LibertyBell

Our best indication on whether the winter will be snowy is if it snows in December. If it doesn't snow much in December, consider it at least 80% odds the rest of winter will suck too.

April 2018 was very good too.

That's wild but makes sense because 70% of the earth's surface is covered by oceans so there's probably a lot of these large craters we haven't discovered yet.

2001-02 is the benchmark "winter" for records like this, but 2001-02 was a lot more bearable; for example, it hit 70 in 2002 in late January.

I wasn't aware that OES was even a possibility this far west. I thought it only happened on Cape Cod and eastern Long Island?

stupid east wind I don't think anyone is all that excited to see a few flakes in the sky. We should either get 6"+ inches of snow or sunny dry weather.

Here is a complete review of this camera including very compelling and complete tests performed using it. I love this site for their full featured reviews: https://www.photoreview.com.au/reviews/advanced-compact-cameras/fixed-lens/panasonic-lumix-dmc-fz300/ some highlights Who’s it for? Cameras in Panasonic’s FZ series have always been popular with travellers, partly because of their relatively long zoom range but also because their lenses are usually faster than those attached to smaller-bodied digicams. The constant f/2.8 maximum aperture provides a bright image that will be particularly useful for wildlife photographers, particularly birders. Although the small sensor limits background de-focusing, at the maximum optical zoom range, background blurring is better than we expected for a small-sensor digicam. We took the review camera on a camping trip that included kayaking on flat water. Because it has splash- and dust-proof sealing, we felt confident it could be used for shooting from the kayak as well as in heavy mist and light rain. The camera justified these beliefs and performed well, even in near-freezing conditions. Support for 4K video recording is another reason to buy this camera, even if you don’t have a 4K TV set. The ability to record movies with 3840 x 2160-pixel resolution allows you to extract 8-megapixel frames from the clips and produce acceptable A4-sized print, should you wish. The camera also supports normal 1920 x 1080-pixel video recording with progressive and interlaced scanning and a choice between 50 and 25 frames/second, which is ideal for playback on widescreen HD TV sets. What’s New? Although it retains the same sensor and lens as the FZ200, the FZ300 introduces some significant advantages, which are listed below. 1. Splash- and dust-proof sealing enables the camera to withstand harsh weather conditions and makes it suitable for outdoor photographers. 2. The latest Venus Engine processor is faster and more capable, delivering superior noise reduction at high ISO settings, adding diffraction compensation for small lens apertures and enabling the FZ300 to provide 4K video recording (see below). It also enables a fast 12 frames/second (fps) shooting rate at full-resolution with the mechanical shutter or 60 fps shooting with the electronic shutter. 3. Five-axis Hybrid O.I.S.+ stabilisation can compensate for horizontal, vertical and rotational movements as well as pitch and yaw. Its full capabilities are only available when recording movie clips at 1080p or lower resolutions. In addition, the built-in Level Shot Function can detect horizontal lines in the scene and maintain it even if the camera is tilted, a handy feature when recording movie clips. 4. Both the monitor and EVF screens have higher resolution. The monitor’s resolution has increased from 460,000 dots in the FZ200 to 1,040,000 dots and it includes touch control. The EVF has been upgraded to an OLED display with 2,360,000 dots (compared with 1,312,000 dots in the FZ200). It also has a proximity sensor that switches between the monitor and EVF when you raise the camera to your eye. The monitor can be used as a touch-pad for setting focus while framing shots with the EVF. 5. The 49-area AF system is based upon Panasonic’s G-system cameras and features the latest Light Speed AF, which includes the Depth From Defocus technology, which was introduced with the GH4. The system has a refresh rate of 240 frames per second and includes predictive AF algorithms that make focusing roughly twice as fast as in the FZ200, particularly for tracking AF. Low-light AF performance is also improved and the system can operate as low as -3EV with Starlight AF (which is automatically initiated if the camera detects stars in the night sky). 6. An electronic shutter has been added, augmenting the mechanical system with a top speed of 1/16,000 second. Additionally, the mechanical shutter can operate at 1/4000 second when the lens is stopped down below f/4, something not available with the FZ200. 7. 4K recording functions are the same as in other recent Panasonic digicams, with a top movie resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels at 24 or 30 frames/second. Like other recent 4K-enabled Panasonic cameras, the FZ300’s 4K photo mode uses the camera’s movie-recording function to capture 8-megapixel still images at 30 frames/second, with recording beginning when you half-press the shutter button. The 4K Pre-burst and 4K Burst modes are outlined in our review of the Panasonic G7. A new 4K Burst(S/S) mode lets you add a marker to a movie clip. Up to 40 markers can be added, enabling you to skip from one to the next in playback mode. 8. The FZ300 also offers the same Full HD and HD movie recording options as the FZ200, including a high-speed video recording is available in HD quality (720p), with a frame rate of 100 frames/second or with VGA quality at 200 frames/second. Clips played back at normal speeds reveal dramatic slow motion sequences. Photos taken with the burst modes are automatically organised and can be played back either in the camera or on a computer using the bundled PHOTOfunSTUDIO software. 9. Built-in Wi-Fi enables the FZ300 to interact with a smart device loaded with the Panasonic Image App and supports remote controls of the camera’s focusing, shutter release and image playback functions as well as sharing of images and movie clips via social media. Geotagging is available using data from the smart device and Android and iOS devices can pair via a QR code on the camera’s display. 10. The dedicated macro mode supports autofocusing down to 1 cm from the subject at the lens’s widest angle of view. In addition, the Macro Zoom setting provides further magnification of up to 3x via the Digital Zoom control, also at 1 cm from the subject at the widest angle of view. 11. Panorama shooting has been moved from the Scene pre-sets to the mode dial, where it’s been dubbed ‘Creative Panorama’. The function is essentially unchanged and works like the Sony Sweep Panorama function. You simply select the direction of the pan, choose between standard and wide sizes and pan across the scene to capture wide-field views. The camera stitches the frames together automatically. 12. In-camera raw file processing is also available, although the resulting images can only be saved in JPEG format. However, adjustments can be made to exposure levels, white balance, Photo Style, highlight and shadow rendition and a number of other parameters. Performance For its relatively small image sensor, the review camera was generally a good performer. It was as at least as responsive to operate as previous Lumix Super-zoom series cameras. Autofocusing was generally fast and accurate in all AF modes, with the fast lens undoubtedly making a contribution at longer focal length settings. Low light autofocusing was very fast and accurate and noticeably better than most digicams we’ve tested. The addition of 4K movie recording provides higher-resolution movie files with more potential for editing plus the ability to produce 8-megapixel frame grabs. This augments the already excellent movie recording quality we found with the FZ200. Contrast and saturation were slightly boosted in movie mode and the continuous AF setting minimised re-focusing times when zooming or moving between subjects. The quality of the soundtracks was similar to the FZ200 movies. Our timing tests were conducted with a Panasonic 16GB Extreme Pro SDHC U3 memory card, which was supplied with the camera. The review camera powered-up in just under a second, which is slightly faster than its predecessor. Shut down time was virtually instantaneous. Capture lag was essentially negligible, even without pre-focusing. Shot-to-shot times averaged 0.55 seconds without flash and 1.9 seconds with. JPEG images took 2.1 seconds to process, while RW2.RAW files took 2.3 seconds and RAW+JPEG pairs 2.4 seconds. Recording high-resolution images with the high-speed burst mode, the camera matched specifications, capturing 50 frames in 10.1 seconds without showing any signs of slowing. Processing appeared to be on-the-fly. For raw file bursts, the buffer limit appeared to be 30 frames, which were captured in 4.8 seconds. Processing of this burst was completed within a further two seconds. When RAW+JPEG capture was selected, the buffer filled by 24 frames, which were recorded in 3.7 seconds. Processing was completed within a further 1.5 seconds. Conclusion Three years ago, when the FZ200 was released, it was one of the fastest cameras in the super-zoom category. The FZ300 improves upon that performance and also delivers higher resolution, better stabilisation and 4K movie recording in a more robust, weather-sealed body.

If anything February at least the back half of it should be colder, maybe leaking over into the first week of March, but el ninos, particularly strong el ninos, tend to have a mild March.

January 1987 if memory serves me correctly was 7 inches here and that seemed like a giant at the time. School was delayed for that but not closed. There was one other storm that happened in the 80s that was actually bigger than that and it happened in December, it was supposed to change to rain but it only changed to drizzle at the very end. It happened on a Saturday so there was no school closing; it was 8.6" at Central Park. I wish I remember the exact year of this storm but I don't. All I remember is the exact snowfall amount lol. I can say it happened somewhere between the winters of 1984-85 and 1986-87. And I'm pretty sure it happened in December.

It would be interesting to find forecasts for some of these old storms. I was too young to remember anything about 1978 except there was a lot of snow lol. I remember the forecast before the April 1982 blizzard was for 6-12 inches of snow which was amazing. I thought the forecast for February 1983 blizzard was for 12-18 inches of snow but that might have been once the storm had already began. There were several busted forecasts of 6-8 inches of snow in the 80s that never happened. There were 0 10" snowstorms after February 1983 and before March 1993. That was a 10 year and 1 month period with no double digit snowstorms!

wow so only 0.9" at Mt Pocono? That 0.2" in Nassau County on Long Island looks a little strange lol.

What I find fascinating is that dinosaurs were already evolving to two legged warm blooded large brained creatures who took care of their young. Their brains were already experiencing massive growth-- and the last few generations of dinosaurs were as intelligent as many of the creatures I mentioned in a previous post. Raptors were quite social and hunted in packs, just like modern wild dogs do, so they were probably as intelligent as them. There were even dinosaurs that looked like parrots and were as colorful-- and some say the dinosaurs never died out, they live on as birds and if that's the case, African Grey Parrots, Ravens and Magpies are all --extremely-- intelligent, all rated as having the intelligence of a 7 year old human child by biologists.

The K-T event cannot be minimized, the earth was completely cut off from sunlight for 6 months-- it killed 75% of all life on the planet. And we whine after a few days without sunlight, can you imagine 6 months of total darkness all over the planet? Yes, the Permian event killed more, 90%-- but they are ranked #1 and #2 in the six mass extinction events this planet has faced. Humanity has created the sixth all on its own.

I'm trying to find the likelihood of other intelligent life developing, our planet has other intelligent life on it besides humans after all. Octopus, elephants, dolphins, African Grey Parrots are all quite sentient, have learned how to use tools and have complex language, empathy and even bury and mourn their dead. Ravens understand the concept of past and future and understand their reflections are actually reflections. African greys can do math and understand the concept of zero (something it took humans thousands of years to comprehend.) Octopus build settlements on the seafloor and use tools to escape enclosures. The religious and philosophical aspects of what you're talking about are quite different; we don't know if those species I listed have that but it's quite possible they might (since, after all, they bury their dead and return to the same site year after year to mourn them.) Hell, some of these species even create art for its own sake. Nature is quite miraculous and we are merely a part of it.

How could you not like the sun?

On the level of extinction level events, the fact that we are here today at all is a testimony to the resilience of life in recovering after such cataclysmic events! Perhaps the true answer to the Fermi Paradox is that we were lucky enough to be born on a planet that is stable enough to allow evolution to progress far enough to allow us to be born. Maybe most other habitable worlds just aren't this stable for this long and life doesn't get beyond a very simple, maybe even microbial level?

Do you think humanity will eventually develop the power to stop volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of this magnitude and scale? Something I have wondered about. I know we have already been testing methods of stopping extinction level asteroids.

For an ant it probably would be lol

That 12-15 inch snowstorm withstood the two rainstorms that came after it, the snowcover was resilient!

Less rain is really good news, now let's work on the sunshine.

How warm are we talking about though? Highs in the 40s aren't so warm.

At least April and May were good before we got smoked out in June

Colorado seems ideal, they have some of the best ski resorts around.

I wasn't a fan of the Roman Empire either because they stole most of their ideas from the Greeks. But long term peace is a powerful idea we need to encourage. Common sense seems to be very uncommon, especially when greed and power are involved. I've always believed when you follow the advice of scientists you can avoid most of these issues.

That's something I like about the Poconos, no matter what you'll always get at least one 6 inch snowstorm there. The best storms I found were the daylong light snow events with absolutely nothing showing on radar.