Anomalous Phenomena: The Para-Pachydermic Explanation “Get your umbrella ready,” said the TV weatherman. “Lots of rain tomorrow.” The next day considerable precipitation fell but not rain. Six inches of snow in the city, twelve inches up in the mountains. Obviously weather forecasting isn’t an exact science. Despite all the data gathered, there could be a tiny bug in the system that throws off the prediction. The chaos butterfly. An analogy that shows how an unknown element or X factor can make the weatherman look like an idiot. Two months before the weatherman predicted rain, a butterfly in China flapped its wings a couple of extra times. This pushed additional air molecules along, a small action that kept building as the days passed, until it turned into a cold air mass that unexpectedly shifted, turning rain into snow. Science itself isn’t an exact science. But there are those who act like it is, resulting in dogma that doesn’t allow any thinking beyond what it considered “no...
Comments
We're due for a snow on Christmas Eve as well. I'll probably spend a good deal of the Yule shoveling.
Don't check the weather report? That's like entering the boxing ring and you don't know if your opponent has brass knuckles.
I have to check the forecast to dress appropriately and to be aware of traveling conditions -- by foot.
X. Dell:
I don't have to do any shoveling, fortunately. I don't have a car and I live in an apartment house where the landlord takes care of that white crap.
At the same time, no car to shovel out has a downside. Too many sidewalks are never cleared; I have to trudge thru the slippery snow and ice to get anywhere. Another reason why I don't find this to be "the most wonderful time of the year."
On the upside: the days are getting longer.