Topics

31

General Discussion / The Debt Ceiling Deadline

« on: July 30, 2011, 10:42:09 PM »

As most of you probably know, the United States government is in danger of defaulting on its national debt of $14.3 trillion dollars and climbing. The Treasury Secretary has stated that he can keep paying the bills that we owe up to August 2nd (that's Tuesday, or 3 days away) before we are in danger of defaulting.

No one really knows what's gonna happen if we DO default, but there is a consensus that our sterling credit rating of AAA will be cut down to AA...something we have never seen happen to us before. This would make us look like a more risky investment to other countries...and they would likely make necessary adjustments, harming our economy. Did I mention that this could send shockwaves throughout our markets and affect other markets? Stocks gave us a preview this week: they made their worst 5-day finish in over a year.

All eyes are on Congress now as they try to raise the debt ceilings, but unfortunately Washington is going nowhere fast. The House - run by Republicans - has passed two resolutions and bills that could address the debt ceiling - but Democrats in the Senate have slammed both down.

What are your thoughts on this? For me, Jon Stewart put it best, regarding this squabble between parties:

"My question to Congress, and a question from many Americans as of tonight is this: do you want out of this relationship so bad, but don't have the balls to leave, so you all decided to act like such giant ***holes that you force us...to break up with you? Because if so, just get the **** out."



"

32

Hurricane Central / Tropical Storm Don

« on: July 27, 2011, 04:55:18 PM »

Tropical Storm Don has formed in the Gulf of Mexico. More details to follow.

33

Hurricane Central / Hurricane Adrian

« on: June 07, 2011, 11:03:34 PM »

First named storm in the Pacific. Current NHC forecasts put it as a Cat 2 hurricane by Day 5.

34

Hurricane Central / Hurricane Central 2011

« on: May 14, 2011, 11:58:10 PM »

May 15th marks the start of the Eastern Pacific hurricane season.  Although I'm not expecting any tropical development for a few more days, I figured this would be a good time to open up the official Hurricane Central 2011 thread.  Here are the storm names for the 2011 Atlantic and Eastern Pacific hurricane seasons:

Atlantic
Arlene, Bret, Cindy, Don, Emily, Franklin, Gert, Harvey, Irene, Jose, Katia, Lee, Maria, Nate, Ophelia, Philippe, Rina, Sean, Tammy, Vince, Whitney

Eastern Pacific
Adrian, Beatriz, Calvin, Dora, Eugene, Fernanda, Greg, Hilary, Irwin, Jova, Kenneth, Lidia, Max, Norma, Otis, Pilar, Ramon, Selma, Todd, Veronica, Wiley, Xina, York, Zelda

35

Severe Weather / "Widespread" Severe Threat 4/3 - 4/5

« on: April 01, 2011, 04:00:44 PM »

I know I've been told not to post threads for every single severe event that occurs in the U.S, but I feel that one coming up warrants its own thread. GFS models are indicating a very strong storm system to slam much of the Eastern United States starting Sunday through Tuesday. The Storm Prediction Center is citing a widespread severe threat for the area, with tornado-embedded thunderstorm lines, plus the additional threats of hail and winds.

36

The Game Room / Forecast of My Life

« on: March 16, 2011, 06:09:12 PM »

A new game idea, based off of the local on the 8s. Approved by Patrick and Martin. Basically, make a 36-hour forecast for any aspect of your life. Here's an example:

ACADEMIA
Tonight: Bouts of homework, heavy at times. Low grade of 42.
Tomorrow: Numerous tests and quizzes. A few might be severe. High grade of 78.
Tomorrow Night: Much more pleasant. Stress level of 31. Running for joy at 5 to 10 mph.

It's an odd game, and the example above isn't the best, but it doesn't have to be that complicated. I encourage you to give it a try!

37

General Discussion / Weather Channel Website Radar Error

« on: March 10, 2011, 04:28:28 PM »

Don't know if anyone else noticed, but all but one of the doppler radar images for all radar loops on the Weather Channel website don't show any precipitation.

EDIT: Eh...problem fixed. Unless it happens again, this thread has been rendered useless. 

38

General Weather Chat / Louisiana in Crossheirs

« on: March 08, 2011, 11:22:01 AM »

A Moderate Risk of severe weather currently exists in Louisiana at the moment. Damaging winds and long-lived tornadoes are expected in the area today.

39

General Weather Chat / SPC Outlooks and National Warnings

« on: March 06, 2011, 04:48:03 PM »

Requesting that this thread become stickied, due to the possible significance of the information provided.

Day 1 Convective Outlook


Day 2 Convective Outlook


Day 3 Convective Outlook


And, the national map of warnings and advisories:


Click this link to get a key of the map: http://www.weather.gov/wwamap-prd/faq.php

40

Help and Support / Key Request (plane852)

« on: March 04, 2011, 05:45:38 PM »

Hi, Martin. Just wanted to let you know I sent you a PM with an account request on CINE.

Thanks.

41

General Discussion / Economy Tracker

« on: March 03, 2011, 04:30:39 PM »

This weak economy has certainly gained the attention of many of us. The recent oil price crisis and high unemployment are just a few examples. So, I'm starting this thread so that anyone can relay economic information to the forums, whether it be good or bad.

Signs are starting to show up that jobs are slowly but surely trickling back into the U.S. economy. Today, statistics from the Labor Department that jobless claims dropped to 366,000. The last time jobless claims were this low was on May 31st, 2008.

As you can image, markets reacted positively to this news. Here are the full numbers.

ECONOMIC DATA
Jobless claims: 366,000 20,000
Jobs Created in February (Consensus): 192,000 156,000
Unemployment Rate: 9.1% 0.1%
Service Industry Index: 59.7 0.3

U.S. MARKETS
Dow: 12,258.20 191.40 (1.59%)
Nasdaq: 2,798.74 50.67 (1.84%)
S&P: 1,330.97 22.53 (1.72%)
General Electric (TWC): $20.75 0.43 (2.12%)

COMMODITIES
Oil: $101.85 0.38 (-0.37%)
Gold: $1,416.40 21.30 (-1.48%)

42

General Discussion / Announcing the Weather Network Stream!

« on: February 23, 2011, 09:02:39 PM »

I've just recently got an idea to contribute an idea to these forums, and I'd like to propose it now.

On Livestream, I've just created an account intended to be just like the Weather Channel. EDIT: This stream is currently being used for my school forecasting office, but since it will often be used to observe and forecast on a national scale, this stream could be used by TWCToday members as well.

If you're interested, I'm running a test show tomorrow at 5:15 PM EST. It will cover the predicted severe weather outbreak in Arkansas and Tennessee. I'd like to invite you to check it out, if you can! The video will be archived on the site as well, if you can't make it.

Here's the link:

www.livestream.com/thewxnetwork

What do you guys think? Would a live show be a good addition to the site?

43

General Weather Chat / Significant Severe Weather Outbreak Feb. 24

« on: February 20, 2011, 09:15:02 AM »

The severe weather season looks like it will get underway Thursday. The SPC 4-8 Day Outlook cites severe weather on Day 5 in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Louisiana, and West Tennessee.  Here's a portion of the synopsis:

UPPER LEVEL COOLING AND A PLUME OF STEEP DEEP LAYER LAPSE RATES WILL
OVERSPREAD THE WARM SECTOR...CREATING A VERY UNSTABLE SITUATION.
ALTHOUGH THE EXACT GEOMETRY OF THE TROUGH MAY NOT BE WELL HANDLED
THIS FAR IN ADVANCE...THE CURRENT MODEL DEPICTION WOULD INDICATE THE
POTENTIAL FOR NUMEROUS SUPERCELLS ALONG THE DRYLINE/COLD
FRONT...RATHER THAN A MORE LINEAR STORM MODE. IN THIS SCENARIO...A
SUBSTANTIAL TORNADO THREAT COULD MATERIALIZE BY AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.

44

Winter Weather / January 31st-February 2nd Superstorm

« on: January 30, 2011, 05:34:00 PM »

29 states and an estimated 100 million people are expected to be affected by a monster snowstorm, while the South, primarily on Tuesday, will experience strong thunderstorms and possible tornadoes.

Feel free to post whatever information or thoughts you have on this system.

45

General Weather Chat / Mid-February Blizzard/Superstorm?

« on: January 27, 2011, 02:05:56 PM »

Farmer's Alamanac calls for a major blizzard or super storm to impact the Eastern United States anytime between February 12th and February 18th. Of course, no accurate forecast models go back that far, but by the explanation of the storm, it sounds similar to the Blizzard of 1993. Until we get an accurate picture or forecast of the event, what are your thoughts? Think it might happen? Does the Farmer's Almanac have it right?