Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful

Posted By on December 16, 2008

WOW – what a difference 24 hours makes! The old saying of “if you don’t like the weather in ______, just wait a few hours” really applies to north Texas in the winter. Yesterday afternoon I was finishing some outside Christmas decorations in shorts and a T-shirt; this evening – it was a jacket, scarf, hat, gloves, etc. Drizzle is currently freezing on the window sill and a stray snowflake can be seen periodically if you stare just right at the streetlight. The grocery store was full of panic as Texans “rushed for supplies” in case a millimeter of ice brings brings the area to a screeching (and sliding) halt.
I have a WeatherBug weather station in my classroom at school and this morning it proudly displayed the windchill as “9″ – and this thing is VERY accurate. Most of the morning, the windchill hovered around 10-15 degrees – it added a sense of “realia” as I gave my students an impromptu lesson on evaporative cooling (have I ever mentioned that my “real” job is as a high school chemistry teacher?).
Anyway, I believe the folks at the National Weather Service are just as confused about the weather as everyone else. Check out the following part of the Detailed Forecast Discussion released this evening:
SIDE NOTE – CONFIDENCE IN THE MODEL SOLUTIONS (GFS…ECMWF…CANADIAN AND THE GFS ENSEMBLES) REMAINS LOW BEYOND (DAY 4) AS CHANGES CONTINUE TO OCCUR DAILY. CURRENTLY…THE HEMISPHERIC PATTERN FAVORS A DEEP HUDSON BAY VORTEX AS THE SEPARATE SIBERIAN VORTEX DRIFTS CLOSER TO THE NORTH POLE BY DAY 10. NEGATIVE ANOMALIES FAVOR THE WESTERN U.S COAST NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS CANADA AND INTO THE DAVIS STRAIT WHILE POSITIVE ANOMALIES FAVOR THE SOUTHERN STATES INCLUDING TEXAS.
I’m sure this means “We don’t have a clue – but you should go fishing anyway!”

Categories: Uncategorized
Tags:

About the author

Comments

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

«     »

  • Sidebar 3

    Go to Themes >> Widgets >> Sidebar 3 to add the widget of your choice or edit "main_sidebar".php.

North Texas Fly Fishing Adventures with Joel Hays

Imagine wading through ten inches of clear water,trying to be as quiet as possible. Fifty feet ahead is a pod of large fish "tailing" on the flat. You strip out fly line, make the cast, and pull your fly in front of the lead fish. After agonizing seconds the fish spots the fly, rushes forward for a quick grab, and feels the hook. The silence is broken as the fish accelerates across the flat, quickly exposing backing on your screaming reel. Sounds like a great day on the coast, or even an exotic bonefish flat, right? Actually it's a great description of the usual day my clients have fishing for Carp on the flats of Lake Ray Roberts where many clients are blown away by the water clarity and the actual ability to sight cast along miles of flats. Big spooky fish in shallow water. They fight and tail like Redfish and can sometimes rival Bonefish in nervousness. This is an EXCELLENT WAY to hone your flats fishing skills and test your "eyes" where it's more about stalking the fish than simply stumbling upon them. You will be a better flats angler!