I'm dreaming of a white ....

Wednesday?  Good gravy.  Yesterday morning, before I left for work, I was assured by the local meterologist on my favorite morning news channel that today's precipitation would be an "all rain" event for our area.  She did cover her a$$ by saying that ...temperatures will drop during the evening hours on Wednesday which will make things a little slick ... (not her exact words but you get the idea.)  I spent a lot of the day yesterday assuring my colleagues at work that we would not have a delayed opening nor a snow day (of which we have neither) and that maybe a delayed opening on Thursday due to the icy conditions the weather girl alluded to in her forecast.

Yesterday afternoon, one of the girls I worked with pulled the storm forecast from the Weatherchannel.com.  They put NJ in a Winter Storm Warning area and gave a few tidbits of info such as: 

Issued by The National Weather Service

Philadelphia, PA
3:31 pm EST, Tue., Jan. 25, 2011

... WINTER STORM WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...

THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

* PRECIPITATION TYPE: MIXED SNOW... SLEET... FREEZING RAIN AND RAIN IS EXPECTED WEDNESDAY... TURNING TO A PERIOD OF HEAVY SNOW BY WEDNESDAY EVENING BEFORE ENDING BY THE START OF THE THURSDAY MORNING COMMUTE.   Update:  No precipitation at 5:30 a.m. but at 6:30 a.m. there was 1/4 inch of snow on my driveway, car, front and rear walks, as well as my street and yard ... pretty much, everywhere.  9:35 a.m.  It's still snowing.  11:46 a.m. - lunchtime - i can't tell if it is still snowing or not with all of the snowballs being thrown by the kids heading towards the busses for their (already scheduled for exams) early dismissal. 

* ACCUMULATIONS: 5 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW... WITH A COATING OF ICE POSSIBLE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE EVENT. Added:  Lovely, just peachy.  Exactly what we are looking for!

* TIMING: MIXED PRECIPITATION WILL START WEDNESDAY MORNING BETWEEN 4 AM AND THE END OF THE MORNING COMMUTE. THE MOST INTENSE PERIOD OF SNOW AND WIDESPREAD HAZARDS IS EXPECTED BETWEEN 6 PM AND MIDNIGHT. SNOWFALL RATES OF 1 TO 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE POSSIBLE. Added:  No mixed precipitation here.  Only snow.  And lots of it. 

* IMPACTS: THE WEDNESDAY MORNING COMMUTE MIGHT BE AFFECTED BY FREEZING RAIN. IF THIS BECOMES MORE OF A THREAT, A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THE MORNING COMMUTE MAY BE ISSUED TONIGHT. THE WEDNESDAY EVENING COMMUTE SHOULD BE AFFECTED AS ACCUMULATING SNOW FALLS WITH GREATER IMPACTS AS THE EVENING COMMUTE PROGRESSES. THE THURSDAY MORNING COMMUTE SHOULD ALSO BE AFFECTED BECAUSE OF RESIDUAL CLEAN UP OF THE WINTRY MESS EXPECTED WEDNESDAY.  Note:  this is my favorite paragraph of the entire report.  Unfortunately, we were expecting rain, not snow when we left for work.  I guess that would have spelled ice storm, so maybe I am happy that it is only snow?  Love the use of "wintry mess" as used by the National Weather Service.  They definitely hit that on the nose. 

* CONFIDENCE: HIGHEST CONFIDENCE FOR SUBSTANTIAL WINTER WEATHER PROBLEMS IS NEAR THE INTERSTATE 95 CORRIDOR. Note:  Or all over New Jersey as we're seeing today. 

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Added:  Stay the hell off the roads if you are able to!!  It's a slick mess out there. 

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW... SLEET... OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS

I will continue to monitor the latest forecasts as well.  (Hubs just sent me one that said potential for 10" before ending at 2:00 a.m.???)  It is wonderful training for my next career move - in weather predictions and forecasting.  I wonder who would listen to me??

Update: 2:00 p.m. - pouring down rain.  i can't wait for the drive home.