Wednesday Round Up: Snow Day!

Though it wasn't a snow day for me, you or any other non-teaching adult, it was still nice to wake up to a blanket of sparkling fluffy snow, wasn't it?

It seems with age comes a growing disdain for snow, but nothing about last night's "dumping" should warrant any complaining from the geezers. The roads were fine by rush hour, driveways and cars could be cleared with ease (I used the same broom for both), and by afternoon, much of it had disappeared under the bright (if not warm) sun.

Now I know many of you are probably hankering for a Weatherman Accountability recap. Unfortunately, like the few other extended bouts of flurries we've had this winter, there were little variations in forecasts among the local "mets" -- all basically got it right (they called for 1 – 2 inches and we got 1 – 2 inches).

Before I can bring the full Weatherman Accountability feature out of retirement, we need to start hearing about a "real" storm, at least more than 3 or 4 inches. For now, I'll just link to this, knock on wood, cross my fingers and rub a (tofu) rabbit's foot.

Even though last night's snow didn't deliver impressive accumulations, it was impressive for another reason – extremely low moisture content (exciting!). You've surely heard of a dry heat; well, last night was a dry snow, something much more common in places like Montana, home of the Cold Smoke, than in the Mid-Atlantic (right, Ali?).

According to a National Weather Service employee's snow report for Columbia, the flakes that fell had a snow to water ratio of 45:1, meaning it would take 45 inches of melted snow would create one inch of water (!). The normal ratio for our area is around 10:1 or 12:1 -- one foot of melted snow equals one inch of water -- and anything above 20:1 is rare.

Thanks for the incredibly dry and easy to mange snow are due to low temperatures – around 15 degrees F at the surface and colder in the atmosphere above – and the fact that the storm arrived from the west (over land) instead of from the south, where it can draw moisture and upper level warmth from the ocean and Gulf of Mexico.

But enough with the meteorology, let's move on to the important stuff.

The senior tax task force has released its recommendations to make the law more palatable to more people. Highlights include lowering the income ceiling (from $75,000 to around $55,000) and implementing a limit on assets at $200,000, not including the house or qualified retirement plans.

Typo of the Day. From a story on the now-defunct, Centennial Gardens affordable housing project: "[T]he development would include 232 one-bedroom units, 30 two-bedroom apartments and six three-bedroom units." 268 units? No wonder the community protested.

Base realignment could add to Howard's affordable housing woes. That's from the Examiner. Here's my attempt at being clever with this issue from the early days of the blog. Not much has changed.

Alcohol in elementary schools?!? Oh, hand sanitizers. Still, you have to watch how much of that stuff you're using – it dries out your hands, not what you want during these cold, dry times.

That's it for now. More tomorrow!