The official VM girlfriend & I are off in St. Louis, visiting family (mine) and friends (hers). While we’ve been pissed off about the weather here (15 degrees, insane winds), it’s nothing compared to the stuff we narrowly missed at home. To quote Weather.com’s severe weather announcement:
…NORTHERN FAIRFIELD CT-NORTHERN NEW HAVEN CT-NORTHERN WESTCHESTER NY- ORANGE NY-PUTNAM NY-ROCKLAND NY-WESTERN PASSAIC NJ- 600 AM EST SAT JAN 22 2005 CORRECTED EXPIRATION TIME
… BLIZZARD WARNING FOR THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH SUNDAY MORNING…
SNOW WILL MOVE IN THIS AFTERNOON… AND WILL BECOME VERY HEAVY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE SNOW WILL CONTINUE INTO SUNDAY MORNING… THEN TAPER OFF SUNDAY AFTERNOON. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE 18 TO 24 INCHES BY SUNDAY EVENING. IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW… NORTHEAST WINDS WILL INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON… AND WILL BE QUITE GUSTY TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING. WINDS MAY GUST UP TO 45 MPH LATE TONIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING… ALLOWING VISIBILITIES TO DROP TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES. THESE WINDS WILL RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW AS WELL AS POWER OUTAGES. WIND CHILL VALUES WILL BE BELOW ZERO AT TIMES.
A BLIZZARD WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OR FREQUENT GUSTS OF OVER 35 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH CONSIDERABLE FALLING AND OR BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. VISIBILITIES WILL BECOME POOR… WITH WHITEOUT CONDITIONS AT TIMES. THOSE VENTURING OUTDOORS MAY BECOME LOST OR DISORIENTED… SO PEOPLE IN THE WARNING AREA SHOULD STAY INDOORS.
ANY TRAVEL IS STRONGLY DISCOURAGED. IF YOU LEAVE THE SAFETY OF BEING INDOORS… YOU ARE PUTTING YOUR LIFE AT RISK.
THIS IS A LIFE-THREATENING WINTER WEATHER SITUATION! PREPARATIONS TO PROTECT LIFE AND PROPERTY SHOULD COMPLETED BY NOON TODAY!
Notwithstanding the lack of etiquette shown by using all caps, the weather guys seem awfully freaked out by this storm hitting NY/NJ/PA. In fact, my Dad called from NJ a few hours ago to say, “One inch already, it’s horizontal from the wind, and it’s 8 degrees out.”
If we start to get hit with Hot Hail anytime soon, then I’ll have to assume that Ming the Merciless has returned.