Drizzle this morning…but at about 8:30 am, it turned to SNOW! Forecast calls for nothing but more snow throughout the day and into tonight - up to four or five inches - we’re officially under a “snow advisory” until noon tomorrow!

Right now (8:15 am) it’s a mixture of rain and snow, but there is definitely snow falling outside right now - woohoo! I know, I know - Winter ain’t here yet, and it will warm up in a day or two — but it’s still so completely and very awesome that we have *snow* in September!
UPDATE: as of 8:59 am, it is all snow and no rain! Yay!

Breaking news out of Florida this morning:

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In a move to foster improved relations between the meteorological community and the news industry, the National Hurricane Center announced today that it is lowering the requirements for a storm to be officially named as a hurricane. The previous standard was sustained winds of 74 miles-per-hour, but the recent brush with Ernesto, and subsequent inability of reporters to say the word “hurricane” in conjunction with every reference to Ernesto, began to cause some friction between the two groups. “It was very frustrating, having to watch my colleagues in the field use the term ‘tropical storm’ when referring to Ernesto, when it had once carried the formal title of ‘hurricane,’” said news anchor Troy McDonald of station WECT in Wilmington, NC. Other news industry leaders echoed his concern, with John Zarella of CNN pleading with Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center, to do something that would enable reporters to use the word “hurricane” in as many situations as possible.
After a two-day summit between the two communities at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Jacksonville, Florida, Mayfield announced that the new criteria for a Category One hurricane would include sustained winds of only 25 miles-per-hour, and storm-surge levels of only six inches. In a prepared statement, Mayfield expressed confidence that the revised standards would not only enable the news industry to use flashier graphics more often and increase Nielsen ratings, but would also allow the National Hurricane Center to take a more active role in educating the public about the dangers of powerful storms.
In addition to the new standards, NHC officials stated that they would immediately begin revising historical records in order to retroactively upgrade older storms. According to the updated Saffir-Simpson scale, Hurricanes Camille and Andrew, which once ranked as Category 5, will now be classified as Category 17, the highest designation on the new scale.

The snow level tonight is supposed to drop to 4000 feet…and here I am sitting at 3300 feet. What do you figure the odds are that we’ll wake up to snow on Sunday morning…? And for the record, two years ago we received about 6+ inches of snow on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. (more…)

(note: I meant to post this last week, but forgot…sorry!)

May 10, 1996: The movie “Twister” is released. Hard to believe it’s been 10 years. One of the very, very few movies that I attended onng night. Having lived in Oklahoma in the mid-80s and being utterly fascinated by tornadoes, I was very excited about “Twister.” Particularly since when it was released, I lived in Mountain View, California - not exactly “Tornado Alley.” And sure, there was some cheese in the movie - for instance, when Paxton’s character picks up some gravel/sand while pondering the clouds, as if that could give him some mystical insight into the storm. (more…)

A day that will live in weather infamy. This was the day that The Tornado (and many other tornadoes) tore through central Oklahoma, and while the destruction was horrific, the event electrified professional storm-chasers and amateur tornado lovers everywhere. Strong tornadoes are one thing, but the F5 monster that this storm unleashed was just unbelievable. I’ve noted before that the only thing I really miss about living in Oklahoma are the amazing storms. I’ve stood underneath rotating clouds that seem to hang so low that it seems you can touch them, and it was absolutely hypnotic. Dangerous, yes, but it was nearly impossible to move away. I don’t know if I will ever actually get to “chase” a tornado, but it’s on my list of Things To Do Someday. And when I finally do, believe me, I’ll take my advice from Mister T!

A few weeks ago, I was feeling a bit low because Winter was winding down, and the odds of snow and/or single-digit temperatures were dwindling rapidly. But after a few beautiful days this week, I’m much more happy, because I’m beginning to remember that I love SPRING in Montana, too! There ain’t no such thing as a bad season here (except mid-July to early-August, if temps crack the century mark - yuck!). But still, seeing this forecast for Saturday night brought a goofy smile to my face — good to know that Winter hasn’t given up just yet!

…GO AWAY! Argh. It’s been raining for several hours now. I don’t like it. I don’t like rain. It’s grey, it’s cold, it’s wet, and just plain yucky. One exception, and it applies almost solely to my years in Oklahoma: huge storms with wall clouds and heavy rain and rotating clouds - that’s OK — that’s exciting and possibly scary. But just plain old drizzly rain? YUCK> Give me clear blue skies, or give me snow!

Snapped a few more pix of the first day of Spring…all told, we received about 12 inches of the fluffy white snow.

Yes, the calendar notes that today is officially the last day of Winter…but somebody up in Montana didn’t get the memo. We’re up to about six or eight inches of snow so far…

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OK, in an attempt to integrate Scoble’s search-engine experiment and our weather forecast here in central Montana, I present to you the “BRRREEEPORT!” That word would be an approximation of trying to put into words how cold it will be here today and tonight while saying the word “report” (as in ‘weather report’). So here you go:

Tonight: Mostly cloudy. A chance of snow in the evening…then a slight chance of snow after midnight. In the mountains…a 50 percent chance of snow. Lows 25 below to 30 below zero. North winds 5 to 15 mph. Wind chill readings 35 below to 45 below zero.

In the words of Chief Wiggum: “…this is gonna get worse before it gets better…”

Thursday Night: Snow likely. Snow accumulation up to 2 inches. Lows 20 below to 25 below zero. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph. Wind chill readings 30 below to 40 below zero. Chance of snow 70 percent.

And on Friday, we won’t even get above “zero” degrees: Friday: Partly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow. Highs 5 below to 10 below zero.