What the ... fearmongering?!??

I wrote this Thursday, February 7th 2013. As the media was scaring the shit out of people over the impending doom of a snowstorm. I am late in posting it.

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We are supposed to get a Winter storm starting tomorrow night. To listen to the media it is the apocalypse coming. They keep reminding people of how bad White Juan was when it hit in 2004.

White Juan was a devastating winter storm. In Halifax, 95.5 cm of snow fell in one day. Winds gusted from 60-80 KPH, with some bursts recorded at 120 KPH. A weather station in Halifax recorded 2 10-second gusts of 147 KPH. With the snow that came down the next day the total snowfall in 48 hours was around 120 cm with some drifts higher than 2.5 metres.  It took a long time for the Province to recover from that.

Now we look at the present. Last Monday Halifax got about 10 cm of snow. Schools were cancelled. Doom and gloom was spread by the media. For 10 fucking cm of snow! I drove to work when the "storm " was at its worst ... and had little trouble. By the time I went home the roads were pretty much cleared up. Unless you were a fucking idiot and drove too fast for the conditions, and we have a LOT of those here, you shouldn't have had any trouble.

The Saturday before we had 10-15 cm. Once again, it wasn't that bad if you didn't drive like a moron. By the time I was driving home it had turned to rain. Within an hour the roads were BARE. Yet when the weather forecasters talk about that period of time they refer to storms. Massive storms. Weather bombs. On Wednesday they were talking about how we were still digging out. Yes, some areas, like Newfoundland, got a LOT more snow than we did. THEY were digging out in areas. Halifax? Hell no.

Now we are getting dire predictions of White Juan like proportions from some media outlets. What are we supposed to get? 20-35 cm of snow starting late Friday night with most of it hitting Saturday. So, lets call that a 36 hour period of time. The wind will gust from 30-45 KPH overnight and may gust up to 60 KPH Saturday. If you listen to the weather forecasters you should prepare for Snowmageddon. Seriously, this is how the fucktards are building this up.

White Juan                                                                                 Friday/Saturday

95.5 CM in 24 hours 120 CM in 48 hours                                20-35 CM of snow in 26 hours
 main winds 60-80 KPH                                                           main winds 30-45 KPH

Yeah, it REALLY sounds like another White Juan. (Can you feel the sarcasm?) It sounds like what we would call in the 90's, before the pussification of Canada, a bad winter storm. Some form of Snowmageddon? Fuck off.  

Now the media gets their basic weather information from Environment Canada. Then they put their spin on it whether for current weather or predicting future weather. Here is what Environment Canada has to say while the media meteorologists are predicting total doom and gloom.


Halifax Metro and Halifax County West
3:33 PM AST Thursday 07 February 2013

Winter storm watch for Halifax Metro and Halifax County West issued

Strong winds, snow and blowing snow beginning late Friday night and intensifying on Saturday.

This is an alert to the potential development of dangerous winter weather conditions in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..listen for updated statements.

A low pressure system will intensify as it passes near Cape Hatteras on Friday before tracking south of Nova Scotia Saturday night.

This system will give snow at times heavy, strong northeast winds and blowing snow to Nova Scotia Friday night and Saturday. These conditions will persist Saturday night and into Sunday morning for Cape Breton and Eastern Nova Scotia. While it is too early to give an accurate estimate of snowfall potential, some guidance is indicating that amounts in excess of 30 centimetres are possible for parts of Nova Scotia. Also there may be periods of ice pellets or freezing rain along the Atlantic coast starting Saturday and extending into Sunday over eastern regioins.

Strong northeasterlies and northerlies over the Gulf of St. Lawrence may also give higher than normal water levels late Saturday and into Sunday, and will push pack ice into north to northeast facing shorelines. 


In other words, it could be a bad storm but it is too early to say for sure. Be prepared. I understand that the media panders to fear for ratings but this fear mongering is ridiculous.  

****

As I wrote this, in the aftermath of the ... winter storm we got the ...  fact the media does nothing but fear monger remains strong. Or is stronger. I heard words like White Juan, Snowmageddon, and Weather Bomb bandied about by various media outlets. It was all a lot of BS. What we got hit by was what we would have called back in the 90's a snow storm. Nothing more. Nothing less. It was not the next White Juan. It was not some cataclysmic event. It was a god damn winter storm. That is all.

Canadians have become pussified to winter. The media helps this happen.                                                                              

Holy Rainfall Batman!

It rained for well over 17 hours straight here. The rain started around noon yesterday and didn't end until after 5 AM this morning. From the start until after midnight it was coming down heavily. This summer has been strange for the amount of rain we have received. It actually reminds me of rainy season in Korea more than Summer in Nova Scotia. The forecast for the rest of the week is for rain. (As much as weather forecasts can be believed.)

While we have't had major flooding there have been problems. The main problem being water build up on the roads and people driving to fast for the conditions going hydroplaning. There was a nasty accident near us caused by someone hydroplaning.

I broke down yesterday afternoon and went for a walk in the rain. The rain was coming down so hard that it was bouncing up under the umbrella. It is kind of funny though that I, who have said in the past people who went jogging in the rain were insane, felt compelled to walk in it. Mind you, I did use an umbrella and the joggers that make me shake my head are the ones that just go out in shorts and a t-shirt. Still, a strange change. :)

Hot Damn!

I am so glad I don't live in Ontario. Well, I am normally glad of that anyway but now even more so. They are in the midst of a heat wave that makes South Korea look cool in the summer. With the humidex it has been around 48 Celsius.

We have been luckier in Nova Scotia. Low humidity and a high of 24 today. Rain expected if the weather forecasts are right for a change. They called for rain and possible thunder storms 3 days in a row this week and it never happened.

What the ...prognostication?!?!?!?

I decided to check the weather report before heading out for my morning walk. I knew what it looked like through the window but I was interested in what the weatherman (woman) had to say. After seeing what they said for Dartmouth on CBC Newsworld I had to switch to the weather channel and see what they said. They confirmed what CBC said.

According to both of them it was very foggy in Dartmouth (they said Dartmouth specifically) with limited visibility. The sun was expected to burn through in a few hours leaving a cloudy sky. Want to see what a very foggy day with limited visibility looks like?

I took these pictures about 5 minutes after seeing the weather reports.

How in the blue hell do weathermen keep their jobs? What is the stat I have heard, weather reports are wrong 70% of the time. I mean seriously, can't you just look out the window? Or if you are sitting in an office in another part of Canada get someone in the area you are talking about to LOOK OUT THE WINDOW? Kind of Les Nessman's I Witness Weather.

It amazes me that they can be THAT wrong about current weather yet expect us to have faith in their long range reports. I wonder if it is too late to be trained as a meteorologist so I too can get paid to be wrong.

Our Rainy Season

I haven't really experienced a spring in Canada in the last 10 years until now. Damned if it doesn't remind me of Rainy Season in Korea. Different time of the year but the same grey skies and deluges. I saw a bit of a shiny orb in the sky the other day but it has been so long that I can't remember what we called it. ;)

The main difference between Spring and Rainy season is fog, rain amount, and humidity. We get a LOT of fog here and in Cheongju there wasn't much. During Rainy it would rain for a shorter period but a lot more came down in that time frame. Or that is how it seemed. The humidity is no where near as high, nor the temperature, as it was during the Rainy Seasons I experienced in Korea.

Weather Forecasters

Weather Forecasters have got to be some of the most useless pieces of drek to populate the Earth. They are wrong what 70% of the time? What other job can you be wrong that often and not get fired? Yet every time they present their report they try to make it sound like a certainty.

Case in point the weather around Christmas here. Now one thing to keep in mind about the Maritimes is the old adage "if you don't like the weather wait 10 minutes and it will change". Who would actually believe in their ability to accurately predict the weather if it can change even a 10th of that quickly? Meteorologists of course.

TWO fricking weeks before Christmas the twits are trying to tell you what the weather will be like Christmas Eve and Day. TWO WEEKS! They went with the no-brainer ... it will be a green Christmas. We get a green Christmas more often than naught ... but still two weeks ahead of time? They fuck up 3 day forecasts and they are trying to make a 14 day one?

So they put that nugget in people's minds ... it will be a green Christmas ... no snow. People are bleeting the party line. Well, most people, I wasn't. Now, the same forecaster's who called for a green Christmas are saying there is a GOOD CHANCE OF SNOW Christmas Day. Now, when we are in the middle of a rain and wind storm, a 'Nor Easter, that is battering the Maritimes, TWO DAYS before Christmas, they are calling for snow Christmas Day. Two Weeks before they were certain it would be a green Christmas, now when it REALLY looks like a green Christmas they say it will snow. What the kimchi?!?!?

Why the hell make a 2 week forecast when you will probably be wrong?

Rainy Season?!?!?

Holy hell it feels like I am in Korea for rainy season. Here I thought I had missed it this year but Nova Scotia is getting hit with record rainfall plus winds. For the last 6 days it has pretty much rained every day, most of the day. It is supposed to continue for another day or two!

There are areas in the province with no electricity. There are places in the province that are closed off due to flooding. There are places that are flooded. A dam in Yarmouth county is threatening to burst. It is looking pretty bad, and hitting other Maritime provinces too. Luckily no one has been killed.

The weather is supposed to change for the better come Thursday. Is it Thursday yet?!?!?!?

Storm Watch 2010: What the blowjob?!?!?!?

Around 11:20 M we lost power. It came back at 12:50 PM. Luckily we had flashlights and a radio.

Listening to the radio I was struck by the stupidity of some of the "reporters". One went on about how it is too dangerous for people to be out ... as they were down by the waterfront in the storm. another idiot talked about how the hurricane hadn't touched ground yet and a minute later was rambling on about how we were now in the eye of the storm. Pretty fast storm.

By 12:30 PM NS Power was announcing, via the radio, that 115,000 households were without power in the province. They went on to say the outages weren't anything major, just normal wind damage.

I saw a city bus running! The buses are still out? The police are telling people not to go out and the buses are running?

Oops ... power went out for a about 10 seconds there .

I better post this and see if the power stays on. :)

Hurricane Earl Arrives

Earl is making himself known and he hasn't actually made landfall yet. Some rain and heavy gusts of wind are lashing the city. CBC is reporting that some morons are on the rocks at Peggy's cove. Bloody mooks. The police have had to close off the road heading in to Peggy's Cove because of these idiots. So, some poor cops have to be stuck out in the hurricane because of mooks. Let the mooks drown I say.

We have the first damage of the hurricane in our yard. A branch is down off of a tree on our fence. Funnily enough, it is at the exact same spot as the branch that ended up on our fence from Hurricane Juan.

Last night mom and I went out to Lawrencetown beach to see the waved before it got bad. It wasn't that impressive. There were a LOT of people out at the beach though. A few in the water. Traffic heading to the beach was heavy.

GOD DAMN! A branch just ripped off of a tree and went sailing by my window! And I don't mean a little sapling either.

The Weather Channel is now saying Earl could make landfall in Halifax. 26,000 households have no power. Ten minutes later and they are saying 29,000.

The lights just flickered. I hope the power doesn't go out but won't be surprised if it does. Time to log off and batten down the hatches.

Memories of Juan

September 29th, 2003. I will never forget that day, or the night before. I had finished my second contract in South Korea and was once again home for a month. When I left Korea I had just missed Typhooni Maemi.

Maemi devastated parts of Korea, as well as other parts of Asia. Originally I was supposed to be going to Jeju with friends but i ended up going home for a month. They didn't have a fun time because of the typhoon. The image I remember the most is of the cruise ship on it's side in Busan harbour. It left at least 95 people dead and more missing. I wasn't unhappy that I missed it.

Hurricane Juan hit 2 days before I was supposed to fly back to South Korea. It would be the worst storm to hit Nova Scotia since about 1893. As with Maemi, the storm surge was devastating. Juan made hit at the time of the highest tides of the year. This intensified the storm surge.

The night it hit was one of the longest nights I have ever had. My bed was in a corner of the room with windows on both sides. It was hard to sleep because the wind was actually making the glass BEND in! I thought both windows were going to blow in. My dog, sheba, hated storms. She spent the night under my desk. Probably the safest place.

Come morning the power was out all over the province. We were lucky, mom has a gas stove. so at least we could cook. The power was out for a week on my street. In some parts of Nova Scotia it was a month or more before they got power back. The army had to be called in to help with the cleaning.

Stupidly, I went for a drive in the morning to see what the damage looked like. It was pretty bad. Trees were uprooted. Trees were hanging over roads just waiting to fall. Power lines were all over the place.

Around a coastal road I saw a car that had been abandoned. The road had gave way a bit. One of the tires on the car was shredded and the car itself was partially in where the road had vanished. I hope the person driving it made it to a nearby house.

Even areas that were up hill were safe because of the storm surge. Barrington Street in Halifax is a good hike up from the water but the storm surge reached that high. It flooded buildings and left debris on the streets.

A tall ship in Halifax harbour was sunk. The water just swamped it and sent it right down. It would later be raised and sail again.

My brother only had two trees in his yard and both were blown down. One of them ... across the front of his classic Mustang. Amazingly, the 'stang only ended up with some scratches.

We were lucky. One tree broke onto our fence and bent it. Other trees had branches broken off but nothing did any damage.

Some of our neighbours weren't so lucky.

The devastation of the forest was ... impressive and scary. In areas whole forests were just flattened. Literally. The wind was so strong it just pushed the trees over. Point Pleasant Park in Halifax was hit really hard 75% of the trees were KNOCKED DOWN!

The park will be recovering from the loss for a long time. Hell, the Province still has problems because of Juan. Most of the trees knocked over weren't cleared. That left an inordinate amount of dead wood on the ground all over the province. This lead to a couple of huge forest fires in the last few years. Just walking the on the paths behind our house you still see large araes with no trees and lots of dead wood on the ground.

The digital camera I had at the time wasn't that good for making video. The videos were short, 15 seconds, and had no sound. I did make some during the hurricane. The one I am putting below turned out the best. You can see how hard the rain was coming down, and how strong the wind was.

Leaving home to go back to Korea was always a little hard. This time is was extremely hard. When I left my street still had no power. As I said previously it would be a week before they did. Many roads were still blocked. Trees down. I felt like I was abandoning my family and friends even though there was nothing I could do.

Hurricane Juan was the worst one I have ever been through, and I have been through a few. It doesn't look like Earl will be as bad as Juan, but you never know.

(Most of the pictures are mine. A few were sent to me by friends or (the Point Pleasant Park ones) are from Environment Canada.)

Hurricane Earl

Maybe not the best thing to do if you are a worrier and a hurricane is coming but I am watching a Channel 4 (UK) special "Katrina Caught on Camera" about hurricane Katrina.

Holy shit. Hurricane Juan was in 2003 was horrible but we didn't get the flooding New Orleans got. Hard to believe that they are STILL cleaning up from it. Some of the scenes just break your heart to watch. I thought Juan was tough until I saw scenes from Katrina.

A lot of people are freaking out over Earl. Massacussetts declared a State of Emergency before the hurricane even reached North Carolina. A storm watch is in effect across the Maritimes in Canada.

As with most hurricanes before they hit, or blow by, it is already losing strength. Some forecasters are saying it will be a tropical storm by the time it reaches the Maritimes. After living through hurricane Juan that doesn't sound too bad.

I just hope it gets rid of some of this damn heat and humidity.

Weather

Holy Hell it almost feels like Korea here!!! We have had a beautiful summer but in the last week it has gotten HOT. Damn hot. And humid. It was hard to sleep the last couple of nights because of the humidity. My kingdon for an air con!!!!

Today it was 31ish but with the humidity it was pushing 40C.

The weather is going to change tomorrow. Hurricane Earl is heading our way. I hope it relieves the humidity.