If you hear knocking at the door Saturday night, ignore it, it's just winter wanting in. Actually, it's more of a scout checking the lay of the land and sending a message, "hey, my boy winter is alive and well and there's more where this came from". So while it will get windy and cold with snow showers, this is just a wake-up call and by next Tuesday temperatures will be on their way back up. Sorry for the interruption. So, after much talk and speculation, our first system wi

When it comes to snow, it often seems this area is rarely in the sweet spot where I can say with certainty how a storm will perform. Cold air is limited, the track is marginal, it's questionable whether it will be rain or snow, or one model says snow, and the other doesn't, it's always something. One little unchecked box can make the difference between little to no snow or a bunch. It drives me nuts, but I actually kind of like the challenge of solving the puzzle. (My wife sa

Before we get to a clipper with the capability to produce snowflakes and early season Arctic air this weekend, my climate and folklore guru Steve Gottschalk has wrapped up his annual count of woolly bears, this being year #49. The tradition of using the woolly bear to forecast the coming winter weather dates back to the colonial era in America. The myth gained widespread national attention after a 1948 study by Dr. Charles Howard Curran of the American Museum of Natural Histo

From the looks of the latest data, confidence has increased over the past 24 hours that many of us will see our first snowflakes of the season this weekend. There is still some question whether or not it will accumulate, but there is evidence that some part of the area may see enough to stick on elevated surfaces such as grass and whiten things up a bit. Roads however are likely to be too warm for any accumulation, so no problems are expected. The best of both worlds as far a

It's been a long fall for a weathehead like me, one who enjoys the excitement of storms and the challenges they bring. The last 2 1/2 months have been about as slow as it gets, with an endless slew of dry, mild days. Most of you are going, hey Swails, what's the problem, we like this kind of weather? I respect that, but I'm just not wired that way, and I've come to the conclusion that's never going to change. Anyway, I'm in a pretty good mood tonight as I see some fire in the