Not A Lot Of Surprises In This Storm

I spent the evening in the mancave with my friend Rick. No coat. I’m mancave ready… even outside!

I called Stef in Southern California as I made my way home. Big mistake! It was cold and mainly rain at Rick’s. That was as far as you could get from her weather.

“I wore a short sleeve shirt and flip flops to work,” she said.

Children have been written out of wills for less! Don’t test me child.

This afternoon the weather station on the USC Campus near Downtown Los Angeles read 91&#176 with a dew point of 50&#176.

Our 3:00 AM readings have just arrived:

CITY SKY/WX TMP DP RH WIND PRES REMARKS
BRADLEY INTL LGT SNOW 33 31 92 N12 29.60F FOG WCI 24
HARTFORD LGT SNOW 35 32 88 N12 29.58F FOG WCI 27
DANBURY LGT RAIN 34 32 92 NE6 29.57F WCI 29
WTRBRY/OXFORD CLOUDY 32 28 86 NE15G21 29.56F WCI 22
BRIDGEPORT RAIN 36 32 85 NE12 29.56F WCI 28
MERIDEN LGT RAIN 34 31 88 N8 29.55F WCI 27
NEW HAVEN LGT RAIN 36 33 89 N13 29.54F WCI 27
CHESTER NOT AVBL
GROTON LGT RAIN 36 32 85 NE13 29.52F WCI 27
WILLIMANTIC LGT RAIN 34 32 92 NE7 29.58F WCI 28

A few quick notes. Waterbury/Oxford’s weather sensors haven’t worked for the last few years. Cloudy doesn’t mean there’s no precipitation at OXC (the airport’s identifier).

Chester’s weather site (SNC) hasn’t been dependable for months. For a while it was reporting a higher dew point than temperature. That’s a physical impossibility.

I walked downstairs and opened the door a half hour ago. It looked like rain, but sounded like sleet was mixed in. I decided listening was observation enough.

It’s a little tough to see what’s going on via the DOT traffic cameras. They’re not well lit! This shot from West Hartford looks to have some icy slush on the shoulder. There’s probably a little, not much, on the road surface too.

At this hour radar shows more precipitation to come. My earlier call on who gets rain, slush or snow stands.

Though temperatures on the ground will remain fairly steady the prediction at cloud level is for falling temps. That means more snow than rain in those areas already seeing snow. Of course the ground is wet. It will take a lot of snow to overcome the puddles and cover the roads.

I’m sticking to my guns on Litchfield County and far Northern Connecticut being the only places where there will be a real weather impact over the next few hours.

One more note before I go. Be careful with the radar during the winter! If there’s sleet falling through the clouds the returns will look stronger than they should. Sleet is very reflective to radar beams. You have to develop an eye to see it, but there is some “bright banding” in evidence tonight.

It would be nice if this was the end of winter, wouldn’t it?