That Time of Year.. January Thaw & Playoffs & Russell Wilson & Wondering on Ice Storms

Yeah, it's that time of year here.

January thaw, though to be honest it's not really a thaw if there isn't anything to thaw out...

The snow is not in the Eastern Part of the US anywhere near Hurricane Country. As a matter

of fact, the snow is all in Russia and Europe where they are having an intense winter the likes

of which only Jim Cantore could love. Can't you see him now...standing there in front of the

Kremlin all dressed up like he's Omar Shariff in Dr. Zhivago passionately describing the size

and feel of each snow flake that falls as he is half buried in snow listening intently for any signs

of Thundersnow?

Around here it's sunshine and moonshine and no snowflakes to be seen anywhere.

Miami is warmer than usual. The Carolinas are basking in a moderate winter and I have a few

flowers outside on trees that usually don't show color until early Spring.

Is this an illusion or is this all there is as Peggy Lee used to sing?

Not sure.

There are numerous forecasts showing that the next system moving across the nation will push

some frigid air towards the middle of the country and parts of the Piedmont and the next system

after that will have a chance of being the real thing.

Looking back in history doesn't really tell us the whole story unless we look at the details. 2005

brought an unexpected Ice Storm to the Raleigh area, yet if you read a review of that winter it

was indeed warmer than usual with mucho rainfall in some areas and drought in others and

very little snow.

Now, if you lost several of your favorite trees and went for a week without power, you would not remember that winter kindly.

http://raleighskyline.com/content/2006/11/21/the-half-inch-of-snow-that-paralyzed-raleigh/

All it took was a half an inch of rain turning to snow and ice that fell exactly during rush hour in Raleigh to turn an expected normal winter day into a day to remember.

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/national/2005/14 <---2005 p="p" summary="summary" winter="winter">

Looking back to 1998 which was the year after the El Nino from Hell It was a transitional sort  of year that brought us a lot of hurricanes and a wicked Ice Storm over the Christmas  Holiday to North Carolina. http://www.nc-climate.ncsu.edu/climate/winter_wx/database_details.php?event_id=211 Another discussion on a quiet winter... not so cold, click on the link above and read for yourself. That's sort of like a saying 1992 was a quiet Hurricane Season..except for Hurricane Andrew. Okay, it's obvious I am dreaming of an Ice Storm and not saying it here locally to people  as they don't rightly take kindly to me mentioning the Ice Storm that took out part of  their roof when they lost their Pear Trees.............. So, I'm mentioning it here............. 2002 is said to have been the worst Ice Storm in the Carolinas, many wax poetic about it sounding a lot like Edgar Allan Poe.  http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/2002-12-05-winter-storm_x.htm Worst ice storm in years devastates the Carolinas Despite round-the-clock repair efforts,  more than 1.8 million customers remained without  electricity Friday in the Carolinas as ice-laden  A City of Gastonia, N.C. maintenance worker points to lines that need to be cleared of ice. AP The icy aftermath of the storm Wednesday and Thursday — which many in the Carolinas compared to recent hurricanes for its scale of destruction — proved worse than the storm itself. And across the East Coast, snow and ice snarled air travel and kept children home from school. Keep reading at the link above...usually when you see a man in a bucket truck  it's some sort of trouble or a possible stalker, but we won't go there here............ Back to 2002... it was WARM.  Yep, consistent with the other years mentioned  when Ice Storms affected the area rather than random snow. "December 2002 ranked as the 21st warmest December in the 1895 to present record." Check out the Youtube videoes for a look at winter weather: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdjoM5rBAv4 (oh look Oklahoma got some too...) NC: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY8Qbz43yQ0 (2002) Funny part about warm winters is that they can bring that one storm that comes  out of the blue and when you are expecting another day of rain with temperatures  in the upper 30s...something changes and it changes fast and suddenly the timing is off and the rain turns into snow...or ice. Will it happen this year?  Don't know.. just know I am not getting the snow I was hoping I would get...  And, am wondering if this set up can produce an Ice Storm event later in the winter...  Meanwhile, the sun is shining in through the window on the back of my neck and I am warm despite the cold temps outside. A day like this can be quite an illusion. From inside it's blue and beautiful and sunny. The thermometer is actually hovering around 60 degrees and I am thinking they really blew the forecast or it's just an illusion. Note...forecasts get blown or this is a case of a mini-climate effect going on here in the cul de sac. My APP says it's 49. The high is supposed to be around 51 (which should be late in  the day) and yet the thermometer which is usually correct on my deck shows 60 degrees. My husband says it's because the sun is shining on it and it's metal and it's close to the house but.... that's the same sun that shining on the nape of my neck and I know one thing.. I'm not going to be wearing my new winter coat today. What does a Miami girl know about buying a winter coat? Obviously not much. My purple (bordeaux) coat keeps me warmer than the one I bought with the fur hood and trim which looked much warmer. I have this coat in "bordeaux" It's a really HEAVY coat and feels really WARM and I have barely worn it this winter. Last Friday  night while walking home from a beautiful meal at a friend's house  for the Jewish Sabbath... we hiked through the short cut, through the woods almost  a mile in temperatures in the 30s ....so I wore my WARMER COAT which it turns out  LOOKS warmer but is in fact not as warm.  My husband explained that the coat above has more WOOL in it...  Oh... It looked warmer... it wasn't warmer...  I froze my you know what off despite the nice zipper and fake fur... So, it seems I'm still in a learning curve period here where I understand that if the thermometer was moved to the front porch facing North..it probably would be in the  upper 40s not hovering around 60. So far the winter has been mild. A few cold, cold nights. Mostly mild with what seems  frequent rain and this pattern of cold = dry and warm = rain. As for the El Nino Predictions... I'm watching how it plays out. I'm predicting that Seattle could be better than previously thought and their  bargain basement priced Quarterback is one heck of a team leader and an over achiever  who was over looked while other quarterbacks were taken in the first and second round allowing him to fall to the bottom of the third round.  He out performed RG3 who had a hard day yesterday as did Andrew Luck whose luck  ran out against the Ravens.  http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1472978-andrew-luck-playoff-loss-will-propel-rookie-to- stellar-second-season http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/01/06/redskins-rookie-rg3-injures-knee-in-playoff-loss -to-seahawks/ Oddly, all the headlines are about the losing quarterbacks and not the winning quarterback. So, basically the quarterback who fell to the third round of the draft is making  it to the second round of the playoffs in his rookie season as his highly touted  contenders will watch from the sidelines. Now THAT was a busted Draft Forecast... http://aol.sportingnews.com/nfl/story/2013-01-06/seahawks-russell-wilson-nfc-playoffs- redskins-robert-griffin-iii-rg3-andrew-luck This man plays with all his heart... runs, throws and commands the field and doesn't give up.  Great game yesterday...two great games. So, sometimes the experts are wrong and forecasts are just that... a prediction that  never comes true. Here's what some experts have to say about El Nino and what is left of the Winter of 2013. http://snowday1.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/winter-forecast-2012-2013/ http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/06/us-weather-elnino-cpc-idUSBRE8850PM20120906 So...watching football and weather and enjoying both ...  I'm here... just nothing super tropical to talk about and nothing overly exciting weather wise as well... waiting on some real winter weather ;) Besos BobbiStorm Ps...enjoy this really fun old video of the day that Dan Marino was drafted an even though  he was drafted at the bottom of the first round he was not expected to be the star that he became.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3rYgvyo8IU Some fun football facts: In 1991... Brett Favre was picked in the 3rd Round after he was passed over and Seahawks  took Dan McGwire as their first round pick and the 16th overall pick of the 1991 NFL Draft.  Then after Miami passed on him the LA Rams took Todd Marinovich before choosing Brett Favre...not their best decision... Want more fun football facts? What were the names of the quarterbacks chosen BEFORE Dan Marino? John Elway #1 pick by the Colts Todd Blackledge #7 pick by Kansas City Jim Kelly taken #14  by the Buffalo Bills (Kansas City passed on Jim Kelley...) Tony Eason #15 pick by New England, boy did they regret not taking Marino.. Ken O' Brien #24 pick by the New York Jets who also passed on Dan Marino Dan Marino #27 pick by the Miami Dolphins who took a "gamble" on him... Think how many games the Fins played the Jets and the Patriots over time and the Jets and Patriots wished they had taken a chance on Marino.... Tom Brady was picked in the SIXTH ROUND of the 2000 NFL Draft...  Tom Brady was the 199th player picked in the Draft. In the same round that New England  took a chance on Tom Brady... the Miami Dolphins picked a Defensive Tackle from  Arkansas-Pine Bluff before taking a chance on Tom Brady who was drafted later in that  sixth round. The Fins spent most of that decade trying to draft defensive linemen...  Anyway, not to get down on the Fins... but... 198 players were picked BEFORE  Tom Brady, six of them quarterbacks...  Who were those quarterbacks? Chad Pennington, Marshall - Drafted by the New York Jets in Round 1, Pick 18. Giovanni Carmazzi, Hofstra - Drafted by the San Francisco 49ers in Round 3, Pick 65. Chris Redman, Louisville - Drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in Round 3, Pick 75. Tee Martin, Tennessee - Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in Round 5, Pick 163. Marc Bulger, West Virginia - Drafted by the New Orleans Saints in Round 6, Pick 168. Spergon Wynn, SW Texas State - Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in Round 6, Pick 183. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_quarterbacks_were_drafted_ahead_of_Tom_Brady#ixzz2HJMzb8aG So, you see... it's not just weather forecasts that don't pan out and it seems that at least  for the season of 2013... Russell Wilson was a better pick than both Andrew Luck and RG3... now who saw that one coming? The team that picked Russell Wilson. Again... Besos Bobbi