SPRING!

Spring is here!

Yeah, right.

It becomes official at 6:02 AM.

Windchills around zero.

Happy spring!

Tornado Warning Wisconsin

I didn't get the cell phone message that there's a tornado warning for my area in Wisconsin, but I did get an email alert at 10:32 AM from Storm Team 4, WTMJ-TV.

These bulletins are currently in effect for your area:
Wisconsin counties
COLUMBIA
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
DANE
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
DODGE
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
FOND DU LAC
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WATCH
GREEN LAKE
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
JEFFERSON
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
KENOSHA
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
MILWAUKEE
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
OZAUKEE
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
RACINE
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
ROCK
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
SHEBOYGAN
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WATCH
WALWORTH
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
WASHINGTON
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING
WAUKESHA
TORNADO WARNING until 10:45 AM CST
WINTER STORM WARNING

Oh, my God, this is not a good Monday. A tornado warning AND a winter storm warning!

The tornado warning, of course, was a mistake.

A tornado warning caused confusion in southeast Wisconsin when the National Weather Service mistakenly sent it out as an "emergency alert" Monday morning.

The agency was conducting a planned emergency test and accidentally sent out text messages to cellphone subscribers with the wording, "Tornado Warning in this area til 10:45 AM CST. Take shelter now. Check local media. - NWS. Type: "Imminent extreme alert."

"The message went out as a test, but it went out in the wrong mode. That puts automatic wording in it," said Rudy Schaar, a data acquisition program manager with the National Weather Service. "It went out not in a test mode, so we had to cancel it."

The test messages did not say it was a test. All emergency managers were informed before time, Schaar said.

The agency is still trying to figure out what happened.

"That's why we test it," Schaar said.

Don't worry. There's no tornado. But, A WINTER STORM IS COMING!!!

"Get hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some iodine!"

Winter Storm Watch - Southeast Wisconsin

This is terrible news.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for all of FOX6′s viewing area beginning late Monday night (12:00 a.m. Tuesday) and running through 8:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 5th.

The National Weather Service says light snow will develop Monday afternoon or evening, but become heavier late Monday night and Tuesday.

The NWS says snowfall rates will vary, but could reach one inch per hour at times. Snow accumulations are estimated at between six and 10 inches by Tuesday evening.

The NWS says winds will blow north to northeast at 10 to 20 miles per hour, with gusts up to 25 miles per hour, which will cause blowing and drifting snow Tuesday afternoon and evening.

More:

WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE MONDAY NIGHT
THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING
Urgent - Winter Weather Message
National Weather Service Milwaukee/Sullivan WI
844 PM CST Sun Mar 3 2013

Fond Du Lac-Sheboygan-Washington-Ozaukee-Waukesha-Milwaukee-
Racine-Kenosha-
Including The Cities Of... Fond Du Lac... Sheboygan... West Bend...
Port Washington... Waukesha... Brookfield... Milwaukee... Racine...
Kenosha

... Winter Storm Watch Remains In Effect From Late Monday Night
Through Tuesday Evening...

A Winter Storm Watch Remains In Effect From Late Monday Night
Through Tuesday Evening.

* Timing... Light Snow May Develop Toward Monday Evening
But Will Become Heavier By Early Tuesday Morning. Moderate To
Heavy Snow Is Then Possible Tuesday Into Tuesday Evening. Lake
Enhanced Snow May Contribute To Heavier Snow Totals In Far
Eastern Wisconsin. Snowfall Rates Will Vary... But Could Reach
One Inch Per Hour At Times.

* Snow Accumulations... 6 To 11 Inches By Tuesday Evening.

* Winds... Northeast To North Winds 10 To 20 Mph With Gusts Up To
25 Mph Will Cause Blowing Snow Tuesday Afternoon And Evening.

* Impacts... Plan On Hazardous Travel Conditions... Especially
Late Monday Night Into Tuesday Evening.

Precautionary/Preparedness Actions...

A Winter Storm Watch Means There Is A Potential For Significant
Snow Accumulations That May Impact Travel. Continue To Monitor
The Latest Forecasts.

Please be wrong. Please be wrong. Please be wrong.

The Snow

It won't stop.

I am ticked off.

Happy Groundhog Day

A couple of years ago, there was an article about the origins of Groundhog Day in the Washington Post.

How did this tradition get started?

In ancient times, people of different cultures celebrated Feb. 2 to mark the coming of warmer weather because the day is midway between the start of winter and spring. Candles were lit in a festival of lights to mark the day, and it became known as Candlemas. (The Catholic Church later declared a festival to honor Jesus on that day.)

People living many years ago also used that day to predict the weather. Tradition said that if Feb. 2 was sunny, it meant winter would last for six more weeks. If it was cloudy, winter was said to be nearly over.

Now take those traditions and add this: Farmers used to look for the reappearance of hibernating animals to tell them when spring had arrived. Early American settlers relied on the groundhog.

That Washington Post account makes it sound as if the Catholic Church arbitrarily took the established pagan festival of Candlemas and declared it to be in honor of Jesus.

Here's a different take on Candlemas. It appeared in the Boston Herald in 2009.

At Kosmala boutique in west suburban Villa Park, shoppers are lining up to buy frilly gowns so their babies will look their best for a special mass Monday.

They finger the fabric and compare outfits with the avidity of parents preparing for a baptism.

But the babies are just doll-like figurines, and the event being celebrated is the Mexican Candelaria, or Candlemas, a holiday in which statuettes of the Christ Child — the centerpiece of household creches and family devotions — are brought into church to be blessed by a priest.

The practice of focusing one’s devotions around a figure of baby Jesus is both Mexican in its origin and broadly Christian in its symbolism. And Candelaira has grown nationwide along with a population that traces its roots to south of the border.

The holiday falls on Feb. 2, a time when Roman Catholic Latinos from many countries celebrate traditions such as the blessing of water, children and the candles that lend Candlemas its name, said Rev. Claudio Diaz Jr. director of Hispanic ministry for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.

But it is the reverence for the child that gives Mexican Candelaria its distinctiveness. Candlemas comes 40 days after Christmas, a time when, according to tradition, Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple.

The Nativity scene, rather than the yule tree, is the centerpiece of Mexican Christmas, but in most households the child isn’t placed in the manger until midnight on Christmas Eve, priests say. Over the weeks that follow, it is revered as a representation of the incarnation.

"It’s beautiful," Diaz said. "They place the image, the statue, in a little blankie, and they will cradle the image, and they will sing Christmas songs. And maybe grandma will knit a little gown, and he will be wearing his first little gown, like a baptismal gown.

"We talk about ’the Word became flesh.’ That is the metaphor."

St. Agnes of Bohemia in Chicago is expecting perhaps 200 people to participate in a Candelaria mass Monday, with parishioners bringing candles, water and their own children for blessing, along with the figurine. The Christ Child is often left out all year, and the candles and holy water are kept at hand for times of darkness, Rev. Rene Mena said.

"It could be literal darkness, caused by a storm, or it could be the sense that an evil spirit is around in the house," he said. "So they would light a candle and bless the house with the water that they brought on Feb. 2."

Accounts differ. Some stress pagan roots. Others cite 40 days after the celebration of Christmas as the reason for the February 2nd observance of Candlemas, not Candlemas being co-opted by Christians.

Some accounts consider Candlemas and Groundhog Day as interchangeable. Others maintain the uniqueness of the observances.

More history here.

It's confusing. In any case, the celebrations focus on light -- spiritual or seasonal or both.

Will Punxsutawney Phil see his shadow?

(Yes! Punxsutawney Phil is allegedly the only true weather forecasting groundhog. The others are just impostors.)

It doesn't matter in Wisconsin.

Have you ever known spring weather to arrive 6 weeks after February 2nd?

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!

Midwest Snowstorm

The school closings are crawling across the bottom of the TV screen already.

I hate snowstorms.

Yes, snow can be beautiful at first, when it falls gently and quietly and coats the bare branches of the trees. Winter Wonderland. Very nice.

But when it makes travel treacherous and power goes out and tree limbs break and bones break when people slip on ice, it's not pretty.

There is no romanticizing that.

From AP:

A storm that has dumped more than a foot of snow in the Rocky Mountains was causing problems for travelers as it spread across the Plains on Wednesday.

The main east-west route across Colorado, Interstate 70, closed for several hours from east of Denver to the Kansas line because of poor visibility due to blowing snow. Eastbound lanes remained closed Wednesday night. Smaller highways were also closed for hours in eastern Colorado.

Drivers in Iowa and Nebraska are being warned to be careful or stop driving altogether starting Wednesday evening as the Plains gets its first major winter storm of the season.

Light snow is also expected at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on Thursday and strong winds could make visibility poor. That, combined with low clouds, could cause delays at the nation's second-busiest airport. National Weather Service forecaster Jamie Enderlen said.

...The storm is also expected to hit Wisconsin and Michigan, where up to a foot of snow was forecast in the north by Friday.

Last year was the best winter ever.

Dumpster Diving, Obama Campaigning

Hurricane Sandy gave Obama an opportunity.

As Rahm Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, said, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."

Obama didn't waste the hurricane.

He distributed photos to the press, showing him monitoring the storm in the Situation Room, looking so very presidential.

Obama toured devastated areas of New Jersey with Gov. Chris Christie.

After a couple of days of looking presidential and the photo-ops were complete, the shrinking Obama returned to the campaign trail, being as divisive as ever.

Meanwhile, American citizens are scavenging in dumpsters for food in the wake of the storm.

They need food and clothing.

Video.

View more videos at: http://nbcnewyork.com.

So, while Obama is hanging out with Katy Perry in Milwaukee on Saturday and Bruce Springsteen in Madison on Monday, getting his base fired up, struggling to win Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes, our fellow Americans are picking through trash because they're without food.

Juxtapose those scenes - Obama with rich, pampered celebrities by his side and hungry, desperate people dumpster diving.

I fail to see how the hurricane will help Obama win reelection.

Sandy: Superstorm Photos

From Yahoo News:

Sandy, a massive storm described by forecasters as one of the largest to ever hit the United States, is making her way towards the population-dense East Coast. Evacuations have been ordered from Maryland to Maine, where storm surge and high winds is expected to wipe out power to millions.

View a slideshow of photos from the storm.

More photos, from FOX News.


To help those affected by the storm, donate to the Red Cross here.

Dennis Miller: Hurricane Sandy and Cannibalism

I'm in NY. Bloomberg just warned people if storm does drive them to cannibalism they should not use salt on their fellow citizens. #sandy

— Dennis Miller Show (@DennisDMZ) October 30, 2012

____________________

Flashback, Hurricane Katrina: Randall Robinson states, "It is reported that black hurricane victims in New Orleans have begun eating corpses to survive."