More Predictions

This year I am looking for any and all weather outlets to make predictions on local snowfall.  Since my last post two more predictions have been made.  Let's take a brief look.

John Bolaris, still writing for philly.com like last season, comes in with his prediction.  Not surprisingly he went with a strong number of 30-40 inches for the city.  Bolaris did not give any numbers for the Lehigh Valley or Reading areas.  Bolaris like most everybody else sees a strong middle to end of the winter season and is banking on chances of seeing big totals with few storms.  I like his style even though he sometimes can get a bit strange. 

After the first two Philadelphia predictions came in below average I was pleasantly surprised with Bolaris taking the higher route.  He wasn't the only one thinking that way.  Hurricane Schwartz, besides having the best first name for a weather forecaster ever, has come out with his prediction.  Alright so maybe that isn't his actual name.  Either way, Schwartz is still making predictions over at NBC even though the market has moved towards the sexy female (See Sheena Parveen).  His prediction had a similar tone to that of Bolaris and he becomes the second to go substantially over the average calling for 30-35 inches for the city.  Again, no other predictions made.

Out of 4 predictions for Philadelphia, two have been below average and two have been above.  So far I am liking these predictions since nobody has taken the actual average.  Still waiting on CBS and FOX.  I know the folks at Eastern PA weather are making their predictions tomorrow so throw them into the mix.  I hope to find a few others if possible.

TROPICS


Even though the tropical season in the Atlantic is not technically over, it is.  This year was particularly quiet.  Actually it was extremely inactive.  Almost no storms hit the U.S. coast and none that did make a landfall were hurricanes.  It's like everything else in weather.  You have some years with little to nothing and others with more than you care to see.  That's how weather works.

The eastern side of the globe has not been as lucky.  Normally they experience more tropical systems anyway but the storm to hit the Philippines over the weekend was a monster.  Stories have made the front of my daily newspaper every day so far.  The Weather Channel and CNN weren't stationed on the beaches reporting on the winds and surge from one of the strongest tropical storms to date.  At least I don't think they were there.  It's hard to grasp the force of the storm when all that is left are the ruins of homes, building and cities that we had no knowledge about to begin with anyway.  I like geography.  I like to think I have a more than basic knowledge about the rest of the world.  I had never heard of Tacloban before.  I know it real well now.  The pictures and stories coming out from this area are intense.  It makes me look back at Katrina and think how much worse it could have been if we didn't have as many resources available to us as we do.

It's still undetermined how many people were killed during the storm.  They might never know the total.  It also remains to be seen how many who made it through the storm but won't survive because of injuries that can't be taken care of or the lack of food that still plagues the region days after the storm.