Scarlet Pimpernel

That is true, I have to say! During the 2016 blizzard, I was up most of that night, maybe catching a nap here and there in amongst Jebwalks, taking photos, and regular snowfall measurements. What's funny is that I was a bit worried someone would have called the cops on me, wondering why there was some whacko wandering around in the snow with a yardstick and a camera around his neck in the middle of the night!!!

Yup! Love me some "Emperor!" Not sure if I mentioned this but years ago when I was still living in Atlanta, I saw the Atlanta Symphony do a sort of "farewell" tour for their musical director/conductor at the time, Yoel Levi. He did the Beethoven series, all symphonies and piano concertos. I was fortunate enough to see some of these (I was a relatively poor grad student at the time, but dammit, who needs to eat, gotta get tickets to live Beethoven performances! ), including the 5th and 9th symphonies, and the 5th piano concerto! Just amazing!

OK, I admit, I initially mis-read that as "SLEET deprived" and thought "WTF?!"!!! But yeah, if this all comes about as indicated, need to save up on sleep in the next couple of days to stay up late Sunday night!

Yes it is...oy Gevalt, it's getting thick in there with the doom posting! Not surprising though.

Actually, it kinda-sorta is in a way. Looking at that 2-m temperature plot @snowfan showed above, you can see the signature. So I'd guess that "rain" in the corresponding plot would actually be sleet/freezing rain (the ICON plots for some reason don't show a different color for freezing precip, it's all greens). But yeah, why parse and stress the thermals of that model right now?

Gosh, I'd love to help you finish the cottage cheese, but I'll grit my teeth and settle for one of those beers instead!! (Oh wait! I see yogurt in there too...hang on a sec!)

Yeah, that'll happen when...

Yeah...just going by that 0.5" QPF line, it's definitely farther north and has a more west-east orientation.

Champagne induced PBP? I'm all in!

FYP...

I've got the extended edition of the trilogy...it's great! Yeah, impossible to see it too many times...I've seen the trilogy several times over the years. My favorite scenes that I can watch again and again (from Return of the King) are the lighting of the beacons, ride of the Rohirrim battle, and the final battle at the gates of Mordor.

I'm already on champagne, watching LOTR Return of the King! Will feel funky enough by the time the 00Z PBP begins!

Merry New Year (a little early), to my crazy snow-loving weather family! Here's hoping we have an exciting month of winter weather ahead! Enjoying some champagne while watching LOTR Return of the King until midnight!!

...or the day after!

Oui, oui...and lots of it!!

I hear you...those posts about "showing all possibilities and claiming victory afterward" annoy me because they are simply false and simplistic. That kind of comment shows a real lack of understanding of just how model ensemble systems work. There is no showing of "every possibility". If that were literally true and taken to its illogical end, we'd see forecast QPF or snow of 0" to infinity inches (or some other ridiculous range). That's not how they work. Ensembles for a particular modeling system operate under the constraints of how the physics and dynamics of that modeling system are programmed. The initial conditions are perturbed in various ways (different Centers use different techniques), and a certain number of ensemble members are produced, based upon computational resources, etc. Do the ensembles sometimes show a wide range of solutions? Sure! Are the perfect or always great? Of course not! But they're a tool. You look at them as a whole, you look at the mean, you try to find where there are potentially two camps or groupings of solutions, etc. And you can compare what different model ensemble products are showing (EPS vs. GFS, for example). They also give you an idea of how "confident" one can be in a model's overall interpretation of a solution, e.g., if the ensembles are grouped more closely and the deterministic counterpart is within that envelope of solutions. Sorry to go off on a rant here, it wasn't aimed at you, I was just expounding a bit on what you said because I likewise get aggravated at comments like that (from this particular poster or others who say the same).

Going to be an interesting first half of January it appears, for sure! Things will go back and forth on individual vorts and shortwaves, but you have to like the multiple opportunities that seem to be available. Right now, can't ask for much more than that.

Sad news today...Jimmy Carter passed away at 100 years old. No matter one's politics, he exemplified what it is to be an upstanding and generous human being. He will be missed. I still remember years ago he appeared on Jay Leno's show, and did a demo of hammering some planks together (as he would do building his Habitat for Humanity houses). Leno had difficulty trying to hammer the nails in (much to the amusement of the audience!), and Jimmy Carter showed him how to do it correctly. The man could literally pound the hammer twice on the nail and it was done, even as old as he was then!

True story...for that first 2010 storm (Feb. 5-6), I purposely picked up some Becks beer (yeah, I know, not the best) to enjoy during that event! Becks for the BECS!!!

You'll shoot your eye out, kid! Life Buoy for you!!

Happy Christmas to all! Best wishes to all for a wonderful Holiday! Since there's some discussion of movies, here are some that I always like every year (at least as many as I can watch): --Scrooge (the one with Albert Finney, from the early '70s, a semi-musical) --It's a Wonderful Life --Die Hard (yes, it's a Christmas movie, much discussion was had about that a few years back!!) --Miracle on 34th Street --Christmas Story (a Finnish version, very touching and nice!) --A Christmas Story (yeah, that one, with Ralphie and the Red Ryder BB gun!) --Home Alone --The Santa Clause --Any of the old animated classics...Grinch who Stole Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc.!

Mmmm, who doesn't like MINT at this time of year! Myself, I love the Holiday mint M&Ms!! Stock up on those every December!

Isn't that what we want to start seeing, though? Some really nice, even wacky solutions showing up in the deterministic and individual ensemble members out at longer range. Then of course hopefully hone in on a real one as it gets closer in time. I thought that was a problem last year, with all the drool-worthy looks for February in the extra-extended ensembles and such. It looked great on those plots, but we never really saw the "big, wild hits" show up, even from individual ensemble members. I think it was @Bob Chill who pointed that out, saying that while it looked great on those extended means, he wasn't too thrilled with what was "under the hood."

Does this post break the record for the number of different emoji reactions? It's like an ensemble spread!

Damn. sun angle is working against us now after the official solstice late last night!