Rant on WHDH Weather

Seriously. I've been following the forecast for Monday (May 4) since last Wednesday. Every single day's forecast up until yesterday's went along the lines of something like this: mostly sunny with a few clouds. Now, all of a sudden, that's changed to cloudy with periods of rain. First of all, stop predicting the weather... you are useless! If you can't get it right at least five days in advance, you might as well quit your job. You are getting people's hopes up and not following through. I love how on your blog you brush it off like it's nothing. Yeah, that's you Jeremy Weiner.

Hell...I Mean Lake Superior...Freezes Over

From the National Weather Service...

Due to the recent cold spell and below normal temperatures for much of the winter of 2008-2009, ice covers nearly all of Lake Superior. Only small areas of open water remain. This image was taken on Tuesday, March 3rd. If arctic air does not return in the next couple of weeks, it is likely that this will be the day of maximum ice cover on Lake Superior for this winter as warmer weather and periods of stronger winds through the end of this week will cause open water areas to expand.

Epic Fail: Metereologists

Yeah, so that 1-3 inches that was supposed to come our way this morning/afternoon? The end.

WHDH Weather Forecast

Looks like the first day of school will be a nice day.

The Internet Is Dead

Literally. Where is everyone? Nobody has posted on my favorite forum since 10:39 AM. You might say that I go on there a bit much and yeah, you'd be right. Matter of fact, the whole reason I go on there is to check out the variety of content which, as of right now, is minimal at best. In terms of weather, today is not special. It is raining pretty heavily, although it does look like it might clear up soon. As one of my friends told me "the internet is not the future." The kid, I think, is right.

A side note: I hate ranting like this because my grammatical structures come off as being a bit whiny. I could use all CAPs or talk in a language known as "dumbass", but that just isn't very cool.

One dies in storm

Think this rain has been hitting US hard?

A powerful storm tore through at least a half dozen towns in southeastern New Hampshire today, toppling trees, knocking out power, and damaging buildings, a state emergency management agency spokesman said today. At least one person was killed. 

Dolly reaches Category 2

BROWNSVILLE, Texas—Hurricane Dolly churned into a Category 2 storm as its eye neared the Texas-Mexico border Wednesday, bringing fierce winds and heavy rains that blew down signs, damaged an apartment complex and knocked out electricity to thousands.

Forecasters warned of up to 15 inches of rain that could produce flooding and breach levees in the heavily populated Rio Grande Valley.

Hear that, people? Dolly could do as much damage as Katrina. Don't screw THIS one up, local, state, and federal governments!

Tropical Storm Dolly

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Dolly churned toward southern Texas on Monday, and forecasters said they expected it to grow into a hurricane before hitting land near the Mexican border later this week.

The storm, with sustained winds of nearly 50 miles per hour (85 km per hour), emerged from the Yucatan Peninsula over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A hurricane watch was issued for the southern Texas coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

At 10 p.m. CDT (11 p.m. EDT), Dolly was 435 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas. It was due to hit land on Wednesday near the border town of Brownsville, Texas, well away from sensitive offshore drilling rigs and production platforms. - Reuters

Dolly?! That's the best they got?

Étudiant...I mean WHDH...Weather

A three day stretch of scorching hot weather.

Floods In Iowa

The streets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - all 400 blocks of them - were filled with floodwaters and other strange sights: floating Dumpsters and utility poles and sandbags piled in vain.

The cresting Cedar River wreaked widespread havoc Friday on Iowa's second-largest city, forcing the evacuation of 3,000 homes and a downtown hospital while collapsing a railroad bridge.

Houseboats were swept away as the fast-rising river created a lake in downtown Cedar Rapids, where a breach in the levee turned roadways into waterways.

It was the worst Midwest flooding in 15 years, when the Cedar River crested at just over 19 feet - compared with a crest of more than 31 feet yesterday. - New York Daily News

Ouch.

Hot Hot Hot To End End End

The current reading of my trusty thermometer is 88 degrees. That might seem a little bit cool compared to the scorching hot mid 90s of just a few days back.

Here is what Channel 7 is saying:

Boy, it's not even Summer yet and we're already in the 4th day of a heat wave. It always comes on so suddenly, doesn't it?

Don't roll your eyes as I sound like my mother (hi mom!) for a sec. With highs in the mid 90s today and a heat index well above 100 degrees, drink lots of water, use plenty of sunscreen, take it easy outside, and cool off in the AC (or even better...the big natural AC...the ocean) or under a hose. If you're stuck in the city, a good ice cream binge at the Scooper Bowl in City Hall Plaza might do the trick too.

The record to beat in Boston today is 96 and we should at least tie it. After all, we hit 95 yesterday. Worcester's record is 91 and we should have no problem beating that one today.

Okay, enough with the heat. Some of you want relief! We'll get it tomorrow. A cold front slides through this evening and overnight, which will give us a chance of thunderstorms later today and will cut the humidity for tomorrow. We'll still be in the mid 80s Wednesday, but I think you'll notice it'll be more comfortable. Thursday looks fantastic...sunny, mid to upper 70s.

Weather gets crazy

After near record-breaking temperatures and shirt-sticking humidity, the wind shifted dramatically in Boston this afternoon and washed the city in a salty sea breeze that dropped the temperature 20 degrees in 20 minutes.

I love living here.

Thousands die in Burmese cyclone

YANGON, Burma --Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are
unaccounted for after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station
said Monday.
Foreign Minister Nyan Win told foreign diplomats at a briefing
that the death toll could reach 10,000, according to diplomats who spoke on
condition of anonymity because the meeting was held behind closed
doors.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country, also known as
Burma, early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph, leaving hundreds of thousands
of people homeless.
The government had previously put the death toll
countrywide at 351 before increasing it Monday to 3,939.
The radio station
broadcasting from the country's capital, Naypyitaw, said that 2,879 more people
are unaccounted for in a single town, Bogalay, in the country's low-lying
Irrawaddy River delta area where the storm wreaked the most havoc.
"Reports
are coming out of the delta coast, particularly the Irrawaddy region, that in
some villages up to 95 percent of houses have been destroyed," said Matthew
Cochrane at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies' Geneva headquarters.
The situation in the countryside remained
unclear because of poor communications and roads left impassable by the
storm.
"Widespread destruction is obviously making it more difficult to get
aid to people who need it most," said Michael Annear, regional disaster
management coordinator for the federation.
In Washington, the State
Department said the U.S. Embassy in Yangon had authorized an emergency
contribution of $250,000 to help with relief efforts. But it added that the
Myanmar government initially had refused to allow a U.S. Disaster Assistance
Response Team into the country to assess damage.

Can you say, "Katrina"?

Amazing Spring Day/Dirt Day Rant

Temps in the 80s, clear skies, and a slight breeze...you can't really ask for a better day. Tomorrow sounds like a replica of today, only less mild. I instruct you to go outside and wander about the gentle prairies of Wakefield, Massachusetts.

Speaking of the environment, yesterday was Dirt Day. Who would have thought that environmentalist propaganda would dominate Screenvision, the shitty advertising program that displays ads before movies start. To celebrate Dirt Day, I decided to take a drive to the corner store instead of walk. I also felt the need to turn on every single appliance and light in my house "just because." Global warming, please.

Storm in midwest kills at least 13

PIEDMONT, Mo.—Residents of low-lying towns stacked sandbags or grabbed belongings and evacuated Wednesday after a foot of rain pushed rivers and creeks out of their banks in the nation's midsection. At least 13 deaths had been linked to the weather, and three people were missing.

Our thoughts are with the families and friends of victims.

Five deaths were linked to the flooding in Missouri, five people were killed in a highway wreck in heavy rain in Kentucky and a 65-year-old Ohio woman appeared to have drowned while checking on a sump pump in her home. In southern Illinois, two bodies were found hours after floodwaters swept a pickup truck off a rural road.

Searches were under way in Texas for a teenager washed down a drainage pipe, and two people were missing in Arkansas after their vehicles were swept away by rushing water.

Searchers in Missouri found the body of Mark G. Speir Jr., 19, on Wednesday about 2 miles downstream from where he was reported swept into a creek the previous evening.

Amazing how, even after all these deaths from this storm, people can manage to be idiots.

"The biggest problem has been people driving into floodwater," Young said. "There are a lot of stupid people. When that sign says 'Road closed, high water,' that's what it means."

Heavy Rain Potential Causes Concern

The National Guard passed out sandbags, and state emergency officials sounded dire warnings yesterday as a two-stage storm moved into the region and threatened deluges throughout New England.

The storm began last night and is expected to drop as much as 4 inches of rain across the state, the equivalent of 40 inches of snow, and bring winds of up to 40 miles per hour, meteorologists said. The storm arrived after the already sodden state received a record 7.9 inches of precipitation in February, 3.3 inches more than average.

"We expect most rivers to go out of their banks for minor to moderate flooding," said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton.

Officials at the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency spent yesterday coordinating with local and federal officials, state agencies, the National Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, and utility companies to prepare for the expected floods. - The Boston Globe

Right now, the weather is fairly calm: 37 degrees and cloudy. In a few hours, if of course the meteorologists are correct, it will be raining cats and dogs and streets will be the victims of majors floods.

Think This?

BRUSSELS (Thomson Financial) - Think tank European Policy Centre (EPC) has offered recommendations on ways to improve the European Commission's climate change and energy package in a report issued by its task force.

If you're American going into the bathroom and you're American coming out of the bathroom, what are you while you're IN the bathroom?

Lunar eclipse tonight!

Tonight’s total lunar eclipse should be visible across Massachusetts with partly cloudy skies expected to become increasingly clear as the moon slips completely into the earth’s celestial shadow.

Be sure to catch it!

The moon will begin slipping into the earth’s shadow at 8:43 p.m. and will be completely immersed from 10:00 to 10:52 p.m.

Weather gets hot, wet, much like DeCarlo's fantasies

A thunderstorm with heavy rains predicted to hit Boston moved out to sea this afternoon, allowing for a dry end to the day with spring-like temperatures that reached into the 60s in some areas.

Ben: And how about this weather? Isn't it just gorgeous?
The audience applauds in agreement.

Blizzard remembered

WAKEFIELD — Thirty years ago Wednesday began the start of the Blizzard of ’78, what some have called the Storm of the Twentieth Century.
When the skies finally cleared two days later Wakefield was buried under an all-time record 29 inches with many four foot drifts.

Did you know that the storm caused some deaths? Read on.

Wakefield survived without fatalities but eight died in Massachusetts, 35 in New England. Two Winchester boys died of carbon monoxide poisoning while stranded in a car.