been uncomfortable enough with this situation that I've considered laser hair removal, but so far haven't been able to afford that extreme solution (the full series of treatments can top $2,000).

So this week I decided to give a very expensive Braun electric razor a try ($190 at Wal-Mart) and so far it is working great, even better than the old Norelco I used to have. Braun has a 60-day guarantee on the thing, so I figured if it was junk like the others, I could at least get my money back. It also comes with an alcohol-based automatic cleaning machine that works pretty well. So, I'm pleased to say you probably won't see me with a beard from this point on. 200 bucks was a lot to drop on a razor, but well worth it.

So there you have it - the blog scratch pad file is clear, ready for the next batch of random subjects.

You know, Dan, I somehow lost my phone and ran over it on the Colorado/Nebraska border in late 2007. Realizing it was gone five minutes later, we returned to the last stop to find the phone, embedded in the tire track of my car ... intact. It wouldn't turn on right away, but after taking out the battery and putting it back in, viola! ... no worse for wear. The only damage came was cosmetic on the outer shell, where gravel had depressed into the plastic. - Posted by Dann Cianca from Denver, Colorado

Scruffy or not, you don't scare me. How could I avoid that face of yours? It was great to see you over the Christmas holiday! - Posted by Rob from Hampton, VA

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Now Booking for Spring 2009

Friends, Family & Chasers
- Matt & Beth
- Katie, Randy & Caleb
- Jes & Rob
- Bill Coyle
- Randy Barlow
- Jesse Bass
- Kurt Hulst
- Dave Crowley
- Justin Teague
- Warren Faidley
- Tony Laubach
- Jeff Gammons
- Mike Peregrine
- Spencer Adkins

Downtown Charleston Cam

More Galleries

Charleston, WV Gallery

2008 Storm Chasing trip

Thursday, January 1, 2009 - 7:39PM

CASE STUDY: Bridge frost creates icy road hazard under clear skies

click to enlarge

This is the first case of pure frost (ice entirely of non-precipitation and non-terrestrial origin) covering a road that I've observed, so I wanted to do as thorough of a documentation as I could. It is amazing to think that icy roads can develop literally out of thin air under clear skies.

Upon the discovery of the South Side Bridge's condition, I checked the condition of several other bridges in Charleston. I found frost only on one other bridge, the Spring Street Bridge over the Elk River.

• Spring Street bridge over the Elk River: It appeared that a light band of frost had formed in the southbound lanes (photo). The band was not slick in either walking or driving tests.
• Washington Street Bridge over the Elk River - no frost observed
• Lee Street Bridge over the Elk River - no frost observed
• I-64 Bridge over the Kanawha River (Carter/Oakwood/Fort Hill) - no frost observed
• Patrick Street Bridge over the Kanawha River - no frost observed

South Side Bridge frost observations

Weather Conditions:

I recorded the valley temperature at the bridge at 8:00AM at 16°F under clear skies. The hilltop temperature at the CRW ASOS site (at Yeager Airport) was recorded at 14°F. It is worth noting that valley and hilltop conditions in Charleston can differ by several degrees in both temperature and dewpoint. The following is a chart of the obs at the CRW ASOS around the time of the bridge frost event:

Thick frost was also present on vehicles, grass and ground vegetation in the Kanawha Valley.

Appearance:

The frost layer was similar in appearance to a light snow covering. Tire tracks had formed from passing vehicles.

Slickness hazard:

The light coating was about a 4 on a slickness scale of 1 to 10 - my wheels would slide on it only during hard braking. My shoes, however, slid easily as I walked across. It appeared that if the frost would have had another hour or two to accrete, the bridge surface would have become hazarous enough to pose a significant accident threat, on par with a normal snowfall event.

Coverage:

The frost covered the full width of the bridge pavement plus the top of the Jersey barrier railings, mainly on either end of the bridge. No frost was present on the pedestrian walkway on the west side of the bridge. Frost was not present in the center of the bridge underneath the steel truss superstructure.

No frost on bridge center:

I have two theories about the frost only being on either end of the bridge and not in the center. One is that the 'frost accretion zone' could have been confined to a shallow layer of air above the river. In that case, the high arching center of the bridge would be situated above this layer, while the lower approaches would have been down inside the layer. This may explain why other bridges over the Kanawha (like the much higher-elevated I-64 bridge) had no frost at all. My second theory is that the steel truss superstructure somehow (thermally or otherwise) shielded the road surface from radiational cooling effects.

Moisture source:

Since the surface layer was not at saturation (not at or near 100% humidity) and no fog was observed anywhere in the region, my theory is that the bridge frost was fed by moisture from the Kanawha River below. This photo taken close to the time of the above observations shows a shallow layer of mist/steam rising just above the water surface.

Photos:

These images were taken at approximately 8:00AM EST (click each image to enlarge):

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

Spring Street bridge:

click to enlarge

Conclusions: Although I wasn't able to observe enough bridge sites to draw a certain conclusion, it appears that this morning's bridge frost event likely was caused by just the right combination of 1.) subfreezing temps, 2.) good radiational cooling conditions, and 3.) river moisture in a shallow layer of air above the Kanawha River. While this event proves that pure frost is capable of posing a hazard to motorists, it appears that its formation is dependent on a delicate balance of ambient weather conditions, and is therefore not a significant risk factor in terms of frequency.

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Thursday, January 1, 2009 - 8:54AM

First sunrise

Charleston's first sunrise of the new year - 16°F and clear to start 2009:

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

A separate upcoming post is in the works about the subject in this next photo. This is the South Side Bridge downtown this morning, partially iced over - entirely from frost.

click to enlarge

Excellent work Dan... and thank you for sharing with us as you have throughout the year past. Good luck for all that is to come and may those opportunities be the best yet for you. - Posted by Paul from Decatur, IL

Purdy. Happy New Year, Dan. - Posted by Dann Ciacna from Denver, Colorado

Thanks Paul and Dann - hopefully 2009 will provide pleny of great photo ops for all of us! - Posted by Dan R. from Charleston, WV

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - 12:30AM

Canon EOS 5D Mark II versus Sony HDR-FX1

My brother Matt and I tried some simple test scenes to compare the HD video from his new Canon 5D Mark II with my Sony HDR-FX1. We didn't put a whole lot in to these, mainly just picking a few subjects and shooting without much manual adjustment - pretty much what most users would do with the cameras 'out of the box'. No precise matching of frames or anything was done here, just setting the cameras up next to each other and shooting for a few seconds.

click to enlarge

I captured the FX1 footage in SD downconvert mode, and used Streamclip to do the same to the MOV files from the 5D (due to me just being lazy, I didn't want to spend a lot of time rendering, and Premiere 1.5 on my dual core laptop would not support realtime editing of the 5D's files). So, no huge HD files here this time. We may do some more of these when I have my CS3 quad-core machine handy. Out of the six or seven scenes we tested, I picked three to post here. Other than the downconvert to 16x9 SD resolution, no post adjustments were made to these clips. The Streamclip conversion trashed the audio from the 5D's files, so there is no audio on the 5D's half of these clips (it does record audio with either its onboard mic or a plugged-in mic).

All in all, the 5D shoots incredible HD video for a DSLR. The depth of field capabilities (afforded by using SLR lenses for video) open the door to a lot of potential that even high-end professional HD cameras would be hard pressed to attain. The color space and dynamic range of a DSLR chip blows away what any prosumer camera can capture.

Rolling shutter test

The 5D MKII's main handicap for a storm chaser is its CMOS sensor - ruling out the ability to capture lightning footage. All video cameras with CMOS sensors utilize a rolling shutter to capture video frames, and the 5D is no different. Rolling shutter makes any footage containing rapid pulses of light (like from a lightbar strobe, camera flash or lightning strike) exhibit partial exposure on the video frame:

Flash test - Watch Video

Low light test

According to Matt, the low light capabilities of the 5D MKII for HD video have been disappointing. Apparently all of the stunning nighttime demo footage used to hype up the camera's video capabilities has been (deceptively) well-lit. In the typical garden-variety low-light scene, the 5D MKII is unable to capture a properly exposed video image without grain, even when using a fast lens such as was used in the following scene. The FX1 is also not a champion in low light, which is apparent here. Good low light HD still requires a minimum $30,000 investment in an XDCAM or Panasonic HVX900-type broadcast camera - though the way things are going, that may change in the next year or two.

Low light test - Watch Video

Motion/DOF test

Of course, nothing needs to be said about the DOF abilities of the 5D MKII over a video camera:

Motion/DOF test - Watch Video

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Thursday, December 25, 2008 - 9:53PM

US icy road toll tops 200; more ice on the way

I know it's Christmas, and I've already posted 100 times this subject - but weather hazards don't observe holidays, so I won't delay this next post any longer. US icy road fatalities this season (since October) passed the 200 mark yesterday, on pace to easily surpass the combined average annual toll for all other forms of severe weather (tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning and floods). As of this evening, the toll is at 210. In the past 5 days, an astounding total of 64 people have lost their lives on icy roads in this country - 35 of those occuring on one day, Tuesday the 23rd. When I started this project, I expected to see the 200 mark reached in February, not before Christmas.

I added a map to the icyroadsafety.com site showing the distribution across the country:

MAP: Icy road danger, by state

I've also added a XML/RSS news feed to icyroadsafety.com, with the intention of shifting some of that topic off of this blog for those who are interested in it.

Freezing rain has been responsible for the majority of the recent incidents, with accident rates and severity far higher than any snowfall events this season. The recent research I've undertaken has confirmed that ice glazing from freezing rain tends to result in more serious and frequent crashes due to its invisibility and element of surprise. Snow on roads is easy for drivers to identify, ice glazing is nearly impossible to.

And unfortunately more is on the way. Tonight will require another all-night coverage marathon here in Charleston, as temps are already crashing past the freezing mark across West Virginia with a slug of precip moving up from the south. Tomorrow morning is going to be a mess.

Those are some imapressive numbers for only a few months time. I'm sure glad I don't have to deal with icy weather issues. - Posted by Jeff Gammons from South Florida

With so much emphasis on vehicle safety, I'm not sure many people know how to drive in winter conditions anymore. I grew up driving front wheel drive vehicles in Montana where the roads would be covered in snow or ice at least 20% of the year. I've since upgraded to an older-model Ford Explorer. It has 4-wheel drive, but I don't use it except in case of emergency or I get stuck. I'm not used to driving rear-wheel drive, so I have been doing that all winter to get used to it. I don't even have anti-lock brakes. :) - Posted by Dann Cianca from Denver, Colorado

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - 11:45AM

Icy bridge demonstration at Crestwood overpass

VIDEO: Icy bridge demonstration

I put together this short demo clip from last night. Sorry for the poor audio - I really need to start taking my Sennheiser lav mic with me on these shoots. A pickup truck wrecked on this bridge just moments before I got there - (in the video, the truck is in the distance with its hazards on).

Notice the fact that this freezing rain-produced ice coating is completely invisible. It was very thin - no more than a millimeter or two, yet it was the most slick surface I've ever documented.

This location is the Crestwood Road overpass over Interstate 79 between Mink Shoals and Big Chimney. It is at a relatively high elevation, outside of any valley temperature influences - therefore it usually ices over before any other bridges in the area. I visit it often as a 'test bridge' for determining icing potential in Charleston. If the Crestwood bridge is icy, then I know the potential is there for the same thing to happen later in Charleston.

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - 9:30PM

12/23 WV freezing rain/icy road event observations

Yet another day where models were useless with temps and precip arrival speed. I watched this event unfold closely throughout the day, fully expecting the problems that developed. With nearly two full days of subfreezing temps and lows in the single digits/teens, the ground was solidly below freezing. It was going to take some serious warming to remove any icing threat today. That warming of course didn't happen, and a widespread freezing rain event hit most of the state tonight. Coverage-wise, I didn't leave Charleston for more than a few minutes, for fear of missing Fort Hill Bridge footage. There was plenty of drama outside of town, I just ignored it due to the fact that Charleston was on the verge of road ice problems.

Compared to snowfall, I don't have as much experience with observing the behavior of freezing rain - so tonight was very educational. When surface temps are uniformly below 32°F, it's a no-brainer - everything will get a glaze. But today in Kanawha County, we had pockets of wildly varying temps that made for some interesting scenarios:

• Wet-bulbing played a huge role today, more so than I thought was possible. Wet-bulbing, or "evaporative cooling", is an effect caused by the moistening of dry air (caused by falling precip in a dry layer). In most places, temps rose into the mid and high 30s before the rain arrived. But with dewpoints in the teens, once the rain started, temps were dropping about three degrees for every five degrees of dewpoint rise. Most areas were at or below freezing by 7PM, with the exception of downtown Charleston, which bottomed out at 34°F.
   
• Downsloping saved Charleston today, I think. Light southeasterly winds were present in the mountains - creating downslope conditions on the western sides. Downsloping has a warming and drying effect, the opposite of upslope. There wasn't much of it today, but maybe enough to keep Charleston from falling the two degrees it would have taken for icing downtown.
   
• A sharp east-west temperature gradient existed between central and western Kanawha County. I drove west on I-64 at 6:30PM and measured a high of 37°F in downtown Charleston, which dropped to 35°F at South Charleston, 33°F at Institute, 32°F at Cross Lanes, and 31°F at the Scary Creek/St. Albans exit.
   
• Bridge ice was the main problem in the region today. This was something I didn't expect - I figured the cold ground would have glazed just as quickly. It did in some isolated spots, but all bridges where temps were at or below 32°F were totally glazed.
   
• The typical warning signs that I've identified over the years for bridge ice were not reliable during the borderline temps tonight. No ice on guardrails, metal signs or power lines - the usual places that collect ice first. This was a significant find for me, as the usual 'warning objects' for ice were not working. The Crestwood Road overpass near Big Chimney (my usual 'test bridge') had a solid glaze, with the adjacent guardrails completely ice-free.

I'll post some photos and a clip in a while.

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008 - 5:53AM

MahJong rant

Alright, this post is going to make most of you say either 'get a life' or 'what a nerd'. This is mainly to vent for the purpose of Google indexing this page for anyone else in the world who might search for it. Since I'm ADD, naturally I don't have many daily routines - but one of them is playing the MahJong game (the premium Yahoo GameHouse version, not the one that comes with Vista) for about 15-20 minutes before I go to bed almost every night. This is a solitaire-like game where you have to pair match a bunch of stacked tiles until the board is clear. (A very basic version of the game, with only six tile patterns, comes with Windows Vista.) I like games like this - not too easy or difficult, doesn't take an hour to finish, and enough of a 'lightweight' strategy requirement to keep it from being completely mindless.

So anyway, my rant is about several specific tile sets in the full version of the game. There are a few tile sets that are either impossible to solve, or are only solveable if the tiles get arranged in just the right way by the computer's random number generator. In other words, there is no strategy involved at all in solving them. Many times with these sets, you run out of moves with the first and only possible tile match - what is up with that? In other words, the only way to solve them is to keep playing over and over until you get a tile arrangement that makes it possible to win. For some of these sets, the odds of getting a winnable arrangement has got to be something like one in several thousand or more, if not impossible altogether. They're no different from playing a slot machine over and over - no strategy, just hoping you get the one winnable stack out of 500,000.

After several weeks of trying to beat some of these tile sets (like Martini, House Stack and Arrow), I finally just gave up. I realized that mathematically and strategically, losing them isn't a defeat, and winning them wouldn't be a triumph - only a statistical eventuality. Just like sitting here brainlessly playing a slot machine. It doesn't mean anything to win nor to lose (not that it does anyway, but you get my point). I just wonder why they were included in the game at all - the only way to win them is just to keep playing over and over. I officially gave up on Martini after over 200 attempts in the past couple of months. I kept trying because it is a small stack, only 65 tiles or so - it looks like it would be easy to get a winnable one.

The evil Martini set

My point is that these few 'unwinnable' tile sets serve no purpose and don't fit the character of the game, which is to have a chance to win by using your head a little. Were they included as a joke by the programmers, who are laughing at the thought of people like me playing them over and over? Probably, who knows. Anyway, if you've been trying to beat tile sets like Martini, just give up - it's insanity!

Now if you have actually solved a set like Martini, please post! I want to know how many thousands of times it took you to do it.

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Monday, December 22, 2008 - 5:35PM

Shallow upslope snow bands, coldest air so far

This morning was another example of why with winter weather, many times I can't trust anything but what my own two eyes see outside. I figured I was in the clear for today - all models, forecast discussions, outlooks, you name it - showed nothing but clearing skies for us overnight into this morning. However, a few very shallow and narrow upslope snow bands formed over Charleston, and with the very cold air in place, quickly coated the roads at daybreak. Thanks to the extremely dry air (our dewpoints were below zero), the snow was a light 'sawdust' consistency that didn't bond to the road surface. Wakes from moving vehicles were all it took to keep all of the high-traffic roads, including the interstates, clear. Some side streets had a good covering, but thankfully the consistency of the snow and lack of bonding didn't result in any slickness that I could find. With temps at 8°F, I was very glad I didn't have to set my camera up and stand outside.

Temperature at dawn:

The light snow coating blew away quickly with each passing car:

The snow bands were some of the shallowest and thinnest precip-producing clouds I've seen. Here is a shot of a departing band, nearly translucent to the morning light. Snow was falling at the time of this image with clear skies overhead.

click to enlarge

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.

Sunday, December 21, 2008 - 7:04AM

One down, three to go

Not much going on to talk about right now, but I wanted to at least get a less-depressing subject posted on here before Christmas. Today's arrival of 'official' winter is little more than a formality, since meteorologically speaking, winter has been here since November 15. That means we have three more months to go before we're out of the woods.

It's nice to know that the longer days are finally on the way back. I can see why the solstice was a celebrated event in human history, which of course is the primary reason we celebrate Christmas this time of year. As I've said before, it's hard for me to really get 'in' to the Christmas celebration, since it primarily a 'family thing' and since Biblical and circumstantial evidence points to Jesus being born in late September (shepherds wouldn't be outside with their flocks in the dead of winter, for example). I just have a hard time "disconnecting" my mind from reality to truly enjoy the season.

Early Christians started their own tradition to provide a wholesome alternative to the ancient pagan celebration of the winter solstice, which has stood the test of time as "Christmas" as we know it today. But you don't have to be pagan to appreciate the solstice aspect. It's a natural event in the calendar that is to spring what Wednesday is to the weekend - we're at a 'halfway point' to warmer temperatures and green foliage.

Here in West Virginia and at similar latitudes, we actually only have two months left to deal with 'deep winter' - as March is a meteorological "transition month". It snows a couple of times here in March every year, granted - but after the 1st, extended cold spells are less common and thunderstorms are becoming regular events. That's always been the date at which I've felt like I've 'survived' the winter.

Your Name:   Location (optional):

Validation: Enter only the numbers colored in GREEN above:

This comment system is moderated - please read the posting rules before submitting a comment.