Tuesday, January 4, 2005

The Weather-Guessers

Here's the weather forecast this morning:  

Today: Freezing rain this morning mixing with rain this afternoon. High 34F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precip 80%.

Tonight: Rain and freezing rain this evening ...mixing with snow and sleet late. Low 27F. Winds NE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precip 80%. Snow and ice accumulating around one inch.

Tomorrow: A wintry mix of snow, sleet or freezing rain. Cold. High near 30F. Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of precip 80%. Snow and ice accumulating around one inch.

Tomorrow night: Mostly cloudy with snow showers mainly during the evening. Cold. Low 8F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of snow 60%. Snow accumulations less than one inch.

This is nothing unusual for Missouri at this time of year; neither is the behavior of midwestern citizens, after they hear such a forecast.  Suddenly the stores are jammed.  People act as though they're going to be MONTHS without power, and buy things they normally wouldn't think about getting.  A former neighbor of mine used to head to Aldi's if there was the slightest mention of snow in the forecast... Aldi's advertised themselves as "the stockup store", and, by george, she was going to stock up!

Our house is never without adequate food:  I'm a bargain shopper, so there are plenty of staples in the cupboards; oh, we might be low on bread or milk, but we'd get by.

That's me in front of our house in February, 2002.  We were without electricity for three days, I believe. We zipped our sleeping bags together to keep warm at night, wore coveralls all day in the house, and survived.  The only heat we had was from the four burners on our gas range; these new-fangled ovens won't ignite without electricity.  If there's a real threat of an ice storm tonight, I'll turn the oven on low and leave it on, so we'll have it.  We have a well for our water supply, so without electricity, we have no water, because the pump is electric.  However, our next-door neighbor is on rural water; so we can get water from his outside faucet.

I'm betting the weather-guessers are going for ratings, and this projected storm won't happen; midwest weather isn't that easy to predict.  But if it does, we're prepared.  It'll be an adventure!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't trust the local weather either -- even when it comes from FOX 4's Mike Thompson who I've met (he's really cool).  But it really does look pretty ominous outside.  Icy fog and a falling barometer can't mean anything good.

Anonymous said...

Oh my that's just to cold.  I would not know how to act in weather like that.  We are going to be 70 degrees today.  :-)

Anonymous said...

Being from Missouri myself and getting this forcast today also...makes me shiver. Hate the ice, sleet, cold....

And you are right..people panic when the weatherman says "SNOW"-"FREEZING RAIN"-"ICE". The stores are jammed with people buying bread, milk and salt for their sidewalks and porches. Shovels are really a big thing at this time of year too.

Oh, I am not looking forward to this winter. :o

Sharon

http://journals.aol.com/spurgins311/SLS

Anonymous said...

Brrrrrrrrr! I lived in Illinois when I was younger (till I was 24), and I don't miss that stuff.... We would sometimes hit some bad weather when we were traveling this time of year, I don't miss it! It is supposed to be 80 today and 79 tomorrow here... I think I like that better <g> Bundle up and stay warm!! Hope this IS just a ratings thing and it passes you by.
http://journals.aol.com/astaryth/AdventuresofanEclecticMind

Anonymous said...

::gasp:: I hope you'll be fine (I KNOW you will!), but I have to say, that is a beautiful picture.... :)
~Amy

Anonymous said...

Oh Mo, Bundle up. I am in AZ for the winter and don't miss the ice and snow. HOWEVER, it's not all sunshine here. It's been raining so much and so hard that I am going to read about Noah all over again. It may be ark building time. Want me to slide on over to your place and pick you up? lol  Anne

Anonymous said...

Howdy neighbor! I'm the Rambler, just came by to see if yer Mizzu weather was hangin wid our Colorada stuff. It seems to be a lot a like, today and tomorra, anyways. We should be outta it by Thursday, thank the Big guy, and will be back to our "purple mountain majesty".LOL Thanks for your comment, I'll be reading you, with interest. rich

Anonymous said...

Mosie, pack up Cliff, Mandy and Blue and head north.  We'll keep you warm and fed up here.

LOL

Bnana

Anonymous said...

The weather guessers missed our blizzard too in 1993. OUr flurris tuirned into 12 -24 inches by morning depending on where you lived! I was at work. Stayed there for 6 days on the clock.