A tad chilly

?

Lots of wind noise right now, gusts to 40 mph straight out of the east, which means they have a direct shot at my house across more than 5 miles of water. These winds aren't (yet) as bad as the ones that caused all the grid damage a few days ago (the Soo peaked at 60 mph that night), but tonight is the worst wind direction for effect on my house.

6-10 inches of snow expected by dawn, with major blowing and drifting. The temp is only 15 F this time, so I'd just as soon have the power stay on . . .

We got about five inches down this way.  It was a mixed storm, snow and sleet.

Now it's almost forty degrees and the wind has finally died down.

That looks like about how much snow I got, but no wet or icy stuff. It still hasn't been higher than the teens today and the forecast doesn't show a day above freezing until a week from today. The peak wind recorded at the lighthouse (~400 meters away) was only 40 mph, at about 8:30 last evening.

  Sugar, to purify water??

http://news.sciencemag.org/environment/2015/12/faster-cheaper-water-filter-thanks-sugar

The stuff they're playing with is *a* sugar, but structurally it looks like it's pretty far removed from the sucrose we consume. Interesting, and it's cheap to boot.

You'll be first against the wall when the counter-revolution comes.

They'll need silver bullets for me.

There are interesting goings-on in the North Atlantic. The same storm system that zoomed across the U.S. reached Iceland overnight and dropped the pressure 54 millibars in only 18 hours. A drop of 24 millibars in 24 hours is enough to qualify for the status as a "bomb cyclone". This is considered to be one of the 5 most intense cyclones ever observed in the North Atlantic.

One result is massive pumping of warm air up into the Artic. At the North Pole the temperature is running all the way up to about the melting point, which is about 50 degrees (F) above normal. Earlier today the North Pole was about the same temperature as Chicago. The North Sea is getting sustained winds of 70 mph and gusts over 100 mph.

Here's one article:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/12/30/freak-storm-has-pushed-north-pole-to-freezing-point-50-degrees-above-normal/

There is no such thing as 12 am or 12 pm because at noon the sun is directly over the meridian. Not post or ante. It's midnight on the oppisite side of the earth. It's either 12 midnight or 12 noon.  I'm surprised so few people realize that.

I'm surprised you think use of common phrasing that is understood by the vast majority of people means people don't realize there can still be ambiguity. It's easy to find sources that also opine that 12 midnight and 12 noon should be avoided because saying "12 midnight Tuesday" doesn't make it clear which end of Tuesday is referred to, whereas everyone knows 12 a.m. Tuesday refers to the start of Tuesday. For people who like to make a fuss about such things the best approach is probably to use 24-hour time, but most people won't do that.

Then don't say 12 midnight Tuesday because it makes no sense, since midnight is the transition from one day to the next.  Neither does 12 am Tuesday, make sense, since their is no such thing as 12 am. Or 12 pm.

Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody care?

Robert Lamm was probably reacting to some grammar Nazi when he penned that tune.

You have your work cut out for you. Rather than bitching at a few people in the forums, you should be lobbying all the wristwatch, clock, computer, and digital time display manufacturers and programmers around the world that they need to change their conventions. All the digital displays I've seen will show AM and PM after 12:00 at midnight and noon, respectively (if they display AM and PM at all, that is), and everyone knows how to interpret them. It must drive you absolutely nuts.

The UK is still getting a weather whammy, with frost and snow in some areas today and several more inches of rain forecast for Wales. I'm looking around to find what the lowest pressure reading was in the North Atlantic over the past few days.

Al's got himself a right cozy little home since he moved south.

EDIT: Do you suppose that thing actually goes fast enough that those water skis can be used?

12 am, and pm should not exist, no matter what some bullshit convention is. Untracking now. have a good day.

 The CP vs CP debate!  It does sound silly to say that one shouldn't be allowed to use an abbreviation to indicate midnight or noon.

 On a side-note, I've always thought 12:00 noon should be the last of the am hours and 12:00 midnight should be the last of the pm hours, but hey, "it is what it is."  No biggie.