Tuesday, December 21, 2021

Predictions of the site's demise turned out to be a BUST

That's right, a 'dry slot' seems to have sucked up all the moisture that was coming to rain on our weather-enthusiast parade. The site will live on in its current form but with new local ownership!

Here is a short Q&A to address the changes - or lack thereof - that come with this transfer of ownership.

Who are you and why are you doing this?

My name is Dave, I live in Minneapolis, and have been an avid reader of this site, Dr. Novak's twitter feed, weather.gov forecast discussion, and every weather modelling website I can find. While I do not participate in the comments I have for many years enjoyed the community and discussion that is unique to this blog, and wanted to do my part to see it continue. Since I have a background in IT I reached out to Bill who agreed to let me take over site admin duties while he steps back.

What is going to change?

Let's start with what is not changing: 
- The URL will remain the same
- The format of the site, comments section, and Blogger platform will remain the same.
- The 'site owner kicks off the thread, and the community takes it from there' model that Bill has adopted will not change.

Overall my goal is to change as little as possible. I do not fancy myself a weather expert nor do I consider this to be a typical blog, but more of a forum. You don't come here to read my posts, but to participate in the discussion.

So, while the author of the post for each upcoming weather event will be me instead of Bill, they will be short and sweet and only exist to facilitate the underlying discussion in the comments.

What do you want to see from this blog?

  • 100+ comments in every winter storm / weather event thread. I feel this level indicates we still have healthy participation. 
  • A positive community that can revel in our love of weather. I do not plan to take a heavy hand in moderation but I think there is a tone we should maintain and I will be on the lookout for 'trolls.' For example:
    • Good Comment: "I think the latest NAM indicates the storm shifting south, meaning the metro will no longer be in the bullseye. Could lead to disappointing totals for most people."
    • Troll: "This storm is a BUST! We are gonna have a BROWN Christmas and anyone calling for snow from this system was a FOOL"

So yeah, civility will be rewarded with a strong, engaged community, but obvious trolling that serves nothing more than making people feel bad and driving down participation will not receive much leeway.

Do you need any help?

I really took this over to keep it running, not because I want to make it mine in any way. If anyone would like to volunteer to make posts for new weather events, monitor comments for obvious trolling, or just tell me you think it's time to start a new thread for an upcoming storm, you can reach me at minnesotaforecaster@gmail.com


Thank you for helping make this site the unique community it has become. I hope we have many more winter seasons full of lively discussion ahead of us!


16 comments:

  1. Thank you for taking the reigns, Dave!

    Now, anyone tracking the snow on Sunday?! My spot forecast ticked upwards into the “interesting” range of 2-6” for just west west of the Metro.

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  2. Thank you Bill for bringing us The Minnesota Forecaster (TMF). Thank you Dave for taking the baton and continuing TMF into the future!

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  3. Dave, thanks for keeping this site going. It's a must have for Minnesota winter enthusiasts! Bill, we will always be grateful for you bringing us this site. Does anyone want to discuss the fact that for the third consecutive winter we are sputtering and spinning our wheels (unfortunately not on snow!) to get traction for a real winter? After the great winter of 2018-2019 we have had nothing but clunkers for winters.

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  4. Thanks Dave! I'm glad to learn that this blog will continue.

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  5. Great start, Dave! And thank you for taking the baton and endeavoring to keep this a source of positive, constructive discourse. I will still follow!

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  6. Thanks Dave. Trying to post form my phone...

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    1. Got it by logging in with google account. Yeah.

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  7. Thank you Dave for continuing this journey, talking weather and reading about weather has always been a passion of mine and this forum allows for that…Will you be diving back into the original reason Bill started this blog, grading the forecasters or will that portion of the blog be deleted/eliminated?

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    1. I personally follow weather.gov, Novak, and the various models available. If folks want to provide the forecasted totals from the various other outlets I can definitely add them to the top-level post as they come in, for all posterity :)

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  8. Most excellent news! Thanks Dave. Hopefully we can get Novak to participate in some compacity along with his FB / Youtube sources.

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    1. Yeah I will do my best to support Novak’s continued contributions

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  9. Big Daddy, good question regarding grading forecasters. I was going to ask Dave the same after I viewed multiple outlets last night, including NWS, and for example saw the forecasted high temperatures for next Tuesday range from 16 to 30 dgrees!

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    1. I replied above as well, but please go ahead and provide what you are seeing and I can attempt to keep forecasts consolidated in the main post. I just do not want to commit to going and pulling that data on my own, apart from the sources I personally check already.

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  10. Mighty kind of you, Dave! My silly 'time and date' is spitting out 20" of white stuff over the next 1.5 weeks starting late weekend. I'm like you: a person fascinated by the weather who follows Novak, this site, etc...... got my training to be a weather spotter, but enjoy the 'friends' here during winter, the discussions, etc. Again, many thanks to you and hats off to Bill for creating, sharing / handing off the reigns!

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  11. Let's get some weather talk. What are everyone's thoughts about a white Christmas this year for the core metro, southern MN (south of the metro) and northern MN (north of the metro)? I think the core metro has an outside chance. It will really depend on how much sun we get and how warm it gets the next two days. It does not look good for south of the metro. North of the metro should have a white Christmas. What say you?

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  12. Here I am! Just took a break from dancing to catch my breath and now it is time to post!

    White Christmas odds? Tough to tell but probably different depending on where you are in the metro. Just need an inch officially to make it a "white Christmas" so I say the official snow depth will indeed be 1 inch or more at the airport which will make 2021 a White Christmas for the official record book. No to southern MN and yes to north of metro.

    I think the next storm could get quite interesting. After a possible appetizer on Christmas Day (dancing shoes for Christmas anyone??), we could get a big one late in the weekend.

    Bring it, baby!!

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