Fall Storm Arnold Ravages Chesco!!!

Fall Storm Arnold Ravages ChesCo!

October 18 was a day to be remembered in the annals of weather lore.  Fall Storm Arnold sprung up out of nowhere and sprinkled water, wind, rain and chilly air on unsuspecting victims from Downingtown to Landenberg.

SCC Correspondent Kathleen Anderson reported back on her experience this afternoon.  "It was cold.  Much colder than yesterday.  And the leaves were being blown right off the trees.  Old Man Fall was really rearing his ugly head today."

Weather watchers reported a hail storm in Downingtown that showered baby pea sized hail down on them for minutes on end.  In the Southwestern portion of the county cold driving rain was observed by Insider staff.  It was a day better spent indoors.  "It snowed on my friend's horse," said an exasperated Sarah Renz.  "This is NOT what I asked for on my birthday."

At this point ALL CHESTER COUNTY SCHOOLS remain OPEN.  Despite the sub 40 degree temps, schools are braving the weather to go on with business as usual.

Winter Storm Thor Roars Through Early March

Winter Storm Thor is being called the "Winter Lion of March©."  By me.  And now by you.

The storm has already created the largest snow-nut of the season, and it's not done yet.

We all saw this one coming, so there was no reason to hype any forecasts or predictions.  What we couldn't predict was just what kind of impact The Winter Lion © would have.

We at the Weather Insider were forced to do the unimaginable.

Yes, the sheer volume of snow forced us to sleep late and put off reporting for several hours.

The deep snow almost overwhelmed local electric power shovels.  However, persistent efforts eventually allowed snow throwers and the human spirit to prevail.

Perhaps most impressive was the fact that school closings in the area were almost unanimously agreed upon as appropriate. 

 

Jeb Pyle, long time West Grove resident commented, "Now THIS is what I call snow.  All year long they've talked a good game, but finally they had a reason to close school. A flake here, a flake there, 2 hour delays... Gimme a break ... In MY day that would have been a joke. We had no problem getting to school with our sleighs and snow shoes. This generation is soft.  And school taxes are too high, too."

Local citizens are not the only ones thrilled to have a true weather event to talk about.  Meteorologists are thrilled too.  "It's great!  Finally we got it right!  I would say out low point was when the national discussion turned from storm totals and real feel temperatures to llamas and dress colors.  It's good to be back to talking about the weather," shared a local meteorologist who wanted to remain anonymous for reasons we have yet to figure out.

We have almost doubled seasonal snowfall totals at this point, and according to gr8 4caster™ there is more to come for the next 4-5 hours.  As satellite images show, very little progress has been made, as the storm crawls from west to east.  

Local weather watcher Santi Pizzini found this out the hard way - she was hoping spring was around the corner, but woke to this message on her computer screen:

Meanwhile, our crack team of meteorologists have been scouring maps trying to puzzle out when relief will be in sight.

While the picture is clearing up in the west, the east is still a big muddled mystery.   We will have more as things clear up!  Stay warm and happy weather watching!

Is THIS Snow White or Blue?

Thursday night, Chester County and surrounding areas were hit hard by a sneak attack of snow. Just 24 hours after a predicted snow did NOT develop into anything, this one came out of nowhere.

In addition to the surprise snow, THIS snow packed an additional surprise.  Some people actually saw the snow as blue.

That's right. We asked a British scientist what he thought (notice his spelling of color).  "It's likely due to some kind of colour constancy illusion, where some people are perceiving the context to be something like "lit by blueish daylight" and others are perceiving it to be something like "under yellow department store lights." In the former case, your brain will try and get the objective (if such a thing can be said) colour by subtracting out the blue as a shadow.  This is a common illusion in psychology but it's not seen that often 'in the wild,' even though your brain does this constantly."

So based on this theory, we at Chester County Weather Insider conclude all snow is actually blue but because we view it in daylight, and not in department stores we see it as white.

So what happened Thursday that allowed some of us to see the snow as blue?  The angle of the sun passing through the clouds perfectly replicated the poor yellow lighting of a typical department store, so those who do not spend hours shopping saw the snow as blue.  Those of you who are shopaholics, your eyes went into autopilot and compensated making the snow appear white as it normally does.

Above we have enhanced the original photo so everyone can see the extreme manner in which this may be perceived. Do your eyes perceive it as it actually IS in the original photo, or did your eyes played tricks on you and allow the snow to look mainly white with only a hint of blue?

Stay warm, and happy weather watching from the Insider!

Snowmeggadon 5.0 Wreaks Havoc in the Area!

Winter Storm Pandora swept through the mid Atlantic this weekend unleashing a box full of fury.  The snow depths of over three inches makes this officially Snowmegaddon 5.0.

We at the Insider were blessed to not bear the brunt of this wintery assault, yet thanks to our network of snow spotters and crack reporters, we have all the details you need.

While snow spotters have Snowmegaddon 5.0 depths in the 3-4 inch range the Insider Real Feel Snow Depths (tm) were reported at "Holy Cow, that's a lot of snow!"

This is a new index, similar to the wind chill matrix that allows us to indicated what it realllllly feeeeels like out there after major snow events.  The Real Feel Snow Depth (tm) will be accompanied by a picture indicating how you should most appropriately react when looking out at the devastation, or being interviewed by reporters braving the storm.

Staff photographer Felicia Renz sent me a picture of this Snownut late yesterday, which became an ice Glazed Snownut overnight.

Here you can see snow depths significantly deeper than the treads on tires of the clean up vehicles - the first time all year they have had to deal with such conditions.

We at the Insider hope you are all safe, as we will be returning from the heartland early this week! Happy Weather Watching!

Savant Predicts Biggest Snow Fall Totals Yet!

Last week we began tracking this storm, and our models were pretty sure a significant event was in store.  As the week went on our models have not yet reached consensus, but now 8 of 10 feel we will get snow - up from 7 of 10 a week ago.

Meanwhile, we have heard of a child weather savant in Toughkennamon who has accurately predicted all the storms this year within 2 inches.

When staffers at Tommy Tinker's Day Care turned there back, they found this little rascal working out details on this week's storm.  "He was muttering nonsense words like millibars and barometric, and we told him to use his 'big boy' words."

Frustrated, the child (who's name is not being released due to weather privacy legislation - WiPL) grabbed a crumpled up U.S. Map and a red crayon and proceeded to point and say "SNOW! Snow is coming TONIGHT!"

The National Weather Service has issued and Advisory for our area, with an 80% chance of snow, but they have issued a warning for neighboring Newark DE, and Elkton MD.

Because of our proximity to these areas we at CCWI are a issuing a Winter State of Panic.  We are officially calling this Snowmeggadon 4.0 and predicting a snow day for local schools in our area tomorrow.

Idaho Meteorologist Predicts Frigid Conditions After Forgetting Valentine's Day

While the Northeast is blasted by another polar vortex, most of the Northwest is seeing extremely mild conditions.  However a Meteorologist in Boise Idaho feels that trend will end, locally.

Lionel Myers, A meteorologist at KTVB 7 in Boise experienced a severe drop in temperature that began Saturday morning and continued into the evening.  

Myers explains, "While all weather models indicated a mild weekend, things dipped very quickly beginning Saturday morning.  My wife of 6 months, greeted me with breakfast in bed, and I thanked her, as any good husband would.  I then proceeded with my daily routine as normal.  I read some weather blogs, looked for changes in air mass, and even tweeted out some predictions for the next 5 and 10 day forecasts."  By mid afternoon, as he continued, he noticed the outside temperature rising as the sun moved across the clear blue skies, but inside it was cold and gloomy.

"Finally, around 7pm, Kristen asked me if I had made any dinner reservations.  I gently reminded her that it was the 2nd Saturday of the month, and that means D&D night.  I went over to my buddy Kevin's house...well technically it is his parent's place... he lives in the basement.   I was expecting a great night of slaying ogres.  Kevin looked stunned.  He said he just assumed since it was Valentine's Day I would not be around.   My face was ashen.  It was like I was caught in the midst of a dangerous winter squall."  Myers went into a state of emergency.

"I rushed to the grocery store and grabbed one of the last cards they had,"

After getting the card, he headed over to the flower department.  No staff was on hand, but they did have some flowers leftover, and they came with a vase.

"I texted my wife a Valentine's wish and message to let her know I was on my way home and had planned a dinner for us to enjoy together on our first Valentine's Day as a married couple."  When Myers got home, his wife was apparently locked in the bedroom and said she did not feel good and did not want to come out.  After pleading, and coaxing her out with a promise of a pasta dinner made especially for her, she begrudgingly opened the door.

With dinner prepared and plated especially for the occasion, Myers was sure the arctic blast would move out quickly.  He even opened a bottle of libations he had picked up from the grocery store's meager stock.

"Once dinner was on the table, I unscrewed the wine and said something like, look, red for Valentine's. Dinner went as well as could be expected, but despite some casual chit chat, things never really warmed up."  

Myers ended up watching Sanford and Son reruns, and polishing off the wine since his wife retired early, still "not feeling quite right".  Finally at 11:30 he tweeted out @MyersWeatherGuy: #mildconditions end locally #arcticblast hitting hard #frigiddays ahead

Dangerous Snow Squall Hampers Weather Insider Team

This evening, the back end of The Valentine's Day Storm of 2015 packed a real wallop.  On our way back, weather watcher Felicia Renz received an alert on her mobile weather device

Shortly after, we ran smack dab into it.  It was a sight to behold.  I grabbed the wheel with both hands and I used my knee a little, too.  I didn't know how long this dangerous squall would last so I urged my staff photographer to get a pic.  

The original pic didn't really do it justice, so I used Art Studio Lite to show you what it really looked like.

Reports and images of the Dangerous Snow Squall have been flooding into CCWI headquarters all evening.

Some weather watchers resorted to driving on rumble strips for added traction!

The most disturbing came from a weather watcher in Oxford Pa.

This image was sent to us by Josiah King, along with the message "I seen the Dangerous Snow Squall an she was terrifying."  

This image was so inconsistent with the others we sent our fraud department out to investigate. It was later determined the image was simply a misunderstanding - Josiah saw the dangerous squaw on the arm of Big Judy - long time bartender at the Octorara Hotel.

Tune into the Insider for Winter News as it breaks!!!