Winter is back

[Chio151]

I can't believe schools were closed today in the milwaukee metro area. I swear, we're less than 10 years away from just completely shutting down the entire city -- all government, business, commerce, and transportation -- anytime more than 2.5" of snow is forecasted to fall. As Wisconsinites, we should be much tougher than this. The wussification continues.....

I think most of the people who have lived in this their whole lives are not fazed by it. But, the rampant closings have more to do with excessive litigation and loud-mouthed parents than they do with wussification.

 

My wife is a teacher and she was utterly shocked when they cancelled this morning. It's really all on MPS -- they are the lead domino.

 

In all my years in school though, I can only remember a handful of cancellations, and most were due to extreme cold.

[Barbs4339]

It has to do with the buses and the safety of the children waiting for them at the bus stops more than anything. I too was surprised it was closed today. Seems like Elmbrook is the only system that was open and of course they are getting complaints for that too. I did like their reply though. Parents can always choose to keep their children home, but if the school is closed, then there is no choice for anybody.

[Chio151]

And as we discuss this, a bus just got stuck in my neighbors yard -- what a mess.

[dpapo]

Things have changed since I lived in Milwaukee. I can remember once when I was in grade school, school was open during a blizzard. Of course that was before beer and brat was replaced as the choice drink and food by tea and finger cookies. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif
Tim Cuprisin from JSOnline pokes some fun at the Milwaukee television coverage of the weather.

http://blogs.jsonline.com/cuprisin/archive/2007/12/11/stormageddon-07-live-recorded-video.aspx

[hawing]

Stormageddon...ahh, that's funny.

 

During my two-year stint in Green Bay in the early 90s, I remember one of the local stations (I want to say channel 11) naming snowstorms after area place names. Like "Snowstorm Abrams" or "Snowstorm Bonduel." Does anyone else remember this? and if so, do they still do it?

[TooLiveBrew]

Awesome job with the pics guys. When TLB looks at this thread again he's going to be so happy.

 

Correctamundo! Thanks everyone for the pics. What a winter wonderland! Luckily for me, I have 35-40 degrees with rain.

 

Keep the pics comin' - I miss Old Man Winter. All of 'em have been great so far, but I do have to voice how gorgeous your backyard looks, uecker9.

[NeedMoreFans]

Once again, we are duped by the forecasters that be. So much for the "dusting" of snow Madison was supposed to get...looks like there is a couple inches outside. Even worse looking for the southeast part of the state...up to 6 inches. Crazy, crazy December.

[trwi7]

Yep it's been snowing by me since this morning and hasn't stopped since. A steady snow sometimes coming down hard. You're just going to have to trust us TLB, you're not missing anything.

[berniebrewer4life]

Currently have about 2 inches on the ground by me. And it looks like it will keep on coming. This is why i hate working nights. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

[hawing]

1.9 inches at the Dane County airport as of 4:00 today. That's 23.0 inches in Madison for December, with half the month to go.

 

At this rate, we might just as well get another 13 inches and set a new snowfall record (as long as it falls at times when it's not going to strand people for the holidays).

We'd at least have the record to show for the accumulated weather woes.

[owbc]

Another storm moves farther north than expected into Wisconsin. Unbelievable.

 

However, rain mixed with snow is expected on Thursday with highs in the mid-30s, so we will be doing some melting. No more really cold weather for the foreseeable future after this weekend.

[TooLiveBrew]

Ick. Melting = gross.

 

Yep it's been snowing by me since this morning and hasn't stopped since. A steady snow sometimes coming down hard. You're just going to have to trust us TLB, you're not missing anything.

I guess it's just my preference. The rain & cool/cold weather stinks, to me. I know winter can be heavy, but I prefer it to chilly + wet.

[homer]

I love snow. Bring it on!

[sgtcluels]

I don't mind the snow at all, I do mind the constant few inches every other day though. It gets old cleaning up snow all the dang time. Just snow a foot and get it over with so I only have to do it once!

[owbc]

Closing in on one of the snowiest Decembers of all time

[hawing]

OWBC...do you have special AOS access to a 10 day outlook? The 7 day forecasts on TV are already hinting at the possibility of more snow next weekend, but I (like probably a lot of others) am wondering about the 24th/25th. (I do realize the limited reliability of a 10-day outlook.)

 

And TLB, I do not think you are going to have to worry about so much snow melting that it won't look Christmasy when you return to the mother state. Really. Maybe if it really gets above freezing this week, the piles by everyone's driveways will reduce enough so you can maybe see oncoming traffic. At least that's my observation in Madison.

[owbc]

The Weather Channel does a 10-day forecast online. The odds of it being accurate more than 7 days out are probably about 20%, but it is usually good with general temperature trends.

Milwaukee

Madison

 

The more realistic long-term forecast is the 8-14 day outlook that the NWS does.

 

The GFS computer model runs out 16 days, but I have no idea how accurate that is. It's calling for a major snowstorm on December 27th, so we can check back in 2 weeks and see if it actually happens. Tomorrow it could say something completely different.

 

It's looking good for Christmas right now, though, we should be between storm systems with normal temperatures

[trwi7]

Can we delete this thread? I don't remember having one last year and we didn't get that much snow. Maybe if we make a summer is back thread it will be 70 degrees in a couple days. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[hawing]

We did have one last winter...around the time of that blizzard in February. So I don't think deleting this one is going to make winter end.

(Especially since it hasn't officially begun yet! Hah!)

 

Thanks for the NWS link, owbc. I generally have more faith in NOAA than the Weather Channel.

[JJHardy7]

How much snow is in Wisconsin right now? We actually got some flurries yesterday (in Tennessee), but nothing stuck to the ground. It is very cold today here compared to what it's been. A week ago it was 75 and I'm guessing it was 25 when I went to work today.

[Baldkin]

~18" on the ground in Milwaukee, give or take.

[hawing]

How much snow is in Wisconsin right now?

Here's a snow cover map.

[Patrick425]

I love snow. Bring it on!

Why?

[JJHardy7]

Thanks hawing. There's a lot of snow up there!

[homer]

"Why? "

 

1) It's pretty

2) I live in a condo and don't have to shovel

3) I work out of the house and don't have to commute

4) Its the only time of year I get to use my 4wd

5) I like my winter clothes

6) Despite what you might think, people are in better moods after a nice snowfall. It's a scientific fact - it's called 'common tribulation bonding' whereby large groups of formerly disassociated people are brought together by a common unfortunate event thereby raising the collective morale of the group (at least, that's my theory...someone should study this in more depth).