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"Stupid Flanders"

Posted Monday, January 26, 2009, at 4:58 PM

The forecast for Winter Storm "Flanders" just keeps getting worse. Now the National Weather Service believes that Cape Girardeau will be getting more ice than snow. This is the worst winter storm forecast I can ever remember:

TONIGHT...FREEZING RAIN SLEET AND A CHANCE OF SNOW. SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 5 INCHES. ICE ACCUMULATION OF UP TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH. LOWS IN THE MID 20S. NORTHEAST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR 100 PERCENT.

TUESDAY... FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET. SLEET ACCUMULATION UP TO 1 INCH. ICE ACCUMULATION OF UP TO ONE HALF OF AN INCH. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S. NORTHEAST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION NEAR 100 PERCENT.

TUESDAY NIGHT... SLEET FREEZING RAIN AND A CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE EVENING...THEN SNOW AND A CHANCE OF SLEET AFTER MIDNIGHT. SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATION OF 2 TO 4 INCHES. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATION 3 TO 6 INCHES. TOTAL ICE ACCUMULATION THREE QUARTERS TO ONE AND ONE QUARTER INCH. LOWS AROUND 19. NORTH WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH. CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION 80 PERCENT.

Last year's February ice storm delivered roughly one inch of ice accumulation, plus a couple inches of sleet. With a chance for 1.25 inches of ice plus 3-6 inches of snow, this could easily top last year's storm.

But wait, there's more! The latest technical discussion from the Paducah office is even more worrisome. It discusses the amount of precipitation that the storm could deliver, and comes to this conclusion: "BOTTOM LINE IS THAT IT COULD BE WORSE THAN WHAT WE HAVE FORECAST."

We can only hope that they've totally dropped the ball on this storm and that we don't get any ice.

Here is the latest Dartboard Forecast Model:

"Stupid Flanders"

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