CCHurricane

3 minutes ago, HIPPYVALLEY said:

I don't remember where Irene made landfall or if it was even still a hurricane?  I just remember WNE getting drowned.  I've never seen anything like it on the local rivers.

Irene was not a hurricane when it made its way through New England 

1 minute ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Looks like the 00z hurricane guidance shows no more OTS solutions. Man to be a fly on the wall at BOX or OKX right now.

 

00z Euro rolling in with a Martha's Vineyard "landfall", yet in similar fashion to the HWRF a rapidly weakening system.  

3 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

How much of a westward shift?

Eastern Long Island track, but a rapidly weakening LP system. Really starts falling apart well offshore.

These sort of events provide such an interesting lens into cognitive behavioral biases. Confirmation and Overconfidence biases run amok! 

2 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

It could be. That is not what is happening in other countries with high vaccination rates, though.

It's also not what is happening in certain locales in this country with relatively high vaccination uptake.

I see very little evidence any public policy decisions to reinstate masks and restrictions are being made based on deaths. It's all cases.

I'm just not able to be so optimistic that mass worldwide vaccination is going to end this. Much more likely it ends as the virus mutates to become weaker and fades into the background with the rest of the respiratory viruses we deal with. That's already occurring.

Other countries are not he United States, which is a good thing for us.

And again, until vaccination rates increase across the country there WILL be a correlation between cases and deaths, and therefore policy will continue to be based off of that assumption. If every state was like Massachusetts in terms of vaccination adoption, and mask mandates remained mandatory, you and I would be in 100% agreement. 

22 minutes ago, tamarack said:

"The dose makes the poison", a lesson learned in college.  At one extreme, years ago I read of a person overdoing the "water cleansing" that supposedly would take away all the bad stuff.  Consumed so much water so fast that the body's osmotic balance was totally wrecked and the person died.  One could go the other way and eat 4 cups of salt at one sitting (unlikely that anyone could gag down that much) and would have a good chance of dying.

I nearly brought up that exact same lesson! Good stuff. 

Just now, PhineasC said:

The government needs to do more than simply provide better "messaging." They need to say masks are not required for the vaccinated, period.

It's doesn't make sense to most people when the government says, "Vaccines work extremely well and prevent death, but vaccinated people need to mask up to stay safe."

If current vaccination rates were >75% across the nation, I firmly believe that would in fact be the messaging you would hear. 

Vaccination does not eliminate an individuals ability to contract or transmit COVID. For the vaccinated individual there is little risk, but if 30%-60% of the underlying adult community is not vaccinated, the safety guidelines are not being made to protect vaccinated individuals. 

While I understand the desire for guidance to adopt a more "live your life and deal with the consequences" sort of messaging, that decision would become pretty controversial given unknown outcomes. When things go bad, governments are questioned for not doing enough, and when situations don't meet sometimes alarmist expectations, they are lambasted for over-reacting.

4 minutes ago, PhineasC said:

Yep, the CDC guidelines and guidance from the WH carry a lot of weight because they provide top cover. This also makes it riskier as a high-profile business or organization to go against the grain.

The headline would say:

"Major MA lab flouts CDC guidelines and pays the price with local COVID outbreak."

That's why I am just shaking my head at people who think the CDC is making the right call or that higher vaccination rates will magically fix this mentality.

Higher vaccination rates allow for a verifiable decoupling of cases vs. deaths here in the US and allows for policy to change accordingly. The Media is doing an extremely poor job of communicating that information to the public, and the Provincetown cluster was the perfect example. The story SHOULD have been that because individuals in the group were vaccinated, that mortality was eliminated. Instead the messaging has been focused on the fact that vaccinated individuals are being infected (while ignoring severity of sickness), which only further muddies the water for those who are hesitant to receive the vaccine, or further emboldens anti-vaxxers unscientific and unsubstantiated claims. 

Enjoying the summer here in Boston which has been business as usual for 4 months. No masks, no problem. 

5 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

My life and job. I live it 

#ConfirmationBias

18 minutes ago, Damage In Tolland said:

When so many hundreds of thousands of nurses and doctors that are healthcare professionals in the know refuse to get the poison injected into their arms.. it should really make folks think things thru 

I would love to hear your definition of "Poison" and substantiate that definition with facts.

4 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

I see 0.38. 

Thanks for pointing this out. I had used the xmACIS2 website and perhaps got a bad data pull. It's reflecting 0.38 as well now. 

To what extent does the NWS conduct reoccurring quality control tests at their main regional sites?

Multiple stations surrounding Logan Airport (East Boston, Winthrop, North End) all indicate a pretty healthy rainfall of 0.5-1.0 inches last night. It certainly appeared to be the case given the conditions and radar signature. 

"Official" Boston tally from Logan came in with 0.13 inches 

Not the first time this July the official Boston numbers have been a little wonky.

3 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

Any theories on why the US has suffered the most (in terms of deaths). Maybe the data is false (we overreported and others underreported)?  Our lifestyles (travel etc).  

20 minutes ago, natedizel said:

Probably cause we are one of the most unhealthy nations in the world. Eating right starts at home as well. School system trying to push healthy stuff for kids and government taking away soft drinks dont help much

While I don't doubt for a second that widespread obesity has played a major role in the level of United States deaths, based on what I have seen, on a per capita basis the United States has faired broadly in line with other European developed nations (Belgium, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland).

One would have to imagine that challenged standards and a lack of testing infrastructure would indicate that most developing or under-developed countries have not had the necessary tools in place and are likely under reporting relative to the above. There are of a course a few bad actors who are likely underreporting for other reasons.

Unfortunately the problems we are seeing here in the US are not unique to our country, for better or worse...

4 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

I admit it was decent near BOS specifically, but for metro area it wasn’t a huge deal. 

A shame that there doesn't appear to be any quality control at Logan Airport. Multiple stations surrounding the airport (East Boston, Winthrop, North End) all indicate 0.6-1.0 inches of rain, and it certainly appeared to be the case given the conditions. 

"Official" Boston tally from Logan came in with 0.13 inches 

Snowing all the way down on Cape Cod. Quite the storm, just a few months too late.

5.5” OTG in Barnstable, MA. Surprised to see the NWS report of 7.7” given surrounding totals and higher amounts logically towards the canal. While I’m sure some melting occurred during the day yesterday, I doubt it was 2” worth... 

Last gasp down on Cape Cod as the clock strikes 1:00AM.

Best returns of the day by far here in the North End, Boston. That final band was good to us, delivering strong snow growth.

5.5 inch 2-day total. Will likely end up right at 6”.

8 minutes ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

I was wondering how the Cape was doing. I thought you would have more than that 

Most of the afternoon was spent with temps in the 33-34 degree range with decent mixing, especially mid to lower cape. Similar situation to 2/1, snow falling throughout the day but little to show for it thanks to being on the wrong side of the coastal front.

Most Cape locations had around 3 inches from yesterday which was a decent surprise, so won’t take much to get into the 4-6 range. 

Mid & Upper Cape trying to fend off the mix.

MV unfortunately rain/mix under this band.

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

No reports from the Islands?

I believe MV came in with 4 inches on most recent report. 
 

Pretty decent cutoff even on Cape depending on how close to the south shore you were.

Decent returns down on Cape Cod under this band.

Last push on Cape Cod. Looks like they’ll end up with 2-3”.

SE Mass could grab an extra inch with this last band rotating through. 

Downtown Boston