Rant; Winter 2013/14

[heyzeus]

Thundersleet is all up in this [expletive]. First bluebonnets showed this weekend. Surprise.

[jim]

We probably won't be below 80 degrees here again until November.

If you ever leave and come back to the midwest you are a fool. Don't ever ever think about it. For those of us with roots here, it's harder to pull and and move. Once you have moved, there would be no reason to come back. I am dumbfounded by people that do not have roots here that choose to live here. Insanity.

2" of snow coming Tues night/Wed. That's good because we could use some more snow. We don't have enough snow. We need more. So that I can go kill someone and drag their bleeding corpse through it and watch the snow turn red. And then piss on it to make it orange.

I'm fine. Really I am. I'll be ok.

Look at this bull [expletive]:

[SHOW]

[cardsfansince82]

I'm feeling a little better.

[cardsfansince82]

[IMADreamer]

We probably won't be below 80 degrees here again until November.

If you ever leave and come back to the midwest you are a fool. Don't ever ever think about it. For those of us with roots here, it's harder to pull and and move. Once you have moved, there would be no reason to come back. I am dumbfounded by people that do not have roots here that choose to live here. Insanity.

2" of snow coming Tues night/Wed. That's good because we could use some more snow. We don't have enough snow. We need more. So that I can go kill someone and drag their bleeding corpse through it and watch the snow turn red. And then piss on it to make it orange.

I'm fine. Really I am. I'll be ok.

Look at this bull [expletive]:

[SHOW]

It boggles my mind how that four hour drive northeast is a completely different climate. While you are dealing with that [expletive] we will be in the fifties by the weekend.

[go birds]

i am so [expletive] over winter

[jim]

We probably won't be below 80 degrees here again until November.

If you ever leave and come back to the midwest you are a fool. Don't ever ever think about it. For those of us with roots here, it's harder to pull and and move. Once you have moved, there would be no reason to come back. I am dumbfounded by people that do not have roots here that choose to live here. Insanity.

2" of snow coming Tues night/Wed. That's good because we could use some more snow. We don't have enough snow. We need more. So that I can go kill someone and drag their bleeding corpse through it and watch the snow turn red. And then piss on it to make it orange.

I'm fine. Really I am. I'll be ok.

Look at this bull [expletive]:

[SHOW]

It boggles my mind how that four hour drive northeast is a completely different climate. While you are dealing with that [expletive] we will be in the fifties by the weekend.

You are a weather geek so maybe you can tell me, but I think there is some unique climate line between St. Louis and Chicago. The difference in climate between St. Louis and Chicago is pretty dramatic - much more than you would expect. If you go the same distance south from St. Louis that you would go north to get to Chicago, that would put you in Memphis roughly. I don't think there is the climate difference between Memphis and St. Louis that you see between St. Louis and Chicago. Not even close. In fact, I've even noticed that the different in climate between St. Louis and Springfield, IL is noticeable, and that's about 85 miles.

I do remember someone explaining to me about the soil composition in St. Louis that tends to soak up the heat more, so maybe that's part of it. It just seems like many times the tropical air coming up from the south gets right to St. Louis before losing it's punch, and the artic air often gets to the same place before fizzling out. There are several days every year where there is a 30+ degree temp. change.

This is getting long but I remember when I was first married living in Chicago and I had an opportunity in St. Louis. My wife was unfamiliar with the area, we decided to do a long day of house exploring where we drove down in the morning and then came back that night. It was March, and it was cold, damp, grey and just miserable in Chicago when we left. We get down to St. Louis at around noon, it's in the mid 70's, the sun is out, the trees are starting to bud, the grass starting to turn green. Add the low cost of housing and my wife was sold. I'm just sorry we didn't stay, stupid needing have a job responsibility took me back to Chicago eventually.

edit -
Maybe it's my imagination. Avg temps of MEM/STL/CHI = 62.3/56.1/49. So 7.1 degrees difference between Chicago and ST. Louis, 6.2 between Memphis and ST. Louis. Snow fall there is a difference though = 14" difference between St. Louis and Memphis and a 18 inch difference between St. Louis and Chicago.

Maybe it's that St. Louis is above freezing so much more than here. I can tolerate 40, it's when the water starts freezing where I really struggle.

[Swirls]

I think we're around 200 inches or so of snowfall this year, which is about average I'd say. Tug Hill is pushing 300, and they're only a half hour away. They have it much worse than we do.

[jim]

I think we're around 200 inches or so of snowfall this year, which is about average I'd say. Tug Hill is pushing 300, and they're only a half hour away. They have it much worse than we do.

What god forsaken corner of the earth are you living in?

[IMADreamer]

You are on to something Jim. Almost four degrees of latitude separate Chicago and St. Louis which is enough to make a difference in climate. While both cities are classified as humid continental climates there are two factors at play. One being your typical origin for a major storm system that would cream St. Louis is more south western. This means warmer air gets brought in from the south west and the moisture comes from the gulf.

In Chicago your average system comes from Canada or across the rockies. This means different air masses to start with and the air masses start colder, especially if they are from Canada. It also effects the temperature profile of the system. Where as during a big storm that would hit both cities St. Louis will probably be drawing in warm air near the surface and you'll get more ice/sleet vs snow. While up north in St. Louis it's all cold air so it's more snow.

The next factor is snow pack. Because Chicago sees more all snow events it's going to stay colder longer. While St. Louis with less snow cover will allow the air mass to modify and warm over the area a bit quicker.

The result is Chicago is a frozen wasteland for more days of the year then St. Louis.