Biggest backpeddle

Members of backcountry.com's list serve received an email that began like this last evening:

We messed up. Yesterday, as the people of Alabama dealt with the devastating aftermath of an intensely damaging and life-taking tornado, we neglected to put a stop to the distribution of an email with the header: "Mother Nature hates you. Deal with it." This was extremely insensitive and offensive, and we are so sorry.

The tornadoes that ravaged the South are absolutely no laughing matter, but atrocious timing and a complete lack of control of email marketing on the behalf of a respected online retailer is. Write that down.

Walk Like A Penguin

As I was walking back to my apartment tonight, I found myself negotiating this particularly icy/sloppy section of a sidewalk and almost instinctively, in my head said, "walk like a penguin." Where the hell did that come from? Well, it was some cheap catch-line in a commercial that used to ALWAYS be on The Weather Channel (which I watched a lot of) during the glorious early-mid '90s. Apparently an otherwise forgettable commercial buried deep in my memory bank was triggered today by that line via walking on ice. Nice marketing by Safe Step Ice Melter. Commercial below.

These people need Safe Step Ice Melter

Doppler Update

Most of the viewing area will receive moderate to heavy snow. Philly and Trenton, you can expect a swath of hogan.

Another Weather Hogan

I usually hate taking stuff from other blogs (Deadspin) but this is just too good. Crude Humor.

Doppler Alert!

Because who doesn't love checking the weather...

You need to click on the image to view in full...trust me it's worth it. It basically tells you how to forecast the weather using nature. Rad.

Wild Weather

Senior field analyst, Thos. Reed, was at it again tracking down an awesome photo of a funnel cloud over Narragansett Bay last Saturday. Check out the image and weather description below. What’s up with all the cyclonic activity in the Northeast recently?
Just south of the Newport Bridge (RI), a monstrous cloud turned off the lights over Narragansett Bay last Saturday. Notice the funnel (center) that actually touched down between Castle Hill and Beavertail Lighthouse! Moments later a white wall of torrential rain, 4' waves, and gusts to 25kts reduced visibility to 100ft! Photo:Matthew Cohen

If you capture any wild weather photos over the Summer, please send them our way.

Boston Smoke Update

Boston is no longer up in smoke, so I thought I'd show a comparison picture for a little perspective. Pictures taken on different days, at the same point in day. Really emphasizes how much smoke there was in the city. "Normal" visibility picture taken post thunderstorm so visibility not completely normal.

Normal Vis:
Smoke Vis:

Hurricane Predictions and Online Tracker

As Atlantic hurricane season approaches - it officially starts Tuesday - it's high time for some news on its predicted severity from TCD's crack squad of meteorologists. According to reports from Colorado State University's hurricane forecast team (apparently it is really legit) and Weather Services International, the threat of an above-average 2010 season has increased over the last month and it now promises to be "very active."

WSI is predicting 18 named storms and 10 hurricanes, five of which will be rated as Category 3 or higher (winds>110 mph). For some perspective, the 1950-2009 annual average is 10 named storms, 6 hurricanes and three rated as Category 3 or higher. The Northeast - which hasn't seen a serious storm since Bob in 1991 - faces a threat "on par with that in Florida and the Gulf coastal states," WSI Chief Meteorologist Todd Crawford said in the release.

Two other points that are important to consider.

1) Last year, hurricane forecasters blew it, but they are owning up to it somewhat. The 2009 storm season was the quietest since 1997, the result of an emerging El Nino event combined with relatively cool tropical Atlantic waters that suppressed widespread storm development. This year, however, "the primary drivers for tropical activity have sharply reversed course...and everything is in place for an incredibly active season ... eastern and central tropical Atlantic sea surface temperatures are currently at record warm levels for May, even warmer than the freakishly active season of 2005," according to WSI. As in Katrina and Rita of 2005 vintage.

2) This year's season will open with a very interesting twist, well covered by TCD: the Gulf oil disaster. Someone find me a nice overlay of the size and path of the oil spill and the size and path of Katrina. I bet the similarities are uncomfortable. The implications for the spread of the slick, and, more importantly, the clean-up efforts could be significant.

Finally, click here to play around with this sweet hurricane tracking software courtesy of our friends at MSNBC. Suck it, Fox.

Merchants of Doubt

Climate-gate took the world by storm in the aftermath of Copenhagen. Offering one side of the story about how scientific doubt on issues like climate change (and tobacco smoke) gains traction is the book "Merchants of Doubt" due out this May. Read a review from grist.org here.

I for one do not need to be convinced of the science, but that's besides the point. Environmentalists lost the world on this one with their own version of scare tactics and misnomers like "global warming" early on. The tragedy is that environmental problems related to our changing climate are very real and happening now, and not just in far away places like Sudan or Bangaladesh. The increase in wildfires in the West is attributable to the altered state of our climate, as is the rampant pine beetle problem throughout the Rocky Mountains. Drought is no longer only the concern of African nations or even the desert Southwest - Atlanta came within a week or so of running out of water a year ago. Labeling everything "climate change", though, is clearly not working because no one seems to care.

But what about framing this differently? What if we explore the very real possibility that responding to our changing climate - whether its changing because of stuff humans are doing or not - provides us with an economic get-out-of-jail free card? If we take the environment seriously for once, we can innovate out of our current economic malaise, create jobs in the process, and generally clean up our act. I am talking new sources of energy that are clean and don't come from parts of the world where people hate us. I am talking cars that people want to buy. I am talking development patterns that are oriented around forms of transportation other than cars (which includes walking, fatsos). Anyone with me?

March Weather Madness

The Northeast is getting pummeled right now by a big time ocean storm parked off of New Jersey and spitting precipitation all the way to the great state of Ohio. As I look out the window of TCD Boston branch, all I can see is wind-whipped rain and the occasional (and hilarious) munsoned umbrella. Boston and NYC can expect 3-5 inches of rain on their Saturday night. The cause of this? I blame El Nino...

A tradition unlike any other

Unless Augusta, GA gets pounded by snow in an uncharacteristic winter. Check out these pics taken within the last 3 weeks, there are some great shots of Amen Corner and Sarazen Bridge:

Sicko Weatherman!

Pete Bouchard, I love how you thought you could get away with this.

Mt. Washington Wind Gust no Longer Top Dog

Mt. Washington, known for having some of the most extreme weather on the face of the Earth, was once home to the highest recorded wind gust on the Earth's surface clocking in at 231 MPH. Well, this record was actually blown away (sorry) during a cyclone on Barrow Island, Australia in 1996. Apparently members of the World Meteorological Association were reviewing weather and climate data and stumbled upon a 253 MPH gust during Cyclone Olivia back in '96. Side note, I love how scientists are still cruising through weather data from 1996.

Mt. Washington shouldn't feel too bad for losing the Extreme Wind Gust Title. He (Old Man of the Mountain) did introduce me to "freezing fog" (how does that even work?) which abruptly ended a Spring 2009 Tuckerman's shred mission with a few TCD members. We happily transitioned to our relaxing Plan B: 100 yard wedge shots, beers, steak and multiple playoff game viewings. Thank you freezing fog and thank you Phil for the hospitality.

Check out the full story here.

Wild Lake Michigan Icebergs

Blue stripes are the result of melt water entering crevices in the 'berg and then freezing immediately so that no bubbles form. Immediately. And I thought it was cold here in Connecticut.

If the water into which an iceberg falls is rich in algae (check) and a layer of lake water freezes around the bottom of the iceberg (check), green stripes will form.

The more earthy browns/blacks/yellows are the result of sediment picked up by the ice behemoth as gravity moves it downhill towards the lake. Or so I am told.

Thanks to TCD reader/mother Karen for these shots!

Extreme Storm

Interesting storm drilling Northern New England today. This system blew up over Nova Scotia and then drifted back southwest and started pounding Maine, NH and coastal Mass. with bands of snow and high winds. Some locations could receive nearly two feet of dungus. Todd Gutner and other Meteorologists have been intrigued by this storm for days because of the atypical southwest movement. Way off-shore there could be some Bombogenesis which is basically a thunderstorm during a snowstorm.
Sweet.