Fall Banter/LibertyBell

[WeatherGeek2025]

dry or rain always lock it in, if it shows snow i never believe in unless it's 24 hours away!

[Roger Smith]

A reminder to regular contest entrants (in main general interest forum) that Dec and winter snowfall forecasts can be posted now.

Also an invite to all -- Dec is a good month to begin entering the contest because of the snowfall contest portion and also we look at seasonal scoring leaders too, but the main contest runs January to December so the invite is really for 2026 participation.

[Santa Claus]

my kid failed geometry call that a bad son angle

[WE GOT HIM]

On 12/1/2025 at 8:18 AM, Santa Claus said:

my kid failed geometry call that a bad son angle

hi its your season

[Tar Heel Snow]

At this rate I should’ve stayed in NC

[forkyfork]

 

[donsutherland1]

Retired After Last Use

December had begun on a strangely toasty note. The temperature had climbed to a balmy 57° (the third time in the last five years the mercury reached at least 57° on the first day of December), and the New York Public Library, perhaps out of nostalgia, perhaps out of quiet defiance, filled the marble halls of its iconic Beaux-Arts Fifth Avenue building with sepia-toned photographs of children tunneling through drifts taller than themselves. The exhibit captured an era that residents increasingly believed had slipped out of reach. A public weather notice board calling itself "American Weather" had given the display a name that struck Marisol, a student at Columbia University, as both melodramatic and heartbreaking: “The Final Snowfall.”

Walking home after a full day of classes, Marisol passed one of Midtown’s newest absurdities: a synthetic snow dome where wealthy Manhattan parents paid $95 an hour to show their children what “winter” once felt like. She never stepped inside. Those plastic flakes felt like an insult. Her father had always said that snow gave New Yorkers a common language of spontaneous generosity. Cheap plastic could never measure up.

Almost four years had passed since the last daily snowfall of four inches or more. Even two consecutive snow-starved years had never occurred before. Four such years were unimaginable. As Marisol passed one of American Weather’s public boards, a small sculpture beside it stopped her cold. There stood a dented aluminum snow shovel mounted upright like a relic. At its base, an engraved bronze plaque read, “Retired after last use: February 21, 1929.”

She felt her throat tighten. "Snow is something you can only remember now," she thought. Then came the second thought. It was a much darker one, perhaps from having spent too much time reading "American Weather" on her way home from classes. "Soon there will be no one left who remembers at all," she worried.

Her grief was premature. Just over two weeks later, a storm swept across the City, dropping 6.7" of snow on December 17 and another half-inch the following day. Less than two months after that, an even larger snowstorm buried Central Park beneath 10.0" of luminous white.

Today marks the 1,405th consecutive day without a daily snowfall of four inches or more. Pessimism mixes with fatalism. Yet New York City has lived through snow droughts before, even as this one is the longest on record. As happened in December 1932, the streak will break. Eventually. Even with supercomputers, AI-driven forecasts, and models capable of simulating the atmosphere down to microphysical detail, the exact date of the next significant snowfall remains unknowable at this time.

Patience is required. But so is confidence. December is now on course to register its coldest start in more than fifteen years. That's a hopeful start. The arrival of the cold reveals that Winter has not yet forgotten New York City.

[NorthShoreWx]

Well said.  Didn't realize this board was around 100 years ago.  And we still have some original members 

[NorthShoreWx]

The last snowplow blade:

 

[CPcantmeasuresnow]

On 12/3/2025 at 1:16 PM, Tar Heel Snow said:

At this rate I should’ve stayed in NC

Moving to by far the warmest part of NY state didn't help. I realize it would mean commuting but living 40 miles north of midtown makes a world of difference. 

[rclab]

5 hours ago, donsutherland1 said:

Retired After Last Use

December had begun on a strangely toasty note. The temperature had climbed to a balmy 57° (the third time in the last five years the mercury reached at least 57° on the first day of December), and the New York Public Library, perhaps out of nostalgia, perhaps out of quiet defiance, filled the marble halls of its iconic Beaux-Arts Fifth Avenue building with sepia-toned photographs of children tunneling through drifts taller than themselves. The exhibit captured an era that residents increasingly believed had slipped out of reach. A public weather notice board calling itself "American Weather" had given the display a name that struck Marisol, a student at Columbia University, as both melodramatic and heartbreaking: “The Final Snowfall.”

Walking home after a full day of classes, Marisol passed one of Midtown’s newest absurdities: a synthetic snow dome where wealthy Manhattan parents paid $95 an hour to show their children what “winter” once felt like. She never stepped inside. Those plastic flakes felt like an insult. Her father had always said that snow gave New Yorkers a common language of spontaneous generosity. Cheap plastic could never measure up.

Almost four years had passed since the last daily snowfall of four inches or more. Even two consecutive snow-starved years had never occurred before. Four such years were unimaginable. As Marisol passed one of American Weather’s public boards, a small sculpture beside it stopped her cold. There stood a dented aluminum snow shovel mounted upright like a relic. At its base, an engraved bronze plaque read, “Retired after last use: February 21, 1929.”

She felt her throat tighten. "Snow is something you can only remember now," she thought. Then came the second thought. It was a much darker one, perhaps from having spent too much time reading "American Weather" on her way home from classes. "Soon there will be no one left who remembers at all," she worried.

Her grief was premature. Just over two weeks later, a storm swept across the City, dropping 6.7" of snow on December 17 and another half-inch the following day. Less than two months after that, an even larger snowstorm buried Central Park beneath 10.0" of luminous white.

Today marks the 1,405th consecutive day without a daily snowfall of four inches or more. Pessimism mixes with fatalism. Yet New York City has lived through snow droughts before, even as this one is the longest on record. As happened in December 1932, the streak will break. Eventually. Even with supercomputers, AI-driven forecasts, and models capable of simulating the atmosphere down to microphysical detail, the exact date of the next significant snowfall remains unknowable at this time.

Patience is required. But so is confidence. December is now on course to register its coldest start in more than fifteen years. That's a hopeful start. The arrival of the cold reveals that Winter has not yet forgotten New York City.

Well said, well done Don. As always ….

 

[coastalplainsnowman]

18 hours ago, NorthShoreWx said:

The last snowplow blade:

 

For a minute there that thing looked like it was going to get pinched out in the direction of the camera guy at 200MPH.

[forkyfork]

why do people post obs when the mesonet exists

[NorthShoreWx]

2 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

why do people post obs when the mesonet exists

It's who we are.

[forkyfork]

i haven't measured snow since boxing day

[TheClimateChanger]

What happened to @LibertyBell? Has he posted recently?

[NorthShoreWx]

38 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

What happened to @LibertyBell? Has he posted recently?

Last sighting seems to be October 21.  Hopefully its not due to health or family problems.

[rclab]

1 hour ago, TheClimateChanger said:

What happened to @LibertyBell? Has he posted recently?

 

24 minutes ago, NorthShoreWx said:

Last sighting seems to be October 21.  Hopefully its not due to health or family problems.

I believe Liberty has a serious allergy issue. Heaven bless him, he’ll certainly make up for his posting absence when he’s back. It been quite a while since I’ve seen a post from Will Rutgers. Is he okay? Stay well all. ……