The flu has arrived at my house

It's flu season around much of the United States. As I was watching CNN's coverage of presidential primaries and caucuses this afternoon, a weather cut-in noted that only Florida and Maine have managed to avoid widespread outbreaks of the flu so far this year. The report also noted that this year's flu vaccine is only effective against two of the three strains seen in the U.S. this season. Needless to say, neither my wife nor myself got a flu shot this year, and, of course, my wife seems to have come down with the dreaded influenza virus. Aches, pains, congestion and a 103 fever have thrown her for a loop. And unless I'm unusually lucky, I'll probably come down with it sooner rather than later (something to look forward to).

It would be interesting to see how many of the flu cases being reported are among people who DID take the flu shot this year. In any event, we are stuck indoors on this cold and snowy evening, and, with temperatures struggling to reach the low 30s Sunday and Monday, it's probably just as well.

Is that the Sun I see?

It seems as if we haven't seen any sunshine for at least the last five days or so. It's been one storm system after another, passing across Connecticut bringing us rain, sleet, freezing rain--what The Weather Channel likes to call a "wintry mix."

We may actually get a short-lived break from the dreary weather on Friday afternoon. There might be a bit of sunshine, and clear skies on Friday night before another round of clouds and wintry precipitation moves in for later Saturday and into a bit of Sunday as well. Climatologically speaking, we should now be coming out of the depths of winter as the days grow longer and the temperatures begin their slow climb. But, as I've pointed out before, there's still plenty of winter to get through before we can dream of days on the beach.

The biggest question plaguing us these days, however, is this...who's not telling the truth, Roger Clemens, or his former trainer, Brian McNamee? We report, you decide. Meanwhile, there's just seven days until Spring Training begins. Now for me, that's when winter really ends.

Of Winter Weather and Sweeps Month

February, for those of you who are unfamiliar with the workings of TV ratings, is sweeps month. Sweeps periods occur in February, May and November of each year. During those months, national networks, as well as local TV stations closely monitor viewership to determine which programs (and local newscasts) people are watching. From that data, the networks determine which shows get renewed or cancelled, and the local stations determine how much they can charge for advertising revenue, based on viewership.

Local TV stations often put interesting news stories or features on during sweeps months, which they promote during prime time programming. You may notice a trend toward stories that have a "must watch" theme. And, just in time for the weather departments, winter is poised to return to the region. That means that local weathercasters around the northeast will promote long range forecasts of potential winter weather with a bit more urgency.

The latest round of National Weather Service computer forecasts is indicating that a significant blast of Arctic air will be moving into the region by Sunday, and should stick around for a few days. That means that daytime temperatures will likely only reach the mid-20's on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, with overnight lows in the upper single digits or low 10's. On top of all that, the longer range forecasts are pointing to a potential winter storm for the 19th of the month. Bear in mind, however, that forecasts that far in advance often change drastically by the time that day actually rolls around, so take those inevitable gloom and doom forecasts with a healthy grain of salt for the time being.

Nobody's Perfect

What a remarkable finish to last night's Superbowl XLII (and when are we going to stop numbering these Superbowls? I mean, would anyone actually be able to remember who won World Series LXVIII if baseball were using the same idiotic numbering scheme?) As a born and raised New Yorker, I couldn't be happier for the Giants this morning, especially after all those predictions of a 41-17 Patriots blowout. Congratulations to Big Blue this morning.

I wish we could catch a weather break, but this doesn't look like the week to get it. The stormy weather pattern looks like it will persist through much of this week. We might see some sunshine on Thursday, but for the most part, lots of clouds and precipitation, and most of it appears as if it will be rain rather than snow. And for those of you who think that winter might be over by now, remember that February and March are, climatologically speaking, the two snowiest months of the year.