Now It Starts

[Richard in Smithville]

This is what is coming my way tonight. I pulled it from the Environment Canada site.

"Winter storm warning in effect.
Tonight Snow at times heavy becoming mixed with ice pellets overnight. Snow and ice pellet amount 10 to 15 cm. Wind east 30 km/h becoming light this evening. Temperature rising to minus 1 by morning. Sunday Snow at times heavy mixed with ice pellets. Snow and ice pellet amount 10 to 20 cm. Blowing snow in the afternoon. Wind northeast 40 km/h gusting to 60. Temperature falling to minus 5 in the afternoon. Sunday night Snow and local blowing snow ending near midnight then clearing. Amount 2 to 4 cm. Wind north 40 km/h gusting to 60. Low minus 7. "

I just came from Mum's who sits on Lake Erie and the roads were lightly covered. If we get what they are saying, I'll post some pics for the members who only hear stories of snow.

[cabinetman]

I was born in Buffalo, NY. Need I say more?
.

[leehljp]

Why is the word "sleet" a "non-word" in the weather community now? What dumb idiot decided that "ice pellet" is a better word when both are the same, sleet is more common and has been in use longer.

"Ice pellets" make me think along lines of "deer pellets", "pellet guns" certain kinds of feed", while "sleet" makes me think totally in a "weather" context.

Ice pellets remind me of spraying cold water from a water hose in cold winter (down south) - i.e. man made, or scientific at best. Sleet is Natures way, connected to the weather itself, and a word that is not in need of change.

Rant Off!

[Uncle Cracker]

I remember a Jr. High science teacher describing sleet by saying it "falls like rain, but hurts like hail..." I never forgot that...

[Richard in Smithville]

Woke up this morning to freezing rain and ice pellets. We are up to eight inches of the white stuff now and no sign of the snow slowing down.

[smorris]

I was born in Buffalo, NY. Need I say more?
.

I grew up outside Buffalo, past Lockport out in the sticks if you remember the area. I well remember some vicious storms but '77 is the one that always comes to mind.

[JR]

Why is the word "sleet" a "non-word" in the weather community now? What dumb idiot decided that "ice pellet" is a better word when both are the same, sleet is more common and has been in use longer.

I'm not fully qualified to respond, but the reason may be the same one that the Inuit have for needing 100 different words for snow. It may be, Hank, that you have insufficient appreciation for the variety of frozen things that may fall from the Canadian sky!

JR

[Hellrazor]

Why is the word "sleet" a "non-word" in the weather community now? What dumb idiot decided that "ice pellet" is a better word when both are the same, sleet is more common and has been in use longer.

For the same reason some weather guessers refer to sleet as hail.

For the same reason a reporter couldn't figure out why you can't make a snowball out of sleet and he needed to talk to the weather guesser about it.

For the same reason I now call a meteorologist a weather guesser.

[Richard in Smithville]

I said I would post a couple of pictures of the storm that rolled through here on Sunday. Niagara was the hardest hit in this area.

Looking out the front door.


Main road through town.


BBQ and a chair.

[crokett]

The chair looks like a folded hand with that snow on it.

Glad it is you and not me though - here it is just cold. Upper 20s for a low tonight.

[Mrs. Wallnut]

Here in the middle of Washington state we have a winter storm advisory that says we are supposed to get 3 to 5 inches, and that is going to last till about 7 tonight.

We already have about 2 inches on the ground and that is since about 1:30 this morning when the dogs woke me to let them outside. Then there was just a small amount but when I got up this morning there was more on the ground and its still snowing.

Call me crazy but I like the snow. Don't mind walking in it or shoveling in it (just a little bit), or driving in it.

[Ed62]

Those pictures look a lot like what we got. We got 11 inches of snow, with fairly strong wind. I've seen a lot worse around here though. We have a warm up coming. It should be up around 40 degrees in a few days.

Ed