In the middle of the afternoon on the seventh of November, I experienced what was quite possibly the best moment of my life.  Shane Martin O’Donnell was brought into this world screaming and it was the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.  Grand ideas for an epic blog post went through my head, do I post about how the country has just re-elected Barack Obama?  Or is a post on how the economy is faultering?  Maybe something about the billboard number one single (One More Night by Maroon 5) or number one movie (Wreck it Ralph)?  Each of these are nice topics that might help him realize what the world was like when he arrived, but none of it was me.  Then I realized something, I am a giant weather dork and it’s rare that someone knows what the weather was like at the exact moment of their entrance into the world.  So without further ado; Shane this is what the world of weather was like when you were born.

 

US Satellite

In the United States, the second strong storm of the season impacted the Northeast.  This storm dropped more than 4 inches of snow through an area from NJ through Massachusetts   In fact, it was the earliest Central Park has recorded more than 4 inches of snow in its long history!  Normally this storm would be nothing more than a nuisance, but unfortunately there was a historic storm the week before which caused massive destruction in the Big Apple as well as most of the Jersey shore.  I’m positive it will be back to normal before you get a chance to visit, but it is a storm that will be studied for years to come.  Your mother and I both thought that you would be born during it because we lost power for a little while.

Looking at the visible satellite, there was some thick marine stratus off the California coast.  Maybe I can teach you why this forms when you’re older but the feature is quite obvious on the image.  Also clear is a jet streak on the top of the ridge in the west.  At first is may look like con-trails but looking at the model initialization and the water vapor imagery you can clearly see that there is a jet streak in the region.  Other than the stormy-ness in the east, the west was quite warm with several record highs reported in the southwest.  But overall it was quite tranquil there.

It is also interesting that you were born on a day where meteorologists int he Philly metro area blew the forecast, we were expecting 2-4 inches of snow and only saw a few flurries.  The storm formed a bit later and further east than we (including your daddy) had expected.  People are not happy when this happens.

 

Weather Image Gallery

Surface analysis showing conditions throughout the US

National Radar Mosaic; much of the reflectivity around Texas is just surface clutter. The winter storm is shown off the coast.

 

Model initialization on the day you were born showing the many levels of the atmosphere.

 

What I would like my readers to do is name something that happened to you on Wednesday.  Whether it is something stupid like a jerk cut you off or something huge like you found out you are pregnant.  I want Shane to know what everyone was doing when he entered the world.  Even if you want to add something to the weather part of this.  List it in the comments!