Always in Zugzwang

'70s...bad clothing styles '80s...bad hair '90s...bad music (I jest here, of course, LOL!!) Probably some weather weenie soldier during the Civil war was complaining how it was a Nina and there wasn't much snow!

You can kind of glean this from 500mb by noting the "bagginess" that extends into the southwest on that plot above, cutting underneath the ridging. Sort of split-flow like.

When is the month of Ian? Is that on a secret calendar between Jan and Feb?

Kyrie Irving and George Orwell called...said you're free to join their discussion forums!!

Reaper Emeritus!

Jackson Pollock called, he wants his paintings back!

Haha, right! In a strange, perverted way it would almost be interesting to get zeroed out (well a trace maybe) just from the historical perspective. Like knowing your team is being no-hit, and thinking might as well watch a complete no-hitter while we're at it! That said, I'm not hoping for anything like that anytime soon, but if it's getting toward March and we're still at zip with nothing on the horizon, that might change!

C'mon man, go for the gold!

Wow...pretty cool! I've seen an occasional fox where I'm at and it always sort of startles me. A couple of winters ago I was out taking pictures near my place, and suddenly saw this fox just run right past me. Kind of startling! It wasn't terribly close (maybe several or so feet away), and my first thought was "who lost their dog?" and then realized what it was. It didn't care about me or come after me, just was running by.

Replying to this here in Banter. While most who frequent this board in the winter are doing so because they really like snow and cold (myself included!), there are some who probably don't care for a huge HECS that paralyzes things for days, or who don't deal well with cold temperatures. I like snow and cold, but do not care for extreme cold temperatures (not that we get that here very much). I also don't much care for cold and dry, it just chaps my skin all the more. This Christmas was a good example of that with very cold and windy conditions and nary a flake (OK, a quick burst as the cold air moved in, for all of 15 min.). That was an interesting Arctic blast from a meteorological standpoint, but to me it would have been a lot cooler (pun intended?!) if we got some kind of snow, even a couple of inches to cover the ground. So I don't necessarily mind some of the seemingly "doom and gloom" posts in the medium range, if it's realistic and not just people ranting that we suck or how there's no blue over their house for 384 hours. And for the most part, those posts are using facts as you say, it's not just people whining (but hey...facts are stupid things, right?! ). I view it more as an emotionally detached commentary on what's going on or how things look in the models...much like how Sherlock Holmes analyzes a case.

Even though you're retired, do you still get royalties for any Panic Room likeness or other spin-offs? I mean, the Reaper has to afford those fancy trips and cruises somehow!

It's become a philosophical haven at this point (I say that as one who contributed!). Get with the program, Socrates!!

This is interesting. So I moved to this area in 2001. Thinking of the big or really good/memorable winters here in that time period you list, I'd say 2002-03, 2009-10, 2013-14, 2014-15 come to mind. And 2014-15 was an amazing period compressed into about a 4 week period (mid-Feb to early Mar); it absolutely sucked before then. 2013-14 was amazing in that it was essentially wall-to-wall from December through March. I'd almost argue that 2006-07 was pretty good and often overlooked because we didn't get a lot of snow. But that February was remarkably cold and consistently so (much like 2015 was too). We just missed a big event over Valentine's Day and ended up with 3" sleet instead. I've said this before, but if that had worked out and the DC area got a foot of snow, I often wondered if people would look at that season differently. It was another one that turned around after being sucky through mid-January or so. But anyhow, outside those winters I listed above, there's nothing else from 2000-2015 that really stands out, so perhaps that's in line with what you're saying...i.e., we got "some", but didn't exactly cash in (relatively speaking) like other areas that made out big in that time frame.

Yes, very true. March is cruel and kind (weather-wise, that is!) which makes it interesting at least to me. I grew up in northeast Ohio and March was always a "winter" month more often than not. Nobody in that area got suckered in by a nice weekend thinking winter was over, LOL!! I recall many storms then, and some of the most dramatic turn-arounds from a fine spring day to winter. The best example I remember was 1987, it was in the 70s the last weekend of March. The following day, Cleveland got 16" snow. (ETA: And the Cleveland Indians/Guardians getting snowed out occasionally for opening day in April!)

Whatever can generate clicks, in this age, I suppose. Sadly, that's what it's all about so often...apologies for my cynicism. It's not just weather either...that extends to news as well.

Yup, those are some good winter seasons to remember! One thing I've found interesting, and this could just be total chance and luck, is how March has tended to be a month that gives us a decent event and one last cold blast before spring settles in. More so in the last decade, it seems. I don't know what that means, if anything, and it is anecdotal to be sure. But just ticking off years that I can immediately call to mind that had some kind of March snow/wintry event include 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2022. I may have missed a year in there, too. They weren't huge storms or anything like that but there was some legit cold and a few inches (2009. 2014, 2015 did have solid warning events in March).

OK, come on now...leave the National League team from New York out of this!!

Thanks for this. It's disappointing, to be sure, for anyone who is a snow lover (myself included). But what the hell can one do? You don't have control over what does or doesn't fall from the sky, but you DO have control over how you react and deal with that. I won't pretend that I'm not disappointed or feel frustrated. But there are many other things I can do and have been doing, weather be damned. It shouldn't run one's life. I still take photos (the sky the other evening was simply amazing at sunset!) which I truly enjoy doing, go for walks, and if I can get back in the right mood for it (since moving a couple months ago), will get on the bike and ride again for a bit. My only hope, I guess, is that we don't have mosquitos or other annoying bugs start showing up while it's still technically winter!

It's the weekend...drinks have been out long before HH GFS!!

There's a store nearby me that always had snow shovels out, no matter what time of year. I even saw them in mid-summer, sitting up atop a couple of the shelves. I guess they were hoping for the rare July 4 blizzard!

Yeah, totally agree. It's sad in so many ways that politically and otherwise, it's become a contentious issue when it shouldn't be. Yet it has become that despite a mountain of evidence. At this point, it would be akin to arguing that gravity isn't a thing, or that the sun actually does goes around the earth (sorry, Galileo!), etc. You get the idea.

Whatever. I only mentioned it because probably nearly everyone finds it amusing on some level regardless of one's views, and it's as crazy as some of these model solutions!

It is a very tough call for sure!