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It's annoying that the weather reporting is rather urban northeast focused. Like last winter, the news kept reporting it as very snowy, when in most of New England it was less snowy than usual (about half as much as usual) and relatively mild temperature wise.
Exactly my point:
I love the metro East Coast (I live there part of the time for crying out loud)…but why must it always be the focus of USA weather? What about the Southwest, the Northwest, the Gulf States…etc.
I think the media markets the weather in the Northeast/big cities...far more than they forecast it
6 F might be extremely cold in NYC… 12 F might extreanly cold in Baltimore or Washington DC…but cold is relative to the location. 40 F is extremely cold in Miami or LA. There are people in the far northern interior of the Upper Midwest, in Russia, in Canada, in China, Finland...etc and other regions who would laugh if you called 6 F or 40 F extremely cold. I agree this is rare cold for the metro East Coast. Look at London, and the way they hyped the cold/snow in southern England last month. I know it was semi-bad...but people in high latitude, cold interior areas with long severe winters are the norm...would chuckle at a "bad London" winter. I know there are a lot of winter fans out there who love extreme cold and wait all year for this...so I'm not trying to rain on their parade.
Of course our winters aren't nearly as extreme as places in the upper midwest, Canada, etc. Everyone knows that so I don't know why you keep bringing it up. As you say, its all relative and doesn't downplay the fact that temperatures are well below average. As for the UK, last December was one of the coldest Decembers in their history, so it wasn't overhyped. You seem to go to the opposite extreme of some media outlets. You downplay everything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wavehunter007
The media tries to spin any type of weather in the Washington – to NYC corridor for marketing reasons (the largest media market in the world). It will be headline news that NYC fell to 6 F this morning or Washington DC fell to 10 F…yet it was -30 to -50 F below two nights ago in parts in the far northern USA (it fell to -70 F in parts of Canada), yet hardly any mention of that. My comment was really trying to bring out how weather now is more about marketing than meteorology it seems.
Actually, it was headline news that International Falls fell to -46 F (for example), but frankly it doesn't matter. Folks in their local regions care about the weather in their area, not some place thousands of miles away (with exception to us weather enthusiasts).
6 F might be extremely cold in NYC… 12 F might extreanly cold in Baltimore or Washington DC…but cold is relative to the location. 40 F is extremely cold in Miami or LA. There are people in the far northern interior of the Upper Midwest, in Russia, in Canada, in China, Finland...etc and other regions who would laugh if you called 6 F or 40 F extremely cold. I agree this is rare cold for the metro East Coast. Look at London, and the way they hyped the cold/snow in southern England last month. I know it was semi-bad...but people in high latitude, cold interior areas with long severe winters are the norm...would chuckle at a "bad London" winter. I know there are a lot of winter fans out there who love extreme cold and wait all year for this...so I'm not trying to rain on their parade.
The media tries to spin any type of weather in the Washington – to NYC corridor for marketing reasons (the largest media market in the world). It will be headline news that NYC fell to 6 F this morning or Washington DC fell to 10 F…yet it was -30 to -50 F below two nights ago in parts in the far northern USA (it fell to -70 F in parts of Canada), yet hardly any mention of that. My comment was really trying to bring out how weather now is more about marketing than meteorology it seems.
Here's some of this morning's frigid temperatures in the northeast:
Saranac Lake, NY: -36 F (old record was -29 F in 2004)
Watertown, NY: -30 F (tied record set in 1970)
Glens Falls, NY: -30 F
Albany, NY: -13 F
Massena, NY: -27 F
Burlington, VT: -19 F
Orange, MA: -22 F
Chicopee, MA: -20 F
Boston, MA: -2 F
Hartford, CT: -2 F
Andover, NJ: -9 F
Sussex, NJ: -8 F
Morristown, NJ: -1 F
Atlantic City, NJ: 5 F (impressive for being on the coast. Record of 0 F from 1882 still stands)
Scranton, PA: -8 F (old record was -5 F in 1963)
I'm impressed that Boston recorded a negative temperature for being on the coast. Though I think I remember seeing negative temperature there earlier. Chicopee, MA is my closest weather station. I think it actually reached -21°F.
Both Farmingdale and Islip in Suffolk County in Long Island reached 4°F at night. Not bad for on the coast. The last negative temperature I found for Islip was Feb 1979. Most likely more inland parts have recorded a negative temperature since then.
Shirley, NY (about 3 miles from the sea & 60 East of NYC) recorded -1°F. Montauk (right on the water & 120 miles east of NYC) recorded 7°F last night.
My mistake…it was wind chill temps, not still temps:
Yesterday morning the low fell to -46.1 C /-51 F in Edmonton, Canada…and combined with the modest windy weather, the windchill index was – 58.4 C/-74 F. According to the press (below), on Sunday morning…only a few places in Siberia had temps lower (about 48 C/-55 F). Although the 55 below zero was the coldest non-wind-chill temp reported yesterday Russia, I would guess that if there were windcill temps of 74 below zero in Canada there was in Siberia as well (just a guess though). Also, it was likley colder in many areas, but weather stations are sparse in Canada and Russia.
Here at my location just outside NYC my min/max temp gauge fell to 3 F…and the closest NWS weather station to me Central Park, NY, fell to 6 F this morning...which is still about 15 to 20 F below normal.
New England recorded a colder windchill than Edmonton. As I mentioned earlier, the highest mountain in New England (Mt. Washington) recorded a -80°F windchill yesterday. Dunno if you would "count" it because of the elevation.
In 2004, Mt. Washington recorded a windchill of -107°F. But yea, a windchill that low (-74°F) sounds insane for a place where people actually live. Can't imagine how people can do anything...
"My No. 1 piece of advice is to plug in your car. It is not an option in this weather," Dixon said, adding oil starts turning into the consistency of molasses once the mercury dips to -15 C and colder.
Hmm. I noticed my car sounded off today. Could that be the reason? Can't plug my car in, though.
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