powderfreak

Ok yeah you are more interested in the dew point than the actual temp. We’ll see… maybe the ASOS’ climb that high by Wednesday.

You thinking torch by Tuesday? EPS and GEFS are in agreement where it takes a while to warm 850mb temps above normal…. Late next week. Maybe it changes, sure. Day 5-9 mean on EPS.

Started yesterday with mid-50s yesterday morning and should take us at least through next Wednesday. Down south you probably get clipped sooner with increasing moisture mid-week. NW flow remains across the region Friday night into Saturday with continued below normal temperatures expected. Low temperatures Friday night will average ~10 degrees below normal in the low 40s to low 50s. The overall pattern remains fairly active for the latter half of the weekend and into the early part of next week as another sharp trough swings through the Northeast. While Saturday looks to be dry, rain chances increase Sunday morning into Monday with the passage of this front. Another shot of cold air arrives Monday with below normal temperatures expected once again. &&

Dew point down to 40F at BML. We’ve only been upper 40s today but it’s very refreshing.

Talk about a conspiracy theory!

Definitely some disagreement with WAR.

A decade ago I was driving a foreign student worker back to his lodging after work and he was from Russia. We get down to the 3-way stop in the center of the village and he watches for a bit as we wait our turn. He turns to me and asks what’s happening, doesn’t understand how polite and orderly people are. I’m like what don’t you understand? The traffic pattern? It’s first come first goes, and rotates to the right so it’s just people waiting their turn to go. I still remember in his thick Russian accent he goes, “Dere is no fukking vay dis vould verk in Russia. No vay.”

Start with two direct ‘cane hits as early guess, can always adjust upward as needed.

The more I listen to the discussion it continues to become evident and like Phin has said, it’s not just political blue vs red. I admit I used to broad brush it that way but if we are going to discuss it so much we might as well learn deeper reasonings. It’s definitely a deeper personal freedom issue and trust issue with authority. Vermont has a large sense of community and I’m sure that played a large part in vaccinations. Not for the gov’t but because it circulated as a way to help your neighbors. Vermonters will eat that up if it helps someone else. Like waiting at a 4-way stop in VT, everyone is too damn polite that they all try to tell the others to go first and no one ends up driving anywhere. You go, no you go, no you probably have somewhere more important to be than me so you go first, etc. Not sure if politics really defines it but more of a overarching ideal in favor of the greater good over individual desires. Many town communities are governed by Republican Party members, the Gov is Republican and like posted earlier won’t require state employees to be vaxxed and sees no reason to make any rash decisions because cases are going up but deaths aren’t. But party lines don’t really explain VT, as much as community over self interests.

Top 10 day. 72/49 in the valley, upper 60s in the base area, and upper 50s at the iconic tables. Puffy Cu floating by. Mountain is packed, great day to enjoy it. Can see MWN for the first time in a while. Air is crisp.

68/49 open it wide up. Take the A/C’s out for the next 7-10 days.

VT’s Governor spoke yesterday that seemed pretty firm on not returning to any restrictions unless deaths start to skyrocket. “Despite an increase in COVID-19 infection rates nationally and in Vermont, Gov. Phil Scott and some of his key cabinet members remained upbeat during a weekly press briefing on Tuesday, saying they don’t anticipate a return of state restrictions. “There’s not a reason for us to take an alarmist kind of stance and make any major changes,” Scott said. “I went to a number of parades this year, and there were a lot of people there as well … We’re almost back to normal.” Nearly all of the infections nationally and in Vermont are striking unvaccinated people, officials said. However, the state has no plans to require vaccinations of state workers, and some other states have done, Scott said.”

“Most new infections continue to be among unvaccinated people.” It’s tone deaf. These folks largely take it as political. Some are lazy but the vast majority do not want someone telling them what to do. Without that, they’d likely get vaccinated. If someone gets the flu vaccine they should have no problem with this one. But Nevada is desert, wild, guns, gambling and prostitution. That population is going to rebel at the slightest hint of control. The legislature is definitely are tone deaf to the thought process there.

Stratus in the garden had 0.20 even up here. Several hour soaking it seems regionwide with more water the further south in latitude one went. 00z GFS barely had measurable here. Definitely over-performed the 30-50% POPs from this morning’s zone forecasts. The recorded amounts aren’t high but driving around late this afternoon from Stowe to Waterbury to BTV in both directions, it was wet with steady rainfall.

It’s also legal to pass on a double yellow line in Vermont. Pretty much anything goes here. Folks get so offended if you pass them on a double yellow, but it’s legit because it’s up to your judgement if you can get around them. Personal freedom in the people’s republic of VT, it happens more than folks think. Can’t even do that in Texas. Pass someone going 36 in a 40 on a double yellow and they react like you flipped off their grandmother. In Vermont, it is legal to cross a double yellow line to overtake and pass a vehicle traveling in the same direction as you are, if the left side is clearly visible and free of oncoming traffic for a sufficient distance, and you are not in a posted no-passing zone.

We get everyone. No one state plate stands out… equal opportunity. Becomes lower in MD, DE, NC, VA but they are around. NY, NJ, MA, RI, CT, even NH… all seem relative to population. Was stuck behind CT dude this evening on RT 100 coming back from Lowe’s. Had to pass. I’ve always thought locals ride out-of-staters much harder… never get tailgated by NY/NJ or any other state. We are always pushing them. We locals pass on the regular because folks are distracted at the sights (mountains, looking for lodging, trails, waterfalls, etc) and often go 5-10mph under the posted limit. Looking at stuff, in the country, just cruising around. But some of us live here, ha. We want and need to get places in normal time frames just like everyone else wants to when running their daily routines. If I went into DC, NJ, NY, BOS areas/suburbs and drove 5-10mph below the posted speed limits with clear sailing in front of me, people would lose their minds too .

I’m down. Makes sense for sure. Would people rebel against a nationwide fingerprick? Seems if they were like “report to your local firehouse for a test” it still might get similar numbers of participation because power is telling you to do it.

I’m totally with you on the reasoning. That’s what I like discussing. Not whether or not someone is to blame or who’s reasoning is better than someone else’s. No one is changing anyone’s opinion, let’s get that straight. Let’s discuss the thoughts behind the reasoning. It’s all about understanding the thought process. Sending more white well-to-do young people to convince minorities definitely doesn’t seem to appreciate the reasoning. Tone deaf.

The groups that overlap have a strong distrust of authority and people in power. The common theme in unvaccinated is clearly distrust and distaste for authority. Without getting too much into race, minorities dislike rich powerful white men telling them what they should do (been happening for a while). Personal freedom advocates share that distrust and dislike of authority, especially government (nanny state). I think in future centuries the anthropologists and psychologists studying human cultural behavior will find minorities and personal freedom advocates overlap in thought process quite a bit regarding vaccines. If humans can truly understand each other’s underlying reasoning for feeling a certain way, then we’ll all be better off.

I truly believe that studies could show the vaccine is 100% safe with zero side effects and people still wouldn’t get it. It’s become a matter of principles and honor for many. Their mind was made up the moment the Gov’t stepped in back in March of last year. Like when you hear people say “this guy refused to require masks in his business, there’s no way he got the vaccine”… the two are tied together as a matter of principle, not health. It’s almost as if some get disappointed when a person they thought stood up against the Gov’t ended up getting the vaccine. It has very little to do with the safety of the vaccine and everything to do with rebelling. Had this been handled less heavy handed in the beginning, more people would be vaccinated IMO.

It’s because it got political which is sad but real. Any other medical issue and doctors recommending that people do XYZ to stay protected, and they’d do it. But to not get vaxxed is more of a statement at this point. It’s rebellious. It has very little to do in many people with their health. And the more pressure put on those folks, the harder they are going to dig in. Most of us didn’t consider the government at all when we decided to get vaccinated. It wasn’t to bow down to the almighty ruler. It was medical professionals who are friends, family, your primary care doctor, whoever said hey, your risk from COVID is low but we do recommend it. So we said ok doc, and got the shot. We looked at it like literally any other doctor recommended procedure. I think about a cyst I had in my back. Dermatologist referred me to someone, they said hey, 99% chance you never have any issue from that. But personally, I’d get rid of it just on that 1% chance it turns serious. Ok doc, sign me up, I trust you. Now maybe I have an allergic reaction to the anesthesia and shit goes sideways just to remove a 1% or lower chance of a benign growth becoming serious. But most folks will get it done when the Doctor says there’s a low chance of problems but to be safe we should remove this. It’s not f*ck you doc, stop telling me how to live my life.

I mean I thought growing up in the ‘90s it was a bit much… can’t imagine 20 years later. I played baseball and soccer but I remember people being like “you can give up skiing in the winter and just focus on practicing soccer, play in several indoor leagues, travel to tourney’s, etc.”. No way in hell that was happening, skiing ruled all and of course later in high school I couldn’t compete with the kids who just played all year long, indoor or outdoors. Senior year some friends and I realized the best thing going… the golf team. Free golf every afternoon after school at the area country clubs. And they even drive you there, ha.

Turned into a straight synoptic rainer this afternoon up here. This morning’s forecast package had like 30-50% POPs for showers and it’s just steady rain shield. Would be a fun bust in winter but not in summer.

I bet most official sites are decently in the 40s on Saturday afternoon. Translates to near 50F under the trees in backyards.

The pressure many kids and competitors are under for most of their life is borderline abuse as it is. I get wanting the best for your kid but some parents are militant. Youth sports is an intense realm. I still remember this girl on our street growing up was great at basketball but her father was a psychopath about it. In like middle school a bunch of us neighborhood kids going to get ice cream or something trivial that you do at that age but feels cool (ha)… girl and her dad are in her driveway shooting free throws. We asked her to go with us, she looked like she wanted nothing more than to go, but Dad actually said “you missed a free throw in tonight’s game so I need you to practice a hundred shots and then you can join them later.” She went on to play like Division III basketball in college, great but not like wow. We all thought her dad was a pyscho; the type of guy who’s got a stopwatch timing his 15 year old daughter’s wind sprints in the street, always saying you need to be better if you want to amount to anything. I dunno, it’s probably a fine balance between wanting what’s best for your kid and not just completely controlling their life with your desire to see them win.