Global Roaming*

| October 22, 2008 @ 12:52 pm | 11 Replies

* (Formally known as “Weather By The Numbers” Notes from all over, many of them worthless and “News That You Can’t Use”)

* BIG EARLY SNOWSTORM in the Plains and part of the Rockies. So big that places like Goodland, Kans., is under a High Wind Warning today and a Blizzard Warning tonight and all day Thursday. Up to 7 inches of snow for Goodland with visibility less than 1/4 mile at times with heavy snow and blowing snow. They may even experience “whiteout conditions!” Motorists should have a full tank of gas, take extra blankets and clothing and extra flashlight batters. They should also load several dozen extra pop tarts and banana moon pies before traveling.

* WHITEOUT CONDITIONS: That means that it snows so hard that you loose all sense of direction. Back in the pioneer days, there were no warnings so many people were caught outdoors and froze to death. Even school children froze to death walking a long way to school, not knowing that a Blue Norther would roar through bringing bitter cold and snow in a heartbeat. Some children in those days would even freeze to death at small pioneer schoolhouses that were unheated or poorly heated.

* IS GOODLAND THE BLIZZARD CAPITOL OF THE USA?: Can’t answer that but it would come close. Heard a KOA Radio (Denver) reporter call it that once. We were driving south from Denver one night trying to turn west and cross the mountains on Wolf Creek Pass and eventually get to Shiprock, in NW New Mexico. (We stalled four miles from the summit) A blizzard was raging and we tuned to KOA Radio, Denver, all night at 850 on the AM dial. It is a 50,000 watt blowtorch and can be heard all over the west at night. That night KOA was broadcasting live reports from Goodland every 30 minutes and many other places in the raging storm. Almost wall-to-wall coverage. Goodland is in Extreme NW Kansas on I-70 and not far from the highest point in Kansas which is Sunflower Mountain near the Colorado border, elevation 4,039 feet.

* WIND GUSTS TO 51 MPH at Burlington and Limon, Colo., at midday out on the eastern plains. The intense low pressure area is well east of there. People generally think of Colorado as all mountains. It is true Colorado has 50 mountain peaks that are over 14,000 feet elevation. The average elevation of the entire state is 6,800 feet, higher than any other state. However, much of Colorado east of Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo is plains and relatively flat. In fact, many places are as flat as a moon pie.

* USA EXTREMES (not counting Alaska) showed a range of 90 degrees in the last 24 hours, from 98 at Thermal, Calif., yesterday afternoon to a low of 8 this morning at Stanley, Idaho.

* ALASKA: The coldest this morning was 7 below zero at Kaltag. Satellite snow surveys show that virtually all of Alaska now has a snow cover except the Aleutians. Much of the Yukon Territory of NW Canada is also covered.

* PERSIMMON SEEDS AND SEASONAL FORECASTS: One day, long ago, a gentleman in Huntsville sliced open a persimmon seed long-ways to see what the winter would be like. He told a neighbor boy that the winter would be warmer than average because the seed had a “fork shape.” He explained that if the interior of the seed was spoon-shaped, the winter would be cold. His name was Richard Smart and the young neighbor boy was none other than 33/40 Skywatcher Mike Wilhelm. Mike says he wishes he could remember a lot more of his neighbor’s wisdom and folklore!

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