November 19, 2014

Intelligence privacy bill being debated on C-Span right now, in the Senate....

http://www.c-span.org/video/?322766-2/us-senate-keystone-xl-pipeline-debate&live

eta: This bill follows the Keystone vote, hence the url title.

U.S.A. Freedom Act

S.2685

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/us/nsa-phone-records.html?_r=0

https://www.aclu.org/support-usa-freedom-act

November 18, 2014

Early Winter Weather Brings Snow Cover to 50% of U.S

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2861



The winter of 2014 - 2015 is off to an early start over the continental U.S., where snow covered 50% of the nation as of November 17, 2014. This is an unusually high percentage for mid-November; over the past ten years, the percentage of the continental U.S covered by snow on November 17 has ranged from 4% - 20%. Most of this year’s November snow cover is going to stick around this week, as a renewed Arctic blast will keep temperatures 10 - 30°F below average through Friday for most of the nation. Temperatures will not moderate to near average levels until next Sunday. Extremely cold air flowing over the waters of the Great Lakes will create an epic lake effect snow storm today through Wednesday, particularly in the lees of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where the west-southwesterly winds of the storm will align with the long axis of these lakes, allowing the air to pick up large amounts of moisture from the unfrozen water. A Lake Effect Snow Warning is in effect for Buffalo, New York, where almost two feet of snow is expected to pile up by Wednesday afternoon. Southwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 mph blowing off of Lake Erie are expected late Monday night through Tuesday night, and may create blizzard conditions with visibilities near zero. Blizzard conditions are uncommon in lake effect snow storms, and this week’s storm will likely be one of the worst lake effect snow storms for Buffalo in the past five years. Up to three feet of snow is expected in the lee of Lake Ontario near Watertown, New York. Lesser snow amounts are expected in the lees of the other Great Lakes, where the wind will not be blowing over such long stretches of open water. Up to 18” of snow is expected in the lee of Lake Michigan in northern Lower Michigan near Bellaire, and in the lee of Lake Superior near Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

November 16, 2014

Greybull WY finally warmed up to 7 F

A heat wave, I tell ya ! Seriously, stay warm, Greybullers.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=44.51638794,-108.08305359

November 16, 2014

Tornado watches in Louisiana, many winter weather advisories

November 15, 2014

Winter weather advisories for OR, NV, ID, UT, WY, MT, SD, NE, CO, KS, MO, IA, TX, LA, MS...

AL, GA, FL, SC, NC, IL, MI, OH, PA, NY and MN (whew)

November 13, 2014

Winter weather advisories for OR, WA, ID, NV, UT, MT, WY, CO, TX, MI, IN, LA, MS, AL, GA, FL, SC....

NC, ME, OH, PA, NY, and NH (whew)

November 13, 2014

Wyoming Hits -25°F in Arctic Blast; 3 Feet of Snow in Michigan's Upper Peninsula

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2858

A bitter cold blast of Arctic air more typical of late December is plunging south over the Midwest, and will immerse most of the eastern two-thirds of the country in December-like cold for much of the coming week. Casper, Wyoming bottomed out Wednesday morning at a numbing -25°F, their coldest November temperature since weather records began in 1937. Casper's previous November record cold temperature was -21°F, set on Nov. 23, 1985. Laramie, Wyoming hit -22°F Wednesday morning, a record low for the date, and Yellowstone hit -20°F. The storm brought very strong winds with it, with several mountaintop locations recording wind gusts in excess of 80 mph earlier this week: 81 mph at Pikes Peak, Colorado, and 84 mph at Snowbasin, Utah. According to the Wednesday morning NOAA Storm Summary, a whopping three feet of snow (36.1&quot fell at Ishpeming in Michigan's Upper Peninsula over the past three days, and numerous locations in Michigan received more than 20" of snow, including Marquette (20&quot and Negaunee (32.5".) Snow amounts in North Central Minnesota were as high as 16.5", and northern Wisconsin got a peak of 26" at Gile. The storm and associated intense cold is being triggered by an usually extreme jet stream pattern, featuring a sharp ridge of high pressure over Alaska and a deep trough of low pressure diving to the south over the Central United States. This extreme jet stream pattern is due, in part, to the influence of Super Typhoon Nuri, which caused a ripple effect on the jet stream after the typhoon became one of the most powerful extratropical storms ever recorded in the waters to the west of Alaska last Saturday.

November 12, 2014

Dense fog advisories for NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, ME, RI, MA, and NH

November 12, 2014

-11 °F (1911) all time low for this date for Bismarck, ND

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KBIS/2014/11/12/DailyHistory.html?req_city=Bismarck&req_state=ND&req_statename=North+Dakota

November 11, 2014

FYI: Healthcare.gov is up and running already

President Obama said at his press conference, he will make sure (I think he said triple checked) that it will be working well.

https://www.healthcare.gov/

https://www.healthcare.gov/blog/five-things-to-know-about-marketplace-open-enrollment/