Monday, December 20, 2004

escape from indiana

i leave wed afternoon to spend xmastime with my dear connie. i believe this will be my first ever xmas without my parents or family around (though we'll have lots of family time the following week), and probably my first xmas outside the midwest to boot. it will be interesting to spend the holiday in a more moderate climate.

i return on 12/26, the busiest travel day of the year, which will likely be hell. but i'm not worried about that: i'm more concerned about chances of snow during my departure. right now weather reports singal a chance of snow that day: from 40% to 70% to 80% depending on the source.

i've been stuck on a plane during de-icing before, & it's a long tedious process. so i'm hoping that if it snows that day, it will either stop for awhile before i depart or just not start until after i've gone. otherwise there's a chance i'll miss my connection and be stuck in the airport in charlotte, NC, of all places until i get a new flight.

it's still too early for meteorologists to even pretend they know what will happen with any accuracy. so far this indystar article has the most detail:

By Wednesday -- the second day of winter -- temperatures could rise enough to melt most of Sunday's snow. But more snow could start falling by Wednesday night, according to the National Weather Service.

The official arrival of winter is 7:42 a.m. Tuesday.

There's a big clash coming, with cold air from the north meeting warm air from the south, said weather service forecaster Chad Omitt. That could lead to a major midweek storm, but forecasters don't know exactly where the storm will hit. It might pass over Tennessee or West Virginia, or it could hit Indiana with a few inches of snow Wednesday -- right at the height of the holiday travel season.

that "by wednesday night" is promising: i'm scheduled to depart at 3:45pm. and the last paragraph i quoted is even more promising: it might not snow at all. but really, this is the most telling sentence in the article:

Don't try to make sense of Indiana's changeable weather.

of course, the article is at odds with the star's own weather forecast:

Very cold with intermittent snow, 1-3" for the morning. Very cold with intermittent snow, 1-3" in the afternoon. Cloudy and frigid with a chance for snow in the evening. Frigid with a good deal of cloudiness overnight.

if i ever even get out of indiana & away from the storm that might not be, i'll be home free. weather in charlotte looks fine, as does weather everywhere on 12/26. & san francisco promises to have highs in the 60s & lows in the mid-40s all week.

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