Okay. January is in the books. How will meteorological history treat the first month of this new year? I'll go through all the stats. But wait. There's more! Since my job is to forecast, how about a Super Bowl forecast? And did you see Tom Brady's response to a young fan's question about the "Tom Brady haters?" Like the Patriots or not, it's worth a moment to examine his answer! 

 For those who grew up remembering the music from the 1970s and 1980s, Big Bam Boom was the last wildly successful studio album from the popular duo, (Daryl) Hall & (John) Oates. But that's NOT what this podcast is about. The polar vortex invasion of the last few days has resulted in many unusual occurrences. One of them is a sudden, loud cracking or booming sound that has shaken houses and sent its occupants scrambling outside to find... nothing. So what is causing all of these "big bams and booms?" They're called cryoseisms (CRY-oh-see-isms). Let's explore this phenomenon in today's episode. 

Today, I share a personal anecdote about what it was like breathing in air that was -42°F in northern Vermont when I was a meteorology student at the University of Northern Vermont in Lyndonville. Let's put it this way: I REMEMBER it very, very well. Is breathing air that cold dangerous? I'll look at the physiological changes that our bronchial system undergoes when we breath in super-cold air.

As NEOhio sees the arctic air taking hold, it already has a firm grip on eastern Iowa. Jeff Kennedy was once my competition at my first television job in Iowa, but here we are, decades later knowing each other as close friends. I asked Jeff to chat about the cold he was experiencing as well as how our paths crossed and about life in general. I hope to have Jeff return in a few days to see how long and how deep the cold affected Iowa.

On this Monday, the coldest air in decades will start to take over news and weather headlines as we head into this potentially historically cold mid-week period. How does it compare to 1994 when Cleveland saw 56 continuous hours of below zero temperatures and an all-time record low of -20°F? We'll also explore how long this arctic smackdown will last as well as listening in to NOAA Weather Radio in Minnesota... and for kicks, Hawaii!

As the eastern two-thirds of the USA braces for the coldest arctic outbreak in at least four years, my mind started thinking of my favorite warm beverages. It got me to wondering what YOURS were? That is the first of two questions I asked WeatherJazz® listeners during a Facebook Live segment earlier today. The results were quite interesting! Join me at the coffee counter as we hash out all the details.

First, I'd like to thank everyone for the HUGE response to Episode #041 on the phenomenon of a violently shaking car after a big snowstorm. If you've yet to sample it, I highly suggest doing so. It will save you a trip to the mechanic the next time it happens.

During this weekend's lunar eclipse (visible here in Ohio and where weather permitted), something very subtle but important happened. It was caught on a single video frame as a tiny blip. As it turns out, it was actually a meteoroid striking the darkened lunar surface.

My drive home from the television station on Saturday night was bad enough! It took me nearly triple the normal time in the 6-12" of heavy, wet snow. But what happened the following day after the deep, arctic freeze was even more alarming. My car was shaking so violently on Sunday that I thought there was something seriously wrong. What was it? Let's explore on today's episode of WeatherJazz®!

With the snowstorm now less than 12 hours from starting here in NEOhio, what kinds of tweaks, if any, did I make to the snowfall totals projection? The map I drew earlier this afternoon is still valid (and is visible on WeatherJazz.com under this episode post). Storms like this are so complex that forecasting them accurately can be difficult, but this one appears to be sending strong atmospheric clues to how it will "act" as it moves across the Ohio Valley on Saturday.

Watch for at least two weekend updates right here on WeatherJazz®.

As we draw closer to the projected weekend snowstorm, our resolution and accuracy becomes clearer. For the first time, we can comfortably post numbers to the projected snowfall by Sunday morning (not counting any lake effect that may set in well after the storm system itself departs on Sunday morning.