When Forecasters Jones

Weather forecasters seem to be a reserved bunch of folks. When the Patriots win the Super Bowl, they're not out there rioting and flipping over cars. They're out there telling folks to put some gloves on, for heaven's sake. There's no whooping, no hollering, no bullets from the AK.

So, it's a rare day, indeed, when this coarse facade is lowered and the emotions leap out. In the afternoon forecast discussion issued by the National Weather Service in Boston, the prospect of a huge nor'easter next week was apparently too much for one meteorologist, as witnessed by the following lead. (ed. note - forecasters always write in capital letters)

WOW!!! HOW ABOUT THAT 12Z GFS AND 12Z UKMET? [Has a nerdier sentence ever been written? I love it.] A CLASSIC NEW ENGLAND COASTAL BOMB WITH SYSTEM BECOMING VERTICAL STACKED...YIELDING A LONG DURATION WINTER EVENT HERE.

LOTS OF DETAILS TO BE WORKED OUT...ESPECIALLY ON HOW PROGRESSIVE THE
WESTERN RIDGE BECOMES AND ITS AMPLITUDE...WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY
IMPACT THE CONFIGURATION AND DEPTH OF THE DOWNSTREAM TROF HERE IN
THE EAST. HOWEVER ENOUGH SUPPORT HERE TO KEEP CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE
FORECAST THU AND FRI. STAY TUNED!

It's unusual for any technical forecast discussion to put so much emphasis on a 162 hour forecast. Just how badly do you think this guy wants it to snow? While this storm does look impressive, especially considering that the model appears to foreclose the possibility of any rain/snow mixing, it's hard to imagine that the near total lack of snow this season hasn't played at least some small part in this forecaster's jonesing for snow.