snow predictions with a cat
Snow predictions with a cat seem on track
Published: Saturday, January2 ,2010 By
Hillary Gavan hgavan@beloitdailynews.com
Michael Byrne from Westerhope says, "Thought you might like
this picture of my snow Garfield."
According to the paws of a local bunny, weather tracker and
Harlem-Roscoe Deputy Fire Chief John Presley is predicting 17 to 19 more
snowfalls this winter season.
Presley uses a “cat-tracking” method of predicting snow each winter.
Although he thought he would use a neighbor’s cat, the feline has disappeared
leaving the long-eared mammal to take its place.
“He’s usually a pretty good one to watch,” he said.
As the winter began, the folksy method of predicting this
winter’s snowfalls indicated there would be 36 total snowfalls this year.
Presley’s biggest challenge in tracking the weather has been determining when
one snow storm ended and another began.
“A clipper came through the other day, and it stopped and started half an hour
later. It could be a dead spot in the storm. There’s a gray area,” he added.
A
pedestrian walks on snow predictions covered pavement in Stockport, Manchester
foto AFP
Presley took over the out-of-the ordinary method of
predicting snowfalls for his father, former Harlem-Roscoe Fire Chief Oscar
Presley, after the man started spending his winters in Florida.
For more than 25 years Oscar Presley predicted the number of seasonal snowfalls
for the Stateline Area using Native American folklore. His equation for
forecasting the precipitation is based on the phases of the moon and the date of
the first measurable accumulation of snow. The first measurable snow must be
deep enough and last long enough to bear paw prints of a dog, cat or other
four-legged critter.
Presley has been going out each morning to look for paw prints to measure
snowstorms. He admitted it had been a challenge with his hectic schedule.
Presley works as a paramedic and fire investigator, and often pulls overnight
shifts at the station.
“It’s hard to keep up with. I don’t carry the tally sheet with me, so I
have to write a note to myself,” John Presley said.
One confusing storm to monitor was the big ice storm that started on Dec. 22 and
continued through the next day. Then it started snowing on Dec. 26 and into Dec.
27.
“It didn’t stop, although it got light a few times,” he said.
To escape the snow, Presley is going to be visiting his father in Florida for 10
days to fish, relax and catch up on sleep. He said friend and Harlem-Roscoe
photographer Sheryl Drost is going to keep tabs on it while he’s away.
Oscar Presley got into predicting precipitation when he ran a local barbershop
in Roscoe. The men would come in and talk about folklore and the weather. Oscar
Presley then started charting his predictions with friends and realized they
were pretty accurate.
John Presley said 36 snows is an average year for the Stateline Area, which can
attract more than 50 a year. The first measurable snow of this year, which left
cat paw tracks, was on Thanksgiving Day.
There doesn’t seem to be any measurable snow in the near future for the
Stateline Area. According to the National Weather Service, there is a chance of
snow flurries Wednesday and Thursday, but no snow is expected through the rest
of this weekend or early next week.
But, Presley is keeping his eye out for any flakes.
Snow predictions:
Oil prices jump above $83
The ecology of snow has many effects on
vegetation, including the ability to deform and break trees with its weight
like on these Beech trees.
Photo: Fillies Wo/UNEP/Still Pictures
(AFP) – found at google.com
januari 11, 2010
LONDON — The price of oil struck a 15-month high close to 84 dollars Monday
in the wake of positive Chinese energy data and as a cold snap and snow
predictions raised demand for heating fuel, analysts said.
New York's main futures contract, light sweet crude for February delivery,
struck an intra-day peak of 83.88 dollars a barrel.
That was the highest point since October 2008 -- a date that preceded a
collapse in prices caused by the global financial crisis.
After its multi-month high, New York crude settled back to stand at 83.80
dollars a barrel, a rise of 1.05 dollars compared with Friday's closing level.
Elsewhere, Brent North Sea crude for February delivery advanced 92 cents to
82.29 dollars in morning London deals.
DNBNOR markets analyst Torbjorn Kjus said Chinese oil imports data was
boosting prices.
"The (December) data were extremely strong and is pushing oil prices
upwards," he said.
"Yesterday's strong imports figures are suggesting demand is only moving
upwards. Gross crude oil imports rose a massive 0,8 million barrels a day from
November to December and was an incredible 1.6 million barrels a day higher than
December 2008," added Kjus.
Crude futures meanwhile won support Monday also from freezing weather across
the northern hemisphere.
"A prolonged cold snap is going to chew up some of those very high
inventories of heating oil," said Argus Media oil analyst Jason Feer.
Europeans struggled to get to work on Monday after a weekend of treacherous
winter weather left thousands of homes without power and caused mayhem on roads,
railways and at airports.
Villages in parts of north-east Germany, which was almost completely
paralysed over the weekend, were still cut off from the outside world as
snowdrifts whipped up by gale force winds made roads and railways unpassable.
Spain and Portugal meanwhile were the latest to feel the full force of what
experts said was an unusually harsh winter, with the southern Spanish city of
Seville under snow on Sunday for the first time in half a century.
Oil prices had closed mixed on Friday, with the New York futures contract
lifted by a weaker dollar after news that the US economy lost more jobs than
expected last month.
The world's biggest economy lost 85,000 jobs in December 2010 while the
unemployment rate held unchanged at 10 percent, the US Labor Department said
Friday in a report highlighting a slow and painful recovery from recession.
The report on nonfarm payrolls was a disappointment to those hoping for
growth in jobs, which is critical to recovery from recession.
December's 2009 figure was far worse than the consensus expectation for no
change in overall employment levels and came amid a wide array of predictions
ranging from steep losses to modest gains.
