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Last night, the Grammys were on and the show was about 7 millennia long (3 and a half hours seems like major overkill). Major artists like Sam Smith, Beck, Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar won Grammys last evening, and it was all fun and games. It was the largest collection of musical talent all year long, and that is pretty cool.
In response to this, I have decided to do “The Weather Grammys”. I will judge from February 9, 2014 to February 8th, 2015 for this. The categories will be: Best weather model, Best Winter Storm, Best Weather Personality, The Most Hated Weather City Of The Year, The Story Of The Year and Newcomer Of The Year. So, without further ado, here are you weather Grammys of the year.
Nominees for Best Weather Model Of The Year: The GFS, ECMWF, JMA and Hi-Res NAM.
Reasons for each: Though these aren’t even the same resolution, they are all worthy. Its similar to putting Kanye in the running for “Best Artist Of The Year” with Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift. Its totally acceptable.
The GFS is very much like Taylor Swift in that its following is large, but they have major blinders up to the issues there. The GFS had a great hit in the #2015blizzard, but otherwise it has been unimpressive verification wise….but that doesn’t matter! Its America’s model.
The ECMWF is, well, the Jay Z of the weather world. It kills it, and though it had a bumpy road among journalists who don’t know what they’re talking about after the blizzard fiasco earlier this year, it has killed it. Like killed it. Its verification scores are among the top of the charts all the time, and it is just better.
The JMA is essentially like having that random-indie-artist-you’ve-never-heard-of in the running just because. You have to please all of the genres somehow, and this is how it happens. Odds are about 75:1.
The Hi-Res NAM is really, really good. Like really good at what it does. It only can see out 60 hours, but within that 60 hours, it will knock your socks off. It is my go to for short term forecasts. It has done very well in the past year, but it would be hard to pull the upset.
*Drumroll* The Weather Grammy goes to…..the ECMWF! It was hard, but the great verification scores and good computer upgrades made it hard to beat this model giant.
Nominees for Best Winter Storm: 1/31-2/2/15 Blizzard, #2015blizzard, and the 2/11-2/13/14 southeastern winter storm.
Reasons for each: Well, the first winter storm was rather ridiculous in and of itself. It was getting people here really excited for a couple of days, but then it shifted northward on the models to its eventual track. It gave Chicago its 5th highest snowfall on record, and gave Boston more to complain about in terms of snowfall.
#2015blizzard. This system has everything an aspiring winter storm should want. It had all of the 3 H’s in some spots, but also had copious amounts of snowfall in the places. It had hype on hype on hype, and the northeast was collectively freaking out for a solid 48-72 hours. I feel like Boston hasn’t stopped freaking out since. It also had some incredibly bad forecasting mistakes, which made the system all that much crazier. It is expected to win.
The February 11-13th, 2014 southeastern winter storm. This one is a sleeper. People didn’t think Beck would win, am I right? This one wreaked havoc on a region that had trembled in the face of an inch of snow.
This one was much worse than the 1 inch snowpocalypse in Atlanta, so it deserves some credit.
*Drumroll* The Weather Grammy goes to… the #2015blizzard. I would reward the southeastern winter storm, but the hilarity (and seriousness) of everything that occurred with this system is too much. It was waaaaay over-forecasted in NYC, but in Boston it took its toll.
Nominees for The Best Weather Personality: James Spann, Jim Cantore, and @WeatherSith.
Reasons for each: James Spann is absolutely a legend. He just is. He is innovative and is good at relaying information to the public. He is also a very heavy tweeter. If he sees a pic you tweeted to him (@spann), he basically retweets it. I mean he has been on twitter since 2008. And he follows me. That is a plus.
Jim Cantore is another legend. He has been in the game for a long, long time and is just really good at it all. He is TWC’s best guy, and if he comes to town, you get out. He rides through hurricanes, thunderstorm, hail, you name it. He has by far the best job in meteorology as he is paid to go into awesome weather.
@WeatherSith came on the scene recently, and has skyrocketed up the charts. He is one of the best follows on Twitter, and is hysterical.
The Empire celebrates Groundhog Day but only because its in the menu
— Weather Sith (@WeatherSith) February 3, 2015
Every time a news outlet uses “Bomb Cyclone” an Ewok dies — Weather Sith (@WeatherSith) November 11, 2014
Every time a news outlet uses “Bomb Cyclone” an Ewok dies
— Weather Sith (@WeatherSith) November 11, 2014
*Drumroll* The Weather Grammy goes to…. @WeatherSith! This guy is hilarious. It may be an upset, and he’s only been a Twitter account for a little bit, but my goodness. I laugh every time I read the tweets.
Nominees For Most Hated Weather City Of The Year: Boston, Buffalo, and any city on the California coastline.
Reasons For Each: First of all, Boston has had a ridiculous amount of snowfall in the last 20 or so days. In the past 30 days alone, Boston has seen 71.8″ of snowfall. 71.8″. On a 10 year average, Bowling Green only sees 89″ of snow. In a decade. In 30 days, Boston is one good snow (they look to get it again Friday, and then again on Sunday) away from seeing as much snowfall in 40 days as Bowling Green sees in 10 years.
Sorry for the mixup, for Boston, seasonal total is now 76.5, 30 day total is 71.8, and for the month so far is 39.3
— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) February 10, 2015
Buffalo is on here because they had that incredible lake effect snow event early in the year. That event was just insane (Boston is winning this). The only reason I mention the California coastline is because it hasn’t rained in forever there (Boston is winning this). *Drumroll* The Weather Grammy goes to… Boston. This should come as no surprise. 72″ of snow in 30 days. Come on, now? I mean…
Can we sue Massachusetts for hogging all the snow?
— Landon Hampton (@WxOrNotBG) February 9, 2015
This is usually the time when someone comes up and give a soliloquy about the Story Of The Year and then the person comes up and gives a moving speech…etc…etc. You know the drill. So, my story of the year goes to Communications In Meteorology. We have seen the issue explode since the whole “Polar Vortex” fiasco last January, and the issues meteorologists have with communication become more apparent every storm.
Whether its to seek shelter during a tornado event, or to stay inside during a blizzard, or conveying the great uncertainty within that same blizzard, meteorologists can’t communicate with the public well. This has led to this being a significant struggle within the meteorological community as we have found ourselves trying to get a grip on the rampant spread of “mediaologists”, who curate posts on the notion that they can garner incredible hits by saying “HUGE SNOWSTORM OVER NYC IN 12 DAYS!!” and the public has fallen for it.
I have found it very fascinating to watch the advancements of our communications skills since the 4/27/2011 tornado outbreak, as that changed everything. Meteorologists were forced to face the issue that was covered up pretty well until this past year, and when Polar vortex hit, everything got crazy. Half of the presentations at major conferences are about communications and the bets way to go about it. The only suggestion I have is this: we need to stop talking and start doing. That is the only way we will fix these issues. Until we do that, we are in deep with the public as a whole.
The Nominees for Newcomer Of The Year: @WeatherSith, Ryan Maue and Weatherbell, and the Polar Vortex.
Reasons for each: First of all, again, @WeatherSith is the greatest follow that Twitter has given me in a while. The cleverness is incredible and it doesn’t get old at all.
Ryan Maue and Weatherbell have taken over the weather modeling world. They have been around since 2011, but took off within the past year, more than doubling their total page hits within a year. The models that Weatherbell provides are awesome, and give a unique amount of data to the public to use.
The Polar Vortex arrived onto the scene in early January of last year, and is now a household name. It is basically a weather version of Linsanity a couple years ago. There was incredible cold across the US early last year, and the actual Polar Vortex had a huge part to play in it. Heck, the Polar Vortex has a major part to play in just about every cold shot that we receive. If it has been cold, the polar vortex likely played a part.
*Drumroll* The Weather Grammy goes to….The Polar Vortex. This was such a significant struggle for meteorologists that it has to win. It came onto the scene and wreck the weather world like nothing has in a while. People thought it was the end of times, and no matter how much meteorologists tried to correct people, the media still put out wrong info. Thus, it wins Newcomer Of The Year for being a major headache.
Well, there you have it folks! Your first annual Weather Grammys. Congratulations to the award winners and the nominees, and we’ll see you all again next year!
