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2016-2017 Autumn/Winter Banter, Whining, Complaining Thread


HillsdaleMIWeather

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On December 11, 2016 at 4:16 PM, snowstormcanuck said:

2016 was the most god-awful, boring, bland, monotonous year in weather I think I've ever experienced. It took my teetering interest in weather and pushed it right off the ledge. Thanks, ***hole.

That's what 2014 did to me. I can't help but be in awe when I think back to that ultimate festering turd of a year that I don't think I'll ever get over. I wish I had a time forwarding device for that year to jump from 2013 to 2015, even if it means I miss an entire year of my life. That's how satanic it was.

This year wasn't all that great for weather but I loved the extremely long summer that was possibly the warmest on record. I couldn't get enough of that good s**t. This fall was fantastic, not far off from 2007. The main problem was how horribly boring the weather was, Spring severe had no major outbreaks, thunderstorms were beyond a joke this year and I've never seen it this quiet ever, very short-lived winter events that didn't really keep me tuned in. Right now for example I'm getting screwed over by the LES bands where a hour drive north is LES heaven. When is it all going to turn around?
 

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On 12/15/2016 at 2:14 PM, hawkeye_wx said:

This pattern had plenty of potential, and the models have certainly teased us with biggies, but as we approach the events the energy flattens and shears out.  We (especially central/southern iowa) will not get beyond nickel-dimers with this kind of northern-stream-dominated pattern).

Well It could have been better for sure, but we at least got a solid 2-3 inches in Des Moines today. I don't know how it was reported but I was out in it, it's 2 inches in open flat areas but lots of 4-6 inch drifts.

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The 360 hr eps is brutally hostile for winter lovers in the entire sub to the east coast.   The AO seems locked in positive territory and even when iit's forecast to dip, it only dips to less positive.   The PNA is stuck in negative.   The NAO, (which I know is only relevant for the eastern sub), is hardcore positive.   Nothing good moving ahead.

I know there are some 'teases' in the modelling around xmas, (clipper and something out of the gulf), but I wouldn't be surprised if the OP runs start playing catch up with the pattern collapse and we start seeing more pronounced moderation and some of these fantasy events either fade away or trend further and further north/west, (northern and western sub much better chance then us here on the southeast flank).  

On the bright side, and selfishly, I'm hoping to tackle some jobs after Jan. 1st that are currently on 'winter-hold'.    On another bright side, in general, the eventual swing back to winter will probably be just as dramatic, when and if.   

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1 hour ago, Chambana said:

Pattern going zonal just in time for Christmas and New Years, kind of a bummer. Been a very cold pattern, but hard to get any snowfall in the lower lakes, I've had 2" of snow this month. 

I consider this area the "lower lakes" and it's been the best December in years. Ive had 18.2" of snow this month and even with a pattern relaxation we will have a white Christmas. I have been saying all along its going to be an up and down winter so hopefully when the pattern reloads (again its a when not an if) hopefully those south of i80 will get in on the fun. And I'm sure they will, as astronomical winter hasn't even started.

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The below zero temps this morning got me thinking about something.  If you take the US cities with 1+ million population, can anybody beat Chicago in terms of overall, balanced weather appeal?

They don't necessarily blow you away in any particular category.  But if you were scoring on a point system, where else do you average 35-40" snow (much better than that overall in the past decade or so), have respectable moderate to big snowstorm frequency, and get below zero temps pretty much every winter?  In the warmer months, a decent frequency of tstorms/severe, muggy weather and sometimes days well into the 90s or higher.  If you like all kinds of weather and aren't overly biased one way or another, it's a hard place to beat.  Even if you lower it to cities with 500,000 or more, it probably still ranks up there.

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2 hours ago, Hoosier said:

The below zero temps this morning got me thinking about something.  If you take the US cities with 1+ million population, can anybody beat Chicago in terms of overall, balanced weather appeal?

They don't necessarily blow you away in any particular category.  But if you were scoring on a point system, where else do you average 35-40" snow (much better than that overall in the past decade or so), have respectable moderate to big snowstorm frequency, and get below zero temps pretty much every winter?  In the warmer months, a decent frequency of tstorms/severe, muggy weather and sometimes days well into the 90s or higher.  If you like all kinds of weather and aren't overly biased one way or another, it's a hard place to beat.  Even if you lower it to cities with 500,000 or more, it probably still ranks up there.

If you like a bit less snow but with the big storm potential and cold potential, KC and STL would be up there, if you are counting 1+ million for the metro area.

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The below zero temps this morning got me thinking about something.  If you take the US cities with 1+ million population, can anybody beat Chicago in terms of overall, balanced weather appeal?

They don't necessarily blow you away in any particular category.  But if you were scoring on a point system, where else do you average 35-40" snow (much better than that overall in the past decade or so), have respectable moderate to big snowstorm frequency, and get below zero temps pretty much every winter?  In the warmer months, a decent frequency of tstorms/severe, muggy weather and sometimes days well into the 90s or higher.  If you like all kinds of weather and aren't overly biased one way or another, it's a hard place to beat.  Even if you lower it to cities with 500,000 or more, it probably still ranks up there.

In a more morbid POV, I bet Chicago has a high weather induced death rate, excluding catastrophic events such as a tsunami in Indonesia.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, DaveNay said:

In a more morbid POV, I bet Chicago has a high weather induced death rate, excluding catastrophic events such as a tsunami in Indonesia.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Well, the big headliner in modern times is that 1995 heatwave, but even the heat wave in 1999 killed almost 100 people.  Given some of the socio-economic and other factors, it's a bad place to put extreme heat. On the plus side, it seems the city's planning/response is better nowadays so hopefully those large heat induced death tolls are a thing of the past.

It's been discussed many times here but the thing that concerns me is some mile wide, Joplin-like grinder touching down in the wrong place.  Or even a "lesser" tornado like what hit Oak Lawn but was on a weakening trend as it moved across the south side of Chicago.  Throw enough darts at the board and eventually there's that one.

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4 hours ago, Hoosier said:

The below zero temps this morning got me thinking about something.  If you take the US cities with 1+ million population, can anybody beat Chicago in terms of overall, balanced weather appeal?

They don't necessarily blow you away in any particular category.  But if you were scoring on a point system, where else do you average 35-40" snow (much better than that overall in the past decade or so), have respectable moderate to big snowstorm frequency, and get below zero temps pretty much every winter?  In the warmer months, a decent frequency of tstorms/severe, muggy weather and sometimes days well into the 90s or higher.  If you like all kinds of weather and aren't overly biased one way or another, it's a hard place to beat.  Even if you lower it to cities with 500,000 or more, it probably still ranks up there.

Not to mention, relatively sunny winters (and even slightly more sunny summers) compared to other Great Lakes cities.

Chicago is definitely my ideal city for weather.

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1 hour ago, Hoosier said:

Well, the big headliner in modern times is that 1995 heatwave, but even the heat wave in 1999 killed almost 100 people.  Given some of the socio-economic and other factors, it's a bad place to put extreme heat. On the plus side, it seems the city's planning/response is better nowadays so hopefully those large heat induced death tolls are a thing of the past.

It's been discussed many times here but the thing that concerns me is some mile wide, Joplin-like grinder touching down in the wrong place.  Or even a "lesser" tornado like what hit Oak Lawn but was on a weakening trend as it moved across the south side of Chicago.  Throw enough darts at the board and eventually there's that one.

Having grown up in Hickory Hills, that tornado is the stuff of legend. I think Plainfield serves as a good "What If" scenario. If that tornado were to happen today, it would be 100x more catastrophic than 30 years ago.

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2 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Well, the big headliner in modern times is that 1995 heatwave, but even the heat wave in 1999 killed almost 100 people.  Given some of the socio-economic and other factors, it's a bad place to put extreme heat. On the plus side, it seems the city's planning/response is better nowadays so hopefully those large heat induced death tolls are a thing of the past.

It's been discussed many times here but the thing that concerns me is some mile wide, Joplin-like grinder touching down in the wrong place.  Or even a "lesser" tornado like what hit Oak Lawn but was on a weakening trend as it moved across the south side of Chicago.  Throw enough darts at the board and eventually there's that one.

It's a basic matter of "when" not "if". You put the Rochelle tornado 40 miles east, and you have a real big problem. Same with coal city, move it north and bam. Like you said, roll the dice enough times and you will crap out. 

The Washington tornado was the one that should have put the fear into most emergency managers. The storm was tracking towards the city with good rotation. Had it been able to drop another significant tornado, large areas of the southern suburbs would have been damaged.

As a property insurance guy, the thought of a Moore, OK type tornado hitting Chicago is incalculable in life lost and property damage. 

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51 minutes ago, SchaumburgStormer said:

It's a basic matter of "when" not "if". You put the Rochelle tornado 40 miles east, and you have a real big problem. Same with coal city, move it north and bam. Like you said, roll the dice enough times and you will crap out. 

The Washington tornado was the one that should have put the fear into most emergency managers. The storm was tracking towards the city with good rotation. Had it been able to drop another significant tornado, large areas of the southern suburbs would have been damaged.

As a property insurance guy, the thought of a Moore, OK type tornado hitting Chicago is incalculable in life lost and property damage. 

You can add in that huge wedge that passed south of the metro area in June of 2008. Another near miss of a biggie.

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34 minutes ago, Stebo said:

You can add in that huge wedge that passed south of the metro area in June of 2008. Another near miss of a biggie.

That is probably the closest example in recent years of a near miss of something significant, as there was actually an EF2 in far southern Cook county.  Still not even close to the worst case scenario.

Master_tracks_map.jpg

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2 minutes ago, cyclone77 said:

Well, overall the sub must be doing a bit better than at this time last year.  This time last year the complaint thread was up to page 18, with over 500 posts.  We're only at page 4/120 posts so far this season.  

December was pretty awful last year from a winter perspective.  This year has at least been serviceable if not good from around I-80 northward.

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This December is certainly more wintry than last year, but this nickel-dimer, freeze/thaw pattern is forgettable.  We've had four snow systems.... 4 inches, 3 inches, 2 inches, and <1 inch, in that order.  The first and last events were slop.  We haven't had more than three inches on the ground and there won't be much left after Sunday.  Models have occasionally teased us with biggies, but all have failed to bring the pieces together.  Nickel & dimers are necessary to pad the snow pack and stats, but winter doesn't feel satisfying without a biggie or two.  Models don't currently see any on the horizon.

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