Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The National Weather Service here in the Omaha area. Mikayla
Wood is joining us today. Mikaela, thank you so much
for being on our show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Let's talk about Friday into Saturday, Omaha, maybe not as
as much as maybe some other places. I came from
Central Io when I was seeing it fall down there,
and it just it was quite impressive how much snow
was falling. It did bury the car here, So there's
that as well. What were you guys kind of seeing
(00:29):
because it looked like the general totals of forecast going
into you know, Friday last week seemed to increase as
we got closer and closer to the actual day.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, so overall our totals ended up at least for
the Omaha area being anywhere from about four and a
half to five and a half inches. And again, yeah,
those increased a lot as we move into Central Iowa
where they got close to a foot. So yeah, it
was kind of a tricky setup just because you had
the mixed precipitation and more of the ice kind of
coming in at the beginning hand of it. So we
(01:03):
did get just a very light glaze of ice before
the snow came down in the Omaha area, which was
not fun as far as roads and clearing snow is concerned.
But yeah, that Friday night came in, we got the
little bit of ice coming down, and then a quick
flip to snow, and then snow through a good junk
of the morning on Saturday up until noon, and then
we got winds in the afternoon that likes to blow
(01:24):
it around. So it was not a good case scenario
for how busy the travel weekend it was.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, I kind of landed a really weird time from
your guys' perspective, And I know that it's kind of
hit or miss. The weather's not always super consistent, but
we do have trends as to whether and when that
first big snow event occurs. It felt like last winter
it took a long time for us to get really
a truly large snow event. Was this early by you know,
(01:52):
general terms, or was this kind of closer to being
on time when we could expect the first snowfall of
the season.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, say this is particularly early. It seems earlier than
it was in the past couple of years. But looking
up the long term statistics, getting a good late November
snowfall is certainly not out of the question. So yeah,
it was a good a good wake up call for
a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, I wonder when I saw the snow again today
how long we would have to worry about seeing snow.
There are certainly some spots out here on the roads
that just generally get a little slick, especially when there's
a little bit of snow melt and then it refreezes
and then everything gets a little bit slicker, kind of
in those valley areas, those lower lying areas on our pavements.
(02:38):
What are you looking at today and moving beyond this,
is it still favorable to add even more snow onto
what we've seen so far?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We don't have any great snow chances currently in the forecast. Yeah,
we get another about half an inch to an inch
in some areas this morning. But on the bright side,
going to be cool today but into tomorrow, probably going
to touch maybe jump just above freezing for a while
in the afternoon and probably get a good start at
melting some of this away. But yeah, again it will
go below freezing tomorrow evening, so we'll probably have some
(03:09):
flick spots as things refreeze up then. But we're looking
at as far as this week is concerned, Thursday is
going to be a very cold day. We're going to
have our morning lows could get as low as ten
below zero on Thursday morning, so that's going to be
a very very chilly day. But we don't have much
as far as snowfall is concerned in the forecast. Could
(03:30):
be a shot of it again this coming weekend, but
as at this point, it doesn't look too great.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Wow, MICHAELA Would from the National Weather Service joining us here.
So we're sitting in the Omahiri. You just mentioned ten
below zero here first week of December. I think a
lot of people like, gee, wiz, it's really cold. I
always love learning about how you guys do your job,
so when you're doing the forecasting for precipitation, especially when
you're doing it from five seven days out and trying
(03:56):
to get it as accurate as possible. So people, especially
on a travel holiday like we had this past week,
and have kind of an idea of what's actually going
to happen. What are you seeing that far out that
is going to make you believe that we're going to
be in a favorable condition for a pretty substantial snowfall.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, So the biggest thing we're looking for this some
year is typically a low pressure system coming into the area.
And then where some of the uncertainty comes from is
where this low is really going to track, because it
tracks further south and obviously a good check of that
rainfall is going to stay south of US, versus if
it's north it could bring us bring it to the area.
(04:36):
It also depends where exactly you are. In response to
that system, some size of it get some warm air
brought up in, while the backside of it usually brings
some cool air down from Canada in. So that's when
you can kind of look at more of the rain
versus snow chances. So looking this far out, it looks
like there is one of those disturbances swinging through, but
the exact path it's going to take is kind of
(04:57):
the remaining question. So at this far in advance, it
looks like someone will be getting a good amount of precipitation,
but the odds of that being US aren't the greatest
at this point. But it's one of those things we
just watch and see how it trends it approaches.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
It's really interesting what it would be like to be
a meteorologist and try to figure that out because so
many people are relying on what you guys do and
hoping that it is as accurate as possible. And I
know you guys are working to be as accurate as
possible as well. Last thing for you, MICHAELA. We talk
about snow totals, and I think that this is kind
of an interesting question. When you're measuring snow totals, even
(05:32):
though this snowfall occurred before the official winter solstice and
all that stuff, how do you monitor so when you
are doing the full accumulation of snowfall for the entire
winter season with the November still fall into that, even
though it's a little bit earlier than usual, And how
do you guys kind of monitor this? How late would
(05:56):
you get before you say, yeah, this is a different
type of CEA and when you talk about full accumulation.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, So we we actually go by meteorological seasons, which
are a little bit different than the astronomical ones. So
meteorological December actually begins today on December first, and that
logical winter, excuse me, is December, January, and February. So
this last snowfall we had over the weekend was actually
still in the meteorological fall, but today we start winter,
(06:24):
so we'll see what we can get through the rest
of the winter. But yeah, we usually will just block
it into one full winter season, or at least one
cooler weather season and get kind of a seasonal snowfall
as well as a true just overall the whole the
whole second half of the year into the first half
of next year.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
All right, well, it makes a lot of sense. Happy
meteorological winter, Michaela. And thank you so much for being
on our show and explaining this to us after what
was quite an interesting travel weekend.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, no problem. Yeah, it certainly feels like winter out
there today.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, no problem at all, MICHAELA. Wood. We do appreciate
her for being a part of our show and they
do such great work the National Weather Service. Big thanks
to her for being a part of our show today.
The National Weather Service here in the Omaha area. Mikayla
Wood is joining us today. Mikaela, thank you so much
for being on our show.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Let's talk about Friday into Saturday, Omaha, maybe not as
as much as maybe some other places. I came from
Central Io when I was seeing it fall down there,
and it just it was quite impressive how much snow
was falling. It did bury the car here, So there's
that as well. What were you guys kind of seeing
(00:29):
because it looked like the general totals of forecast going
into you know, Friday last week seemed to increase as
we got closer and closer to the actual day.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, so overall our totals ended up at least for
the Omaha area being anywhere from about four and a
half to five and a half inches. And again, yeah,
those increased a lot as we move into Central Iowa
where they got close to a foot. So yeah, it
was kind of a tricky setup just because you had
the mixed precipitation and more of the ice kind of
coming in at the beginning hand of it. So we
(01:03):
did get just a very light glaze of ice before
the snow came down in the Omaha area, which was
not fun as far as roads and clearing snow is concerned.
But yeah, that Friday night came in, we got the
little bit of ice coming down, and then a quick
flip to snow, and then snow through a good junk
of the morning on Saturday up until noon, and then
we got winds in the afternoon that likes to blow
(01:24):
it around. So it was not a good case scenario
for how busy the travel weekend it was.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, I kind of landed a really weird time from
your guys' perspective, And I know that it's kind of
hit or miss. The weather's not always super consistent, but
we do have trends as to whether and when that
first big snow event occurs. It felt like last winter
it took a long time for us to get really
a truly large snow event. Was this early by you know,
(01:52):
general terms, or was this kind of closer to being
on time when we could expect the first snowfall of
the season.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
Yeah, say this is particularly early. It seems earlier than
it was in the past couple of years. But looking
up the long term statistics, getting a good late November
snowfall is certainly not out of the question. So yeah,
it was a good a good wake up call for
a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yeah, I wonder when I saw the snow again today
how long we would have to worry about seeing snow.
There are certainly some spots out here on the roads
that just generally get a little slick, especially when there's
a little bit of snow melt and then it refreezes
and then everything gets a little bit slicker, kind of
in those valley areas, those lower lying areas on our pavements.
(02:38):
What are you looking at today and moving beyond this,
is it still favorable to add even more snow onto
what we've seen so far?
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We don't have any great snow chances currently in the forecast. Yeah,
we get another about half an inch to an inch
in some areas this morning. But on the bright side,
going to be cool today but into tomorrow, probably going
to touch maybe jump just above freezing for a while
in the afternoon and probably get a good start at
melting some of this away. But yeah, again it will
go below freezing tomorrow evening, so we'll probably have some
(03:09):
flick spots as things refreeze up then. But we're looking
at as far as this week is concerned, Thursday is
going to be a very cold day. We're going to
have our morning lows could get as low as ten
below zero on Thursday morning, so that's going to be
a very very chilly day. But we don't have much
as far as snowfall is concerned in the forecast. Could
(03:30):
be a shot of it again this coming weekend, but
as at this point, it doesn't look too great.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Wow, MICHAELA Would from the National Weather Service joining us here.
So we're sitting in the Omahiri. You just mentioned ten
below zero here first week of December. I think a
lot of people like, gee, wiz, it's really cold. I
always love learning about how you guys do your job,
so when you're doing the forecasting for precipitation, especially when
you're doing it from five seven days out and trying
(03:56):
to get it as accurate as possible. So people, especially
on a travel holiday like we had this past week,
and have kind of an idea of what's actually going
to happen. What are you seeing that far out that
is going to make you believe that we're going to
be in a favorable condition for a pretty substantial snowfall.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, So the biggest thing we're looking for this some
year is typically a low pressure system coming into the area.
And then where some of the uncertainty comes from is
where this low is really going to track, because it
tracks further south and obviously a good check of that
rainfall is going to stay south of US, versus if
it's north it could bring us bring it to the area.
(04:36):
It also depends where exactly you are. In response to
that system, some size of it get some warm air
brought up in, while the backside of it usually brings
some cool air down from Canada in. So that's when
you can kind of look at more of the rain
versus snow chances. So looking this far out, it looks
like there is one of those disturbances swinging through, but
the exact path it's going to take is kind of
(04:57):
the remaining question. So at this far in advance, it
looks like someone will be getting a good amount of precipitation,
but the odds of that being US aren't the greatest
at this point. But it's one of those things we
just watch and see how it trends it approaches.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
It's really interesting what it would be like to be
a meteorologist and try to figure that out because so
many people are relying on what you guys do and
hoping that it is as accurate as possible. And I
know you guys are working to be as accurate as
possible as well. Last thing for you, MICHAELA. We talk
about snow totals, and I think that this is kind
of an interesting question. When you're measuring snow totals, even
(05:32):
though this snowfall occurred before the official winter solstice and
all that stuff, how do you monitor so when you
are doing the full accumulation of snowfall for the entire
winter season with the November still fall into that, even
though it's a little bit earlier than usual, And how
do you guys kind of monitor this? How late would
(05:56):
you get before you say, yeah, this is a different
type of CEA and when you talk about full accumulation.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, So we we actually go by meteorological seasons, which
are a little bit different than the astronomical ones. So
meteorological December actually begins today on December first, and that
logical winter, excuse me, is December, January, and February. So
this last snowfall we had over the weekend was actually
still in the meteorological fall, but today we start winter,
(06:24):
so we'll see what we can get through the rest
of the winter. But yeah, we usually will just block
it into one full winter season, or at least one
cooler weather season and get kind of a seasonal snowfall
as well as a true just overall the whole the
whole second half of the year into the first half
of next year.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
All right, well, it makes a lot of sense. Happy
meteorological winter, Michaela. And thank you so much for being
on our show and explaining this to us after what
was quite an interesting travel weekend.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, no problem. Yeah, it certainly feels like winter out
there today.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, no problem at all, MICHAELA. Wood. We do appreciate
her for being a part of our show and they
do such great work the National Weather Service. Big thanks
to her for being a part of our show today.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Are You A Charlotte?
In 1997, actress Kristin Davis’ life was forever changed when she took on the role of Charlotte York in Sex and the City. As we watched Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte navigate relationships in NYC, the show helped push once unacceptable conversation topics out of the shadows and altered the narrative around women and sex. We all saw ourselves in them as they searched for fulfillment in life, sex and friendships. Now, Kristin Davis wants to connect with you, the fans, and share untold stories and all the behind the scenes. Together, with Kristin and special guests, what will begin with Sex and the City will evolve into talks about themes that are still so relevant today. "Are you a Charlotte?" is much more than just rewatching this beloved show, it brings the past and the present together as we talk with heart, humor and of course some optimism.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.