Dorothy

Dorothyyyyyyyyyy? Dooooooooooorothy! That's all I can think about when I look at the weather forecast today. When I was little I remember every time the winds started picking up as a storm was beginning to move through. You could hear the leaves and branches swaying and my dad would be in the door way with his head popped out saying Dorothyyyyyyy? Memories. Then he would usually make us come inside where I would continue on to make my sister play tornado with me in the back room in our basement (as I mentioned in my first post). Those were the days.

Don't you just love weather in Maryland too? Last week we were concerned about having a snow storm, this week it's severe weather! How fun is that!? I'm excited at least, I'm kind of hoping a big old cell starts pouring on me in the middle of my run today. Actually, that happened once and it was pretty scary considering the bike trail runs along the power lines.... Sadly though (sadly to me, happily for most non morbid weather weirdos), I don't think we'll be getting any tornadoes here. North Carolina and Virginia have a better chance but it always seems to be that way.

See that yellow line between the green and yellow shaded area? That's us and normally it wouldn't be too promising but this is the first severe weather of the year in our area! and THAT get's me pumped even if it will be slightly to our south. Our best bet today is the winds. There's a potential for gusts up to 50 mph which is the whole reason I started thinking about Wizard of Oz. The winds alone as shown below will even get to around 25 mph. (the plot is in knots) One of my favorite plots to look at are winds when a front moves through. For some reason seeing such a sharp change in winds is so neat. It's even better when you drive through one. The first time I ever realized how sharp of a temperature gradient/front I had driven through was senior year of college. One minute it was sunny and 70 degrees. Next thing I know I'm driving into this torrential downpour and it's hailing, travel a total of 10 miles, and the temperature dropped to 48. It was still one of the coolest experiences I've had with weather. Nerd alert!

Anyway, wind wind wind. Don't blow away tonight if you're going out. I know I am a smidge worried about it since I'm going to Annapolis for the Annapolis Restaurant Week. Hopefully I make it without my dress blowing up or those residents will get quite the show.

Mini President's Day Storm

The question of the weekend is... Will I get to make one of these on Sunday? 

Not so sure yet. This may have been made at my parents house 3 years ago. I also may have been 22 when I made it but who doesn't love a good old fashioned igloo? The last time we had snow on President's Day Weekend we had just a BIT more snow than this though. Try somewhere along the lines of 20 inches more.

Alas, we will not have a PDIII (President's Day Storm 3) but I will venture to say we will definitely see something. Right now the most recent model output is showing anywhere from .2-.5 inches of liquid in the form of WHITE which technically would mean 2-6 inches. The whole 6 inches thing is definitely wishful thinking though. Sorry, NAM. GFS is looking a lot better. And sorry to let you all down but no, those aren't the initials of an old boyfriend.

So far the only conclusions any meteorologist can make are that this is a bust waiting to happen. The precipitation gradient of this system is pretty tight. It would be really easy for a certain region to be entirely missed and somewhere 30 miles south get a decent amount of precipitation. At this point, I'll just say yes we'll get snow and against my better judgement I'll even say it will be the most we've had all season. This means nothing since it only needs to snow about an inch to top it. I'm going for 1-2 inches but I'll make an update as more model runs come out. Either way, it won't matter to me. I'm going to be baking all weekend in preparation for my Mardi Gras party on Saturday. Then Sunday, while it's snowing I'll just be sitting on the couch with 50 blankets pretending I'm warm in New Orleans as I stuff my face with all the Creole leftovers. With that being said, you will probably want to check back for 1. weather stats and 2. for some awesome recipes including pralines, king's cake mini cupcakes, and muffuletta pizza. 

Personally, I'm hoping I can recreate this moment. Although, knowing me I will strip my wiper arm for the third time in a year since I think it's a good idea to use them when they're frozen to the windshield. I don't learn lessons apparently. Who wins for best dressed in the snow? I think the answer to that is obvious. Polar bear pj pants; hottest new fashion accessory.