LibertyBell

but this seems to happen every winter....why cant the SPV be strong in the Spring and the nao blocking be strong in the Winter?

that said, even the pros make mistakes and then the measurements are adjusted accordingly (see the 2009-10 snowfall record at Baltimore or the measurement errors from the Jan 2016 blizzard.)

why doesnt this happen in winter?

I found one of these paid shill Twitter accounts that uses an automated program to go after anyone who talks badly about Chevron or is pro Donziger. Reported them about two dozen times on both Twitter and Youtube. The "guy" is pro Russian too. His handle on there is "sublimewow" ...I wont post his handle here because that somehow posts all his tweets and likes. His timeline speaks for itself.

Corporations suppress free thought too. Including the New York Times https://fair.org/home/action-alert-nyt-ignores-two-year-house-arrest-of-lawyer-who-took-on-big-oil/ The Times has not covered Chevron’s bizarre conflict with Donziger since 2014. Why has the paper kept silent for seven years? Donziger pointed out on Twitter (3/17/21) that billionaire “Robert Denham sits on the boards of both Chevron and the NYT.” Later, noting that his apartment is just a 30-minute walk from the Times‘ offices, Donziger (Twitter, 6/24/21) added that the paper’s “main outside lawyer on press issues, Ted Boutrous Jr., also works for Chevron.” Boutrous of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher was one of the lead lawyers representing Chevron in the Chevron v. Donziger proceedings. Regardless of whether the paper’s lawyer has had any influence over its Chevron reporting, the fact that the paper has retained the corporate lawyer to handle its freedom of the press issues reflects its priorities as a news organization. Scores of environmentalists, activists and lawyers have called for an end to this ongoing persecution. Investigative reporter Sharon Lerner (Intercept, 1/29/21) described the legal assault on Donziger as “one of the most bitter and drawn-out cases in the history of environmental law,” adding that Chevron hired To choose a judge to preside over Donziger’s prosecution, Lerner reported, Kaplan “bypassed the standard random assignment process and handpicked someone he knew well, US District Judge Loretta Preska, to oversee the case being prosecuted by the firm he chose” (Intercept, 1/29/20). The Frente de Defensa de la Amazonia (FDA)—a grassroots organization in Ecuador’s northern Amazon region that has sought to hold Chevron accountable—pointed out in a blog post (12/31/20) that Preska is affiliated with the Federalist Society—“a pro-corporate society of lawyers and judges to which Chevron is a major donor.” The FDA (4/7/21) later complained that Preska “denied all Zoom access” to Donziger’s trial, which would proceed with “a biased judge, no jury and a private Chevron prosecutor.” Martin Garbus, Donziger’s defense attorney, filed a motion on June 22 alleging that appointment of a private prosecutor in Chevron v. Donziger was unconstitutional (citing the recent US Supreme Court ruling in United States v. Arthrex). In the filing, Garbus described the “prosecutorial crusade” as “deeply troubling” (Twitter, 6/23/21). https://fair.org/home/why-does-a-climatologist-need-to-explain-economics-to-joe-nocera/ When Joe Nocera was given his own New York Times op-ed page column, we noted (FAIR Blog, 3/2/11) that his Times business column had been responsible for some embarrassing corrections. For example, he had written a piece (6/26/10) about how offshore oil drilling had an “astonishing” safety record, having lost only 1,800 barrels of oil to accidents between 1964 and 2009. The actual number, a subsequent correction (7/1/10) admitted: 532,000 barrels. We expressed hope at the time that Nocera was the kind of writer who learned from his mistakes, but—not so much. Nocera is a big fan of the Keystone pipeline, despite the fact that climate scientists say the exploitation of the Alberta tar sands it’s intended to facilitate will have a devastating impact on efforts to curb global warming. Not to worry, says Nocera (2/18/13)—assuring us that “the climate change effects of tar sands oil are, all in all, pretty small“—that link going to a Congressional Research Service report that compares the greenhouse impact of burning tar sands vs. burning the same amount of other sorts of petroleum, not the impact of burning the 2 trillion barrels of tar sands oil (roughly 170 billion of which are currently extractable) vs. leaving it in the ground. https://www.thenation.com/article/environment/steven-donziger-chevron-sentencing/ You can’t understand this latest injustice without looking back at Chevron’s long campaign against Donziger, who won a landmark pollution case against the oil giant in Ecuadorian courts in 2013. Chevron was ordered to spend $9.5 billion to clean up a contaminated area the size of Rhode Island, and to pay for the health care of the 30,000 plaintiffs whose communities have seen a rising number of cancer cases. Instead of following the legal order, Chevron launched a case in New York, and in 2014, a federal judge, Lewis Kaplan, found Donziger and some of his Ecuadorian allies civilly liable for racketeering, bribery, and fraud. Then, Kaplan asked the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York to put Donziger on trial for “criminal contempt” connected to the original conviction. The federal prosecutor refused, so Kaplan handpicked an attorney from a private firm, Rita Glavin, to prosecute—a nearly unprecedented legal maneuver. As Chevron’s vendetta continued, international outrage grew. Just before sentencing, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued an opinion in Donziger’s favor, ruling that his two years of house arrest was illegal under international law and that he had been denied the right to a fair trial. A panel of five prominent jurists called that confinement “arbitrary” and said that both judges, Kaplan and Preska, had shown “a staggering lack of objectivity and impartiality.” In court, Preska briefly acknowledged the UN findings only to dismiss them. Once again, the mainstream media is largely ignoring Chevron’s campaign of retaliation against Donziger. The New York Times, Donziger’s hometown newspaper, reported nothing in the two days after the verdict, and has barely mentioned the case for the past seven years. Only a corporation like Chevron worth billions could have financed such a prosecution. The oil giant paid for a disgraced former judge named Alberto Guerra and his family to move to the United States. Chevron’s lawyers rehearsed Guerra’s testimony with him 53 times before he went on the witness stand, where Guerra claimed that Donziger and an Ecuadorian lawyer had offered him a $500,000 bribe and that the pair had ghostwritten the final judgment against Chevron. Donziger and his defense team estimate that Chevron has spent $2 billion on legal fees and other costs. (Chevron’s designated spokesman, James Craig, declined to give the corporation’s own figure for how much it has spent on the case. Craig also declined to say if Chevron is still paying Guerra or if he is still living in the United States.) Chevron’s attacks against Donziger did not stop after it won the racketeering verdict. The current contempt case began when the oil corporation petitioned Kaplan for access to Donziger’s personal computer and cell phone. Donziger declined, arguing that his electronic communications would give Chevron’s lawyers “backdoor access to everything we are planning, thinking, and doing.” He said he would wait until the US Court of Appeals heard his argument, and if it required him to, then he would hand over his electronics. Preska dismissed his defense and convicted him in May—again, without a jury. It’s vital to recognize Chevron’s role in this legal persecution. Its attorneys show up at every Donziger legal case—even the ones that don’t directly involve the company. At the same time as Donziger was defending himself against the criminal contempt charge, he was also fighting the effort to take away his license to practice law in New York. The state bar association appointed a special officer named John Horan to preside over open hearings, and he found in Donziger’s favor. Horan, a former prosecutor, had harsh words for Chevron: “The extent of [Donziger’s] pursuit by Chevron is so extravagant, and at this point so unnecessary and punitive, [that] while not a factor in my recommendation, [it] is nonetheless background to it. Putting Donziger in a federal prison for six months is more than vindictiveness. The $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in Ecuador still stands, but the oil giant unloaded its assets there. That means the plaintiffs must collect in other countries where the corporation has holdings. Kaplan’s racketeering verdict specifically prohibited the Ecuadorians from forcing Chevron to pay the judgment in the United States. But there are promising possibilities in Canada and elsewhere. Donziger is forced to put those fights on hold while he tries to stay out of prison. But there are signs that Chevron has gone too far, and that relentlessly pursuing a human rights lawyer is damaging its international reputation. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is only the latest sign of concern and anger. Sixty-eight Nobel Laureates have shown their solidarity; another 475 lawyers and human rights defenders have signed a letter that calls his prosecution “one of the most important corporate accountability and human rights cases of our time.” Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, said after the prison sentence that “it’s the executives at Chevron,” not Donziger, “who should be behind bars.” What’s more, a movement to boycott Chevron is in the early stages. Big Oil is under scrutiny because of its role in the climate crisis, and divestment campaigns on college campuses and elsewhere are starting to have an impact. Large institutional investors may also start to pay attention. CalPERS, the giant retirement investment fund for California government employees, is headquartered in Chevron’s home state, and the teachers and municipal employees who contribute to it may ask why it holds $456 million of the oil giant’s stock. Chevron must have hoped that its long retaliation campaign would force Donziger to abandon the fight for environmental justice—but it appears its aggressive strategy is backfiring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_Dunn#Controversy Gibson Dunn has hired private investigators to track Steven Donziger and created "a team of hundreds of lawyers to fight him".[13] This resulted in a boycott launched in April 2021 by the student group Law Students for Climate Accountability.[13][14] The firm represented George W. Bush in Bush v. Gore, the litigation contesting certification of Florida's results in the 2000 United States presidential election.[15] Theodore Olsen, the partner who argued the case for Bush in the Supreme Court,[16] went on to serve as solicitor general in the Bush administration.[17]

I have to say I'm loving this weather, as long as there is lots of sun I dont care what the temperatures are. One other very positive thing, I dont know what that big storm did, but ever since then my allergies have completely vanished! As in completely gonzo! I haven't even thought about them in a week!

wow really early in 2000, before the 10th in both months! It didn't even hit 80 prior to May? Must have been one of the latest first occurrences of that!

corn subsidies need to go bye bye

That's what I've been thinking too, and eventually these higher temps will lead to massive crop failures as that region will no longer be fertile for growing crops. I see similar effects in the northeast, where we will eventually hit 100 degrees regularly every year even with more rainfall and an onshore flow.

weather channel map, I guess it was way off. When I checked back I couldn't see anyone with more than 18" at my house in the Poconos there was 5" or so

aren't cornbelt farming practices now leading to higher humidity and more severe weather though? dry heat is a lot better than humidity.

It depends where on Long Island you're talking about, JFK has only had one since PD2 and that's Jan 2016, but that beat all the others of course, with over 30"+

any early thoughts on the summer, Don? I'm thinking it will be very warm but not excessively hot, and of course lots of rain.

That changeover to rain was quite unexpected....did the storm go further west than expected?

wth....Philly had a freeze on May 11th in 1966? I dont think NYC has ever had a freeze that late. How is Philly colder than NYC is?

NE PA is the place to be, there are no coastal storms that hit Central PA. I had 5 inches at my other house, but the sweet spot seems to be extreme Northern/NE PA where over 2 feet fell? I think they got more than Binghamton there on the PA side of the border.

I want to see a snowbow! This is what it looked like at my house in the Poconos today.

That wasn't just graupel, those were some amazing winds my house was shaking-- the winds were stronger than they were during the storm and the clouds looked scary, they almost reached the ground! What was going on?

Glad we didn't get that. We had 4 straight days of near 90 or in the 90s!

Walt, if you can find a snowfall map of April 19-20, 1983 please post. All I know about that storm is 2-4 inches fell on Long Island back to the city but close to 2 feet upstate. With last night's storm there was close to 5" in the Poconos, with thundersnow and high winds.

Purple Rain

Last winter was probably good there too but like you said the storms blow up later and hit places like Binghamton better than State College

well it's now shifting back. It still amazes me how it can snow near the ocean with how mild the waters are.

yes thundersnow in the Poconos about an hour ago

around 2000 feet, maybe a little higher very close to Lake Harmony, my ears pop there, so it might be 2200-2400 feet Okay my sister is there right now and she said that there has been a lot of thunder with snow and blindingly heavy snow for awhile, around 3 inches already but then it mixed with and changed to rain for awhile and right now it's a mixture of rain and snow. Said there was nonaccumulating snow yesterday and it's been snowing today since 3 PM and thundersnow tonight with very heavy snow and high winds and about 30 min ago it changed to rain but it just started mixing back with snow.