{"id":8708,"date":"2024-12-19T19:24:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T19:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=8708"},"modified":"2025-09-17T17:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-17T17:08:12","slug":"winter-storm-in-progress-snow-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/winter-storm-in-progress-snow-for-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Storm in Progress: Snow for Christmas?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"National<\/a>
The weather this morning, with a winter storm in my area. (December 19, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s not just for Sauk Centre, Minnesota, although we’re pretty close to the center of today’s banana-shaped weather event. I gather that we’ve already gotten most of the snow we’re going to get this time around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Snow likely, mainly before 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 22. East wind around 15 mph becoming north. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.”
(Extended Forecast for Sauk Centre MN \/ National Weather Service)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Even so, the W. S. W. is still in effect until midnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I get the impression that the National Weather service has learned from past mistakes, and realizes that the common folk don’t panic all that easily:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\"Beecher,<\/a>…A high-pressure air mass tangled with its low-pressure counterpart over Nebraska on June 7, 1953<\/a>. The June 7th storms weren\u2019t particularly memorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But one tornado on June 8th killed 116 folks. The body count was 247 by day\u2019s end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That photo shows part of Flint-Beecher<\/a>, Michigan, after the storm passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s sad is that many of those deaths were most likely avoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officials at the National Weather Service knew that tornadoes were likely when the storm started ripping through New York state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Folks in the New England area aren\u2019t accustomed to twisters, though, so the powers that be didn’t issue a warning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The official decision was, apparently, well-intentioned. Decision-makers at the Weather Service didn\u2019t want common folks to panic. They did, however, issue the first severe thunderstorm watch in Massachusetts history….
(“Sane Environmentalism”, Stormy Weather<\/a> (August 11, 2017))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And a lifetime here in the Upper Midwest tells me that even the trailing edge of weather like we’re having now makes situational awareness a useful survival skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also tells me that, although we’ll probably still have snow on the ground for Christmas \u2014 that’s not guaranteed. It’s like a character in “Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures”, or maybe another of those animated series, said about weather back home:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

‘We get thunderstorms, blizzards, tornadoes, but we never<\/strong> let it spoil our Fourth of July!’
(one of Barbie’s friends, in one of those animated series: Maybe “Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures”)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Maybe our familiarity with this region’s variable climate explains the Sauk Centre school system’s decision to go ahead with classes today, after a two-hour delay this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we’re among the few around here that didn’t simply tell the kids to stay home: and that’s another topic or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I’m going to get a cup of coffee, sit in an easy chair by the window, and be glad that I don’t have to go outside until Sunday. Right after I list other times I’ve talked about the weather, including last year’s end-of-Advent:<\/p>\n\n\n\n