What a difference a week makes!

Monday March 9: 80 degrees, sunny, beautiful. The kind of March day that makes you move down from the north to enjoy.

A mere 7 days ago, Monday March 2, was THIS:

Crazy.

Brrrr....

Wake up Friday, and what do we see in central North Carolina? Some strange white substance dotting the landscape. Odd. Quite odd.Anyone with any clues what this mysterious stuff could be please let me know.

How hot?

The highs for the previous few days in Greensboro:
June 3 - 85 (fine, the average is 82)
June 4 - 93
June 5 - 94
June 6 - 97
June 7 - 97
June 8 - 97

And the forecast:
today - 96
tomorrow - 95
Wednesday - wow, back down to a cool 87!

But hey, at least it's a wet heat. Ugh.

Holy crap! Auntie Em!

A tornado touches down in Greensboro of all places!

Associated Press story

Greensboro Fish-Wrap story

Slideshow

Luckily for us, the damage occurred 6 or 7 miles to the west of us along I-40 past Hwy 68 by the airport. Planes were pushed around, throwing one into the construction for the FedEx hub:

Heavy rains started by us around 9:30pm or so as we were watching our TiVo'd Dancing with the Stars. Then at 10:00pm as we made our way to bed, instead of E.R. there was constant local weather radar on the screen. 11:30pm or so the tornado hit an industrial park off I-40 near the airport. The House of Gordon is unscathed, but there's quite a bit of damage near us.

All is well with us.

More bloomage

Ahhh....NC springtime. The crabapple tree in the front yard is a-bloomin' now. Enjoy your cold weather wherever you may be.

The beauty of living in North Carolina

As some of our Ohio friends email us pictures of their snowy homes in March, just yesterday Chris serviced the mower (air filter, oil change, spark plug, the works) and mowed the lawn for the first time in 2008. Afterwards, he took these snaps to share with those in the cold snowy climes of the north. Enjoy.


Our Bradford Pear tree:


Our peach tree:

Winter Wonderland

As mentioned last night in the "What the crap!" post, we were hit with a non-forecasted snow "event" last night. Kimberly called on her way home from work in Winston-Salem to say these huge beautiful flakes were falling and the ground was covered. Chris mentioned that she was nutty because there was nothing but rain occurring in Greensboro. Here's the front of her car from her usual-35-minute-turned-75-minute drive:


Crazy. The snow began in earnest at home right before she arrived, and apparently went all night. We woke up to a fluffy movie set scene of snowy wonder. Enjoy our North Carolina snow:


And of course, the worthless local school system canceled classes today due to this horrific quagmire. You'll notice that there is no snow on the pavement at all. But hey, that possible dastardly black ice is a detriment to the education of our future. Idiots....

Paralyzed with fear

Snow. Sleet. Freezing rain. Batten down the hatches! Close the schools! We may never survive this maelstrom of inclemency! The town is shuttered! The residents are gripped with anguish!

This morning, does Greensboro look like Denver? Or New England?











Or how about Cleveland? Or Green Bay?














Nope. There were literally days of warning. Evening forecasts predicting a melee. Shouts of our first major snow event since 2003. The locals are stirred to a feverish pitch! The dander is up! The panties are in a twist!

For what? For this:

Imagine if you will, you are not employed in your current situation; but rather, you are a professional meteorologist. A weatherman. A weather forecaster. Imagine the job security in knowing that no matter what you say, no matter how often you are wrong, there is seemingly no repercussion for your ignorance. Just come back the next day with a smile, and forecast the weather out of your ass. Tout your pretty computer pictures and super duper double doppler in commercials. Brag about your inclusion on the news staff. Now, take that auspicious percentage and apply it to your current position. How long would you in fact be employed?

Idiots.

But hey, I'll give them this: later tonight on the news, they will sure tell us what ALREADY HAPPENED in bright cheery colors and pictures and satellite imagery. Which surprisingly, will not mirror what they forecasted would happen in the first place.

I hate weathermen.

Enjoy this "breaking news" email we received from our local fish-wrap this morning. Emphasis and commentary has been added.

Guilford, other area school systems closed

From Staff Reports
Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008

Snow fell overnight in the Triad but switched over to mostly rain by daybreak today. Still, there could be a few more flurries mixed with light freezing rain.

The heavier freezing rain that was earlier predicted seems to not be a threat, as temperatures hover around 32 degrees, not the ideal cold for freezing rain.

"We're starting to see more and more rain reported," [edit: and yet, NOT FORECASTED!!!!!] Jeff Orrock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh, said about 7:30 a.m. "There could be a few more bursts of snow for the next few hours. "I think as far as snow accumulation ... what you see on the ground now is what you are going to see."

Most school systems decided Wednesday night to cancel school today. Area school systems including Guilford, Rockingham, Forsyth, Davidson and Alamance all are closed.

The winter storm warning remains in effect until 4 p.m.

There were reports of some wrecks, but roads appeared to be mostly wet. "Right now, everything's quiet," said Sgt. JB Sessoms of the Highway Patrol. Along North Church Street stretching from north Greensboro to downtown, there were a few patches of slush but no slowdowns. Traffic was light on Bryan Boulevard in both directions between New Garden Road and Benjamin Parkway.

The city of Greensboro said today its services were running on a normal schedule. Trash pickup is going on as scheduled.

December Football

Wow. Sunday the beloved Cleveland Browns defeat the Buffalo Bills at home 8-0. That's right. 8-0. Two field goals and a safety.

Cleveland.com had a great photo gallery from the game. Here are some favorites. Now THIS is how December football should be played. What a fun game....