2014 Year of Throwing the Weathermen Under the Bus...

What do the Governor of Georgia, the Mayor of New York City and Governor Christie all have in common? They love to blame the weatherman. Seems the one thing both parties can agree on as no matter what your political affiliation is ... if you have a problem.. blame it on the weathermen!

2014 is definitely the  "Year of Throw the Weathermen Under the Bus... "

Seems the ONLY thing politicians from both parties agree on is if their state has a high profile publicity mess because of a winter storm... blame it on the weathermen!

What happened to those old school politicians who used to feel the buck stops on their desk?

Note... Governor Christie has been complaining about weathermen long before the horrid winter of 2014!

In 2011 he was complaining about weathermen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an4aCmibEY4

""The only two professions in America where you keep getting paid even when you are always wrong affect my life everyday – pollsters and weathermen," Christie said to laughter from the audience in snowy Morris County."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/26/christie-jokes-about-pollsters-at-town-hall/

Everyone loves to complain about the weather but Governor Christie takes that to a new bar as he is always complaining about weathermen. Governor Christie in particular must have some deep rooted problems with weathermen. Perhaps he could use a good weather shrink. He has always had major trust issues with weathermen.  Not sure if he had too much snow as a child or not enough, but he obviously expects weather forecasters to be right 100% of the time.  

Note his speech here  where he complaints that weatherman never stand behind their forecast. "It's gonna snow 6 inches or 18 and then when they are wrong they ask what's the difference ... it snowed."   And, then he complains they are right back on the air the next night.  Perhaps Mayor Blazio remembered Christie's speech when he defended his really bad decision not to listen to the National Weather Service's dire warnings unless they could guarantee him exactly a foot of snow. 

One wonders what Governor Christie thinks the consequences of failure for poor forecasts would be. Perhaps flogging in the public square?

In 2014 Christie is still complaining. Recently he cheerfully announced there are two types of people he never listens to.. weathermen and pollsters. Hmnnnn...  

Remember back in early February the Mayor of New York... blamed the weather forecasters for his bad decisions? Al Roker took him to count for that attack on the National Weather Service that gave a stellar forecast for a bad storm in a difficult winter. Perhaps Al Roker could give them all a good mini-class in the difficulties of doing an exact winter forecast. They obviously do not understand how difficult it is and how many variables there are that are all unfolding in real time to give you an exact, perfect forecast. Seems Al and the Mayor Blasio had a sit down and shook hands and made up. Maybe he could find a way to get the word out to government officials everywhere and explain to them how difficult it is to do a perfect forecast. 

There are some forecasters who inspire tremendous respect. Bryan Norcross in Miami was one of them. Greg Fishel in Raleigh is a forecaster that most consider the bottom line as to whether it will or won't snow during any given winter storm.  Mind you he is also famous for being wrong on the half an inch of snow that shut down Raleigh back when and he missed predicting a tornado that tore through town. But, usually he is more right than wrong.

http://wellfeefamily.blogspot.com/
Note how much the writer in the blog above lives and dies by Greg's forecast.

"Eastern NC Blizzard Survival Tips

Y'all, I barely made it home before it began. Rain was starting to fall as I pulled into the driveway late this afternoon. A biting chill filled the air, warning of the fury to come.  Heavy, gray clouds loomed and swirled overhead as I got out of my car and ran for the safety of my house.

Frankly, I'm just thankful to be alive. 

Our local Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel is forecasting the "s" word: SNOW. And let me tell you, nothing pulls the crazy out of us Eastern North Carolinians quite like The Fish's forecast of a little frozen precipitation. Freezing rain, snow, sleet: call it what you want, but you can bet your bottom dollar that anything remotely WHITE and COLD falling from the sky will initiate a SHUTDOWN. It totally blows my mind how we handle Category 5 hurricanes without batting an eye, but throw a little wintry mix our way, and we go into full-throttle PANIC MODE. In order to survive a winter event around here, extra precautions must be taken. As a native Eastern NC girl, I'd suggest the following tips for surviving an Eastern NC blizzard:

Hmnnn...

So what do you do when the forecast is busted?

Some people go online and lose it ranting how they will never trust a forecaster again....EVER!!
http://www.itbinsider.com/?p=385 is a case in point..

Smart part I can quote:

"I’ve had it with Greg Fishel (the weatherman at WRAL 5).  If you’re reading this Greg (I know you are), what the hell is wrong with you? Why can’t you tell me about a goddamned tornado in Raleigh until 10 minutes after it’s already touched down? I never pay attention to you because you’re a weatherman, and weathermen are completely insignificant, but I’m driving home right now through this damn tornado, listening to your dumbass on satellite radio say, “Umm, well here it is, oh wait no…..uh…here it is now, uh….well…just stay inside…”


Then there are more forgiving people:
http://teleoscope.blogspot.com/2012/01/its-time-to-forgive-greg-fishel.html
"We all figured that Greg Fishel owed us for that one. (He's our local weather guy on WRAL TV.) Of course, it was the Raleigh city government that seized the meteorological oversight and turned it into a first class snafu. But, it has been seven years. I suppose if the bankruptcy laws and the bible (Deuteronomy 15:1-2) both say you should forgive debts after seven years we should let Greg off the hook. Besides, forecasting winter weather in central North Carolina is hard and thankless work."

He got that right... it is a thankless job and time and time again governments everywhere blame their own forecasters for forecasts that are on the money but not down to the exact penny. They say to watch the weather carefully on Monday as we may have severe weather. But, because they do not say "at 3PM on Monday a small tornado is going to form and travel directly down US1 and cause a half a million dollars in damage" they are crucified time and time again..

During the Hurricane Season people complain they buy hurricane supplies and then didn't need them because they were in the Cone but didn't get the Hurricane. Rather than getting down on their hands and knees and thanking God for their good luck... they bitch and complain they are out $88 for hurricane supplies they didn't need. Trust me I have been poor and been in that same place, but my father always taught me you got to do what you got to do. So... I went shopping. I sucked it up and lost the money and didn't pull my hair out complaining that my house was still standing when Hurricane Floyd followed the forecast and paralleled the coast and missed Miami.   Yeah a little part of the storm crazy person I am thought "damn" but honestly it was one hurricane I did not want. Did I rely on the NHC forecast? Yes.. but just in case I did some shopping.

I think the biggest difference between Hurricanes and Winter Storms is that we are very aware that Hurricanes are "fickle" and yet for some reason we don't get that Winter Storms are also fickle.. more fickle and sometimes down right sadistic. We can see the hurricane coming for days before it's anywhere in our viewing area and yet winter storms form suddenly overnight sort of under the radar and may don't believe they will come at all.

We glamourize the NHC to almost rock star status and yet we barely pay attention to the NWS. I mean they are the GOVERNMENT agency that predicts the weather and the buck stops there and yet the Board of Education and the NYC Mayor Office totally ignored their forecast?

Seems the National Weather Service is like Rodney Dangerfield.. they can't get any respect.

The NHC has a sort of rock star persona. Everyone stops, drops and listens to the gang at the NHC.

There is a close relationship between the NHC and the Press...and that trickles down to the public.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/storm-center-blog/

Perhaps the local NWS needs to start courting the press more or perhaps the public needs to start paying more attention to them. I mean they are on Twitter, Facebook and they even recently updated their website and yet people ignore them.  Why? They even still broadcast 24/7 365 days a year on the Weather Radio that can even be accessed by your phone or your computer.

https://twitter.com/usNWSgov

https://www.facebook.com/NWS

Lord the NWS is  even on Tumblr...duh what more do you guys want? A banner plane in the sky?

One suggestion tho..if you know a weather person personally and you are afraid it's going to snow on you or rain on you or that little tropical wave out by Africa is going to smash into your neighborhood as a Cat 3 Hurricane in a week to ten days... ask their advice nicely ;)

Hey I know I get more IMs, emails and texts from long lost friends who have not spoken to me since the last time a hurricane threatened their town when they are worried on the weather. Everyone wants perfection. We try out best whether we are amateurs, professionals, On-Air or we work for the government... but we never know for sure. We do our best and weather changes in real time. Perhaps we should be teaching METEOROLOGY and other Earth Sciences in school more than the science we focus on already. Trust me... it's a lot more interesting than Biology and Chemist and for most weather will have a bigger daily impact on their lives when they grow up. People seem to know how to find WebMd faster online than the NWS...

Something to think on...

It used to be that the buck stopped here with government leaders. As people with so much knowledge at our finger tips we should stop taking selfies for a minute or stop playing Angry Birds and check our weather apps.  Stop throwing the weathermen under the bus because weather did what it always does...it rains and snows and sometimes we get thunder and lightning.

Check out the forecast for yourself on Twitter, Facebook or on your own local website.

Learn more about weather and why it is so difficult to predict. If it was easy and boring we wouldn't be talking about it ...would we?

Find a weatherman or woman on TV and keep on top of sudden changes by following them on Twitter. I do.

http://www1.wsvn.com/weather/  Phil Ferro or any of the gang there is good.
https://twitter.com/PhilFerro7

Note some weather people have Twitter accounts, because they are told to by their stations and use them more for "check me out in five minutes to see if it will rain" and others really know how to talk on Twitter, giving real time information, answering questions and interacting fast during breaking weather times. Like anything in life...choose wisely!

Find a site online you like and then surf around and find some more sites you like...

Start here:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/?n=kidscorner_weather101

And, remember in the end it is your car... your house... your life... your children's lives and your responsibility to protect those valuables. Make your own call even if it means calling in sick to work and trying to recoup your financial loss later. Better safe than sorry.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

It's going to be a nasty spring gang... very nasty. Severe Weather, Twisters, Floods and then the Hurricane Season.

Weather... it never ends. Get used to it! Winter will leave eventually.... so soon you can all climb out from under your covers and stop blaming the weathermen ;)

Besos Bobbi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=624gYgLn-BA



http://hurricaneharbor.blogspot.com/2014/02/score-al-roker-bad-call-by-mayor-of-ny.html

Gone Fishing AT Myrtle Beach... Can't Wait to go to New Orleans..

Okay I am AWOL at 

Someone asked me where I wanted to go yesterday.. what I wanted to do..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaoyZF-kjd0


I just wanted to go somewhere warm.......and hear the ocean and wake up to a sunrise .. even if I had to put on a sweater to watch the sunrise. Actually, typing from bed watching the sun glittering on the surf and trying to psyche myself up for a walk on the beach in a jacket :)  Blessedly, the sun shined on Myrtle Beach yesterday and I was able to enjoy short sleeves and a short skirt and sandals! The sun was almost too warm.. but not going to complain. Going back to Raleigh and cold weather setting in again. Polar Vortex Round 457 this Winter of 2014 that doesn't want to end.

So...we went to Myrtle Beach ...so I could watch the sunrise...and I did :)

If I blur my eyes....... I can almost pretend this is MB for Miami Beach not MB for Myrtle Beach

but.....hey it was warm enough to get rid of the layers and enjoy the day..

And, with all this traveling it makes me even more excited about going to New Orleans to speak at this conference. Okay, I'm excited to be going to New Orleans :) and on a Riverboat! And, I get to talk about hurricanes... meet new people, see a place I haven't been in a long while.

Mariposa 2014 Catastrophe Claims Conference 

http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e7b3zea3f5cdb355&llr=8wkyw4jab

As much as I am looking forward to speaking ON a riverboat I'm looking forward to listening in on some programs that are not on my expertise... specifically Twisters vs Hurricanes..

Wow... Moore Tornado makes most hurricanes look like a trip to a wet, tropical theme park.

EFI Global
ClaimsCourse Length: 1 hour
Adjuster CE awarded in: Fl & TX (Pending)
Evaluation of Slab-on-Grade Foundations for Re-construction
Class description:  In the wake if the Moore, OK tornado in 2013 homeowners, and their insurance

companies, began the process of rebuilding. To expedite construction the question was posed to the City of Moore, ‘Can the existing foundation system be used when re-building the residence?’. The answer was yes provided that an evaluation conducted by a licensed professional engineer showed that the foundation system met the current Building Code requirements. This presentation will illustrate the evaluation process and relevant code considerations.

A lot of interesting seminars. 

Last night I was walking around Broadway on the Beach here and saw this building and smiled. Made me realize New Orleans is a month away..

Hey had to walk off the 5 o'clock Somewhere drink I drank...somewhere... and for dessert I went out of the box and asked if I could have a shot of rum and a scoop of ice cream. The waiter told me I could order the ice cream off the kid's menu...and I did. Hey I love sitting there listening to Jimmy Buffett and watching him on the big screen but I am NOT eating Key Lime Pie outside of Key West... even the waitress said it's not the same. So...sometimes you just have to be creative. Cheese bites unreal.. anyway...

Been a long, long winter. Back when I said "yes" to Nola I thought ..Oh it's late March not winter. Now I'm wondering when winter will end.

Going for a walk... watched the sunrise here...

That's me...out of the box and loving being by the water.... ocean...river...sea... 

Sound of the crashing, pounding surf... the sound of the sea gulls... love it so much...

Besos Bobbi

http://www.visitmyrtlebeach.com/

http://www.broadwayatthebeach.com/

http://www.visitmyrtlebeach.com/hotels/pet-friendly/

http://www.margaritavillemyrtlebeach.com/

Tornado Watches - Seneca - Winter Weather & Jimmy Kimmel Cries Wolf.. Pray for Ukraine.

I woke up this morning to the news on CNN that 30 Million People are being threatened by Severe Weather today that TWC says the name of the storm is SENECA. I do think they are beginning to see people are not into the names... it's not even on their main page anymore. Hmnnn.

Going to start off with a song today, because it's the truth. God is great, beer is good and people are crazy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKpQRjj_WbU  (click on it, enjoy)

The reason 30 million people are "under the gun" is because the cold front is moving East towards the East Coast where there is a large population and as it has gone almost vertical the front stretches from Florida NNE up through New England. It's called "winter" for those of you who have forgotten this happens every year in February.

It's not Hurricane Season... it's Winter.



See... low forms down in the GOM ...rides the front, fuels it with tropical moisture which shoots up into the Carolinas (the reason the Smoky Mtns are blue by the way... ) and then exits stage right.

On Facebook people are posting pictures of snow.. in Minnesota. It's Minnesota. I feel like Sam Kinison here and want to scream without the curse words.. "It's Winter"

I heard a lady being interviewed on CNN who said... in her 47 years she has never seen a winter like this. I would like to ask her if she was living in LA in 1977 and 1978 or Hawaii in 1993 because I am pretty sure I have seen winters like this before.

It's a bad winter. How weak is our memory guys?

4 years ago... FOUR... we had a winter from hell and it snowed in New York nonstop all the way through March... 4 years ago... How short of a memory do we have here gang? I went to NY for the Jewish Holiday of Purim which is usually a spring time sort of holiday and I wore more layers than I wore to Maine in January a year or two earlier. It was freezing. This was Brooklyn 2010 NOT Siberia or the Ukraine.

Everyone forgot that viral video... there are many of them. Type in 2010 snow plow ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JXrsLtf5wc
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_JXrsLtf5wc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

There are better videos, but most have really bad curse words so... just posting this short one to get the point across.

You know who is under the gun? Millions of people who live in the Ukraine in the year 2014, because Putin does not want to let his people go...  News Flash to Putin..they are not your people they are Ukrainians. And ... why are people crazy? I heard a lady on CNN on a panel explain how this is silly and there wasn't a place called the Ukraine before a few years ago. She obviously does not have relatives ...distant ones...who were born there nor does she know much about European History. Ukraine has been on the maps a long, long time. How did she become an expert with stupid, clueless comments like that??

I called this image on my computer "stupidlady"

She obviously was not in my AP European History Class in High School... 

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth[edit]

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

  Kingdom of Poland

After the Union of Lublin in 1569 and the formation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Ukraine fell under Polish administration, becoming part of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The period immediately following the creation of the Commonwealth saw a huge revitalisation in colonisation efforts. Many new cities and villages were founded.

New schools spread the ideas of the Renaissance; Polish peasants arrived in great numbers and quickly became mixed with the local population; during this time, most of Ukrainian nobles became polonised and converted to Catholicism, and while most Ruthenian-speaking peasants remained within the Eastern Orthodox Church, social tension rose.

Ruthenian peasants (Ukrainians and some from other nations) who fled efforts to force them into serfdom came to be known as Cossacks and earned a reputation for their fierce martial spirit. Some Cossacks were hired by the Commonwealth (became 'register Cossacks') as soldiers to protect the southeastern borders of Poland from Tatars or took part in campaigns abroad (like Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachny in the battle of Khotyn 1621). Cossack units were also active in wars between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Tsardom of Russia.

Cossack era[edit]

The Hetmanate in 1654 (against the backdrop of contemporary Ukraine)

See also: History of Cossacks

The 1648 Ukrainian Cossack (Kozak) rebellion and war of independence (Khmelnytsky Uprising), which started an era known as the Ruin (in Polish history as The Deluge), undermined the foundations and stability of the Commonwealth. The nascent Cossack state, the Cossack Hetmanate,^[22]usually viewed as precursor of Ukraine,^[22] found itself in a three-sided military and diplomatic rivalry with the Ottoman Turks, who controlled the Tatars to the south, the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania, and the rising Russia to the East.

The reconstituted Ukrainian state, having recently fought a bitter war with Poland, sought a treaty of protection with Russia in 1654.^[22] 

Yes.... remember when you learned about Colonial Empires? Russia is STILL a Colonial Empire and doesn't want to give up he land it grabbed and maintained after World World 2 ..because simply put they were on the winning side.

This is not about the last fight of the Cold War as much as dealing with what we did after 2 World Wars were over when places like Yugoslavia were put on a map. Ever hear that phrase to the victors go the spoils? Post WW1.

"The Treaty of Rapallo was a treaty between the Kingdom of Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929), signed to solve the dispute over some territories in the former Austrian Littoral in the upper Adriatic, and in Dalmatia.

The treaty was signed on 12 November 1920^[1] in Rapallo, near Genoa, Italy. Tension between Italy and Yugoslavia arose at the end of World War I, when theAustro-Hungarian Empire dissolved and Italy claimed the territories assigned to it by the secret London Pact of 1915. According to the pact, signed in London on 26 April 1915 by the Kingdom of Italy and Triple Entente, in case of victory at the end of World War I, Italy was to obtain several territorial gains including formerAustrian Littoral, Northern Dalmatia and notably Zadar (Zara), Šibenik (Sebenico), and most of the Dalmatian islands (except Krk and Rab).

These territories had an ethnically mixed population, with Slovenes and Croats composing over the half of the population of the region. The pact was therefore nullified with the Treaty of Versailles under pressure of President Woodrow Wilson, making void Italian claims on Northern Dalmatia. The objective of the Treaty of Rapallo was to find a compromise following the void created by the non-application of the London pact of 1915."

You want a really long read ...try this one.
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Soviet2.html

Point is after WW2 the still Colonial minded country of Russia grabbed a lot of Europe.. made them satellite countries and one by one they have tried to break away. The Hungarian Empire was around a lot longer than the satellite state of Hungary in the greater Mother Russia. Trying to keep this simple.

We ARE dealing with WINTER and it's one of those winters that won't go away. Like a bad house guest it has ruined our towels, broken furniture, eaten us out of everything in the pantry and broken our favorite china... it will leave when it wants to and then ...we will have a horrible Spring with melting snow enhanced rivers and Spring Floods followed by a possible El Nino.

That's the reality and if you live in Ohio or Minnesota or even Bayswater New York... sorry. I'm sorry and I live in North Carolina.. beginning to see the light here. Then again... despite my window being open we are now under a Tornado Watch.

Last comment on that... this line of storms has been a massive over achiever like the winter storm Pax so .... even though the NWS didn't stress the possibility of Twisters (tho it was in the discussion) they had a wild day yesterday from Illinois to Mississippi. Today it's our turn on the East Coast where ... a lot of people live.

Why am I so into the Ukraine Revolt?
I am a big believer in DEMOCRACY.
I studied Russian Studies and received awards and a degree in International Relations from FIU.
Most American Jews have at least 1 or 2 Great-Grandparents from somewhere in the "Ukraine"
I've known a lot of Ukrainians in Miami... who escaped both Catholic and Jewish... I feel for them.
I don't like Putin. It's a toss up who I dislike more.. Putin or Castro.
People around the world are praying for them.. like this man at the Wailing Wall in Israel ...

We should pray for them.. WE in AMERICA should never have to know what it is like to fight for our own freedom that way ...

Back to the weather... Phil Ferro from WSVN put this up on his blog. If I survive the tornadoes and severe weather of Seneca I'll have to worry on the Viking predictions on the end of the world...  Say it ain't so before Mardis Gras??

Phil has this up on his blog so posting it here. Seems the Vikings (who are extinct along with the Mayans...) predicted the end of the world for this weekend. Shame..was planning on going to the Ocean.

http://philfactor-phil.blogspot.com/2014/02/viking-apocalypse.html?spref=fb

Oh and to add to the hoax list... Jimmy Kimmel wins the Gold for the "Wolf in my hall" and his crying wolf video online that went viral. Love it... he's got a great mind, he'll do fine there ... enjoying him immensely.

He's laughing all the way to the bank and high ratings. Guess his initials were prophetic.. JK for Just Kidding.

Beer is Great...God is Good...and People are crazy. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKpQRjj_WbU

Besos Bobbi

Ps..

Under the gun here in NC but praying for the people in the Ukraine... what can you say about a country that the President tried getting his money and his family out fast while his people were risking their lives for freedom. Guess he's not such a communist either...

Severe Wxr Then Polar Vortex Returns. Is Sochi a Potemkin Village or Putin Village? Truce Over As I predicted..

Let's start off with the weather... it's a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A B C when you ...do weather you begin with the WV, IR and VIS satellites. It may not rhyme.. but trust me it works. Though now days young weather people have a habit of looking only at GFS and the EURO... which is good, but you can't forget to look at what is going on in real time when factoring in models that are "forecasting" what "might" happen.

The Water Vapor Loop shows the story very well and even without the GFS and the EURO fighting it out for the Gold Medal of Winter Forecasting 2014. It shows us that first we get the dramatic frontal boundary and then we get the cold, dry Arctic air.. again...

A front...an area of low pressure is pushing down into the mid-section of the country. Currently it is slicing through Texas. One Southern Eastern side of Texas is getting vastly different weather than the West Texas. Keep that in mind later for discussion on the Ukraine. Waco and El Paso are a very different place from Houston and Galveston... weather wise and socially....but they are both proud to be in Texas. Warm, wet, tropical moisture from the Gulf is being drawn up towards the cold, dry air of the Wintry Front. You've heard the old saying about how opposites attract? Well the very right brained tropical moisture is going to collide with the cold analytical, detail oriented dry, cold air and things are going to go heat up in the middle of the night in places like Hot Atlanta and Memphis may feel the heat as well.



Funny I look at that map and see the New Madrid Fault Region under the gun for severe weather. Just the way my mind works... There is always a drama going on up above.. as there is down below. Remember that!

Forecast for down the road.

Great site to keep and refer to especially as we move into what will most likely be a very nasty Spring.  http://www.spc.noaa.gov/

The bottom line here to take home weather wise is this.
1. Thursday into Friday in the South there is going to be the chance for really nasty, bad weather. Everything from thunderstorms to hail is on the table and possibly.. the random chance of a small tornado developing somewhere within one cell along a LONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY moving East towards the Atlantic caught up in a very zonal flow.

2. Polar Vortex with all it's associated jokes and drama... is back this coming week. So enjoy the warm sunshine today and buckle up because it's going to be a bump ride...and it's going to get bumpier as we move towards a very NASTY Spring.

Note that dark red polar bomb up there straddling the Canadian US Border? That's our next bout of very cold weather moving South. Funny...in this case Red means COLD.  Shame when Obama was at that big summit he didn't talk to the Canadian Prime Minister about keeping that sort of cold up there when it belongs. We have more border problems this year with Polar Air trying to sneak across the Northern border than we do worrying what's coming north across the Mexican border.. weather wise.

After this wicked, messy weather system pulls off the Atlantic Coast that Arctic Air is going to dive down into the South and the rest of the country all in the same boat called "THE WINTER THAT WONT GO AWAY' aka POLAR VORTEX 2014!



Great sites online at www.spaghettimodels.com that does way more than just Tropical Weather. Mike has done a kick ass job of staying on top of winter weather while maintaining his NASCAR weather site as well.

That's not easy to do and he does it fluidly as well as many other things.
http://www.racedayforecast.com/

We are moving into NASCAR season... and tornado season for chasers.

If you thought Winter 2014 was bad... you might not want to think on how bad Spring can get as continued colder than normal fronts slam into continued warm, hot air from the GOM and as time goes by the difference between the two grows and the severe weather gets stronger.

Also...flooding will be a BIG, HUGE problem.

So, follow your local weather on line on your favorite site.. NWS or www.spaghettimodels.com.

Now for the politics if you want to stay and read a bit...

As far as the Ukraine goes... it's a lot like Texas except that most of the economy of the Ukraine... is in the land surrounding the original capital of Russia.. being KIEV. And, Kiev and areas around Kiev are  a very European country that does not want to stay within the grasp of Putin's greedy little hand. True.. Most Ukrainians are Europeans. But, when Russian moved west to grab the Ukraine... the western regions were blended into the whole country. The Eastern part is Russian.. the Western part is European. That simple.

There is a very small population of true Russians in the Eastern half of the country.

The government of the Ukraine ...which is under the influence of Russian power brokers.. ie Putin insists this is a "small minority of extremists" and that is not true.

Note... Muscovy.... Ukraine. Two different entities...

Again, note two different entities...  these are freedom fighters trying to escape foreign control.

not "radical extremists"

The Ukraine the map above is actually shows the ancient city of Kiev on the Polish border.

Once.. a long time ago the world was covered with Empires that had rulers who lived far, far away and there was a pretense of power in regions ruled by local feudal lords and in the case of Russia very, very cruel Cossacks who were the fore runners to the KGB...except on horses with whips keeping the serfs in line. Then nationalism and other movements began like the "unification of Germany and France" and after WWII we redrew the maps according to 1945 politics. It was a short term solution to a very long term problem. Yugoslavia and Czechloslovakia have been divided up into ethnic countries which better reflect the people who live there.. why not the Ukraine?

It was a different world of large empires back in the day... and there was no Internet or Twitter or Social Media of any kind. Czars often thought they were in control of the regions far away and used local cossacks to keep control when there was a problem. The concept of the black market was started way before communism in Russia..

This was best illustrated when Catherine the Great's lover Potemkin was issued with the job of building a city far from her throne. When she wanted to come with on her favorite horse and carriage and see what he did he built a fake city that looked much like a Hollywood set.. only buildings from the front where she road through and villagers like extras came and waved and she rode away on her horse happy. Note ..Catherine the Great was usually happiest with her horse..an amazing Horsewoman :)

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-sochi-olympics-bad-accommodations-media-20140206,0,5013735.story

Many have said Putin copied Potemkin's ploy in Sochi and built a city for foreign journalists and athletes to come...compete... and leave.

Today with the world wide web.. Internet... Twitter.. we know that the Ukrainians are not happy. And, to be honest... the Ukraine is too big a country and probably should be divided up into an Euro-Ukraine country and a Russo-Ukraine country. IF politics was that easy.

And, like they usually do... the Russian Govt said.. "let's make a truce" which means.. give us time to cut off your internet, social media, phone service and move our tanks in the way we did in Hungary in 1956.

Civil War...

Ukrainians are FREEDOM FIGHTERS...they are people like you and me who want to be able to control their destiny...however...they don't have freedom and the WEST and EUROPE is afraid of Putin and doesn't want to come to their aid... which is sad, but true.

Got to say proud of Drudge... he led with the story. Thank you. CNN and FOX are flirting with coverage as they talk their political points. Sort of amazing when Drudge can be relied on for hard core news vs just complaining about Obamacare or Partisan Politics in America. That man has heart...though it does bleed red, white and blue he obviously cares about more than which celebrity was arrested while speeding down Pine Tree Drive or what some star may or may not wear to the Oscars in LA.

Where is CNN and FOX on this? NY Times is covering the story of the father and daughter Olympians who left Sochi in protest to go home to the Ukraine. Note.. unlike the Hungarians in 1956 who would do anything just to get out of Hungary... the Ukrainians want to go back to the Ukraine and make it a real democracy not a puppet one under Putin's control.

Many feel that Sochi 2014 is a Potemkin Village...
except it's Putin's Village.. 

Opening Night Soschi 2014 

The REAL Russian City of Kiev... in flames ...the REAL STORY....

And.... Putin is NOT happy and he is biding his time... 

Let's call a truce.... cut off all their Internet, shut down the subways and when the Games are over..  Send in the tanks...

I am as American as it gets and my heart does bleed red, white and blue... 

I love NASCAR and NFL FOOTBALL and NASHVILLE

Someone asked why we should help them and the star of Nashville said it best on Twitter.

What goes around comes around... 

and more... well said.. respect her a lot more for that then the great job she does on Nashville

someone with talent and brains and compassion!

I'll end with this... I'm not sure what should or could be done, but we need to show support and not be ostriches with our heads in the snow pretending that nothing is going on in the world while standing up and cheering for the Oympics and the Oscars and demand that the media and our Goverment representatives do not fall for a Putin Village and demand..not ask or urge but demand that Putin put an end to Cossack like measures and let the people of the Ukraine..both the European thinking ones and the ones who allign themselves work this out peacefully... without Cossack like measures.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/19/3635576/cossacks-use-whips-on-pussy-riot.html

Remember this next time you are enjoying the beauty of the Olympics... remember you are buying Putin's Village and that all is not as beautiful as it seems in Russia... Ukraine..Sochi.

"Six group members — five women and one man — donned their signature ski masks in downtown Sochi and were pulling out a guitar and microphone as at least 10 Cossacks and other security officials moved in. One Cossack appeared to use pepper spray. Another whipped several group members while other Cossacks ripped off their masks and threw the guitar in a garbage can.

Police arrived and questioned witnesses, but no one was arrested.

The Cossacks violently pulled masks from women's heads, beating group member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova with a whip as she lay on the ground.

The incident lasted less than three minutes and one Pussy Riot member, a man wearing a bright yellow tank top, was left with blood on his face, saying he had been pushed to the ground.

"They hit me all across my body, look at my bruises," Tolokonnikova said afterward.

Krasnodar region governor Alexander Tkachev, who has been advancing Cossacks' interests for years, promised on Wednesday to conduct a "thorough probe" into the incident and prosecute the attackers. Tkachev said in comments carried by the Interfax news agency that the views of Pussy Riot "are not supported by the majority of people in the region" but stressed the importance of abiding the law."

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/19/3635576/cossacks-use-whips-on-pussy-riot.html#storylink=cpy

Besos Bobbi

Ps. Bonus word. Ukrainian.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hvds2AIiWLA&feature=youtu.be


Bonus word to learn for this time of year.

ZONAL AND MERIDIONAL FLOW - Weather Prediction Education

www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/159/‎