The above is what the WX Channel’s web site said about our weather just before I turned in last night, and here’s the “warning” that accompanied the graphic.
/O.UPG.KABQ.WW.Y.0013.000000T0000Z- 061130T1100Z/ /O.EXA.KABQ.WS.W. 0005.000000T0000Z-061130T1100Z/ DE BACA COUNTY-
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN
AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING SOUTHEAST THROUGH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO WILL COMBINE FORCES WITH A COLD FRONT EXTENDING FROM WEST TO EAST ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO TO PRODUCE HEAVY SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW THROUGH TONIGHT.
FOR DE BACA...
SNOW WILL TAPER OFF THURSDAY MORNING WITH DECREASED WINDS TO EASE THE WINTER STORM DANGER...AND LEAVE UNSEASONABLY COLD TEMPERATURES IN ITS WAKE.
REMEMBER...A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SEVERE WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE IMMINENT OR HIGHLY LIKELY.
True to form, I woke up this morning to see there’s only about a half-inch of snow on the ground. Gloom ‘n’ Doom, unrealized yet again. WX forecasters: there are no greater pessimists in life. It is bloody cold, though!
Here’s what I woke up to this morning:
You’ll note we had some pretty stiff winds last evening, and I think the wind-chill number in the graphic is understated. The winds have diminished a bit this morning, but as I said: it’s still bloody cold. I popped outside this morning to read the gauge on my propane tank, and I’m good-to-go for another 24 hours or so before I’ll need to give Albert The Propane Guy a call. My “inside gauge” is an LED read-out that’s calibrated in fourths…and I’m showing a quarter of a tank. It can be a problem if one relies solely on those LEDs for tank status, because you can go from 25% to Zero instantaneously if you don’t pay attention. Not good. One worries about that sort of thing when it gets really cold.
A day like today would be totally unremarkable were I still in, say,
The very definition of cold. “The lowest recorded temperature was -50°F in 1983.” No kidding. I saw temps of -35 degrees-- absolute, not wind-chill -- while I was stationed there, "there" being Fortuna Air Force Station, ND. Coldest weather I have experienced, ever. Makes one wonder why people would choose to live in such a place.
That looks like an FPS-35. I hope you weren't the antenna guy esp. in the winter. I never worked on a '35 but iI head some ugly stories.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it was a -35. And I was the antenna crew chief. A couple of times we cancelled antenna PMIs when it was deathly cold...other times we worked ten minutes out, ten minutes in when it was just brutally cold. I was glad to see spring, believe me.
ReplyDeleteAnd there were lotsa ugly stories about that thing. It sure as Hell wasn't a 60-series radar.
Forgot to ask: Have you seen the On-line Air Defense Radar Museum? I'm sure you have...but if not, they have pics of all the old sites I was stationed at and some other pretty cool stuff. I want to say they have pics of EVERY radar site, but I haven't looked them all up. Just "mine."
ReplyDelete