NO NO Not the Arctic Oscillation

A lot of people have been asking - what ever happened to El Nino.

Well - two words - Arctic Oscillation

El Nino is still happening but there has been another factor and in the States it all has to do with that very first Blizzard that hit the plains and midwest and you can blame the Arctic.

Because it's dark in the Arctic 24/7, very very cold air builds up. Normally the Polar Jet stream acts like a wall keeping the Arctic air in the Arctic. But from time to time the jet stream weakens letting Arctic air flow south. It's what happens in your typical cold wave. The Polar Jet leaks a little and an Arctic air mass descends on the U.S. The is called an Arctic Oscillation. Typically this Oscillation will last days to weeks and is a normal part of winter. HOWEVER - This one began is different and started to travel south about December 1st.

What normally happens is the air mass will flow south and as it goes over the comparably warmer earth it will gradually warm. But this time what happened is that about December 8th a massive snow storm covered a very very large part of the U.S. The air mass did not warm up but like a down hill train kept rolling south not cooling.

This is the strongest Arctic Oscillation in 60 years. So strong it WAS off the charts. Now we're about to get the bounce back. Four days ago, for the 1st time since December 7th, the needle is not buried but is heading up for a warm up.

NOAA has, as of yesterday, come out saying that because so much arctic air has already flowed south they are predicting a warmer then normal next three months for northern states and colder for southern states. Your normal El Nino effects.

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My view on the Public enemies DVD. I'm disappointed. The movie is good as we all know but the extras lacked imagination and I feel was just a cookie cutter additions and Micheal Mann was lazy. You would think that a movie that was one of the very very few to do everything on location that they would have given some thought to showing crowds, towns, excitement of the locations and so forth. Nothing! When you have something about "The Making of" you have to think that there would be SOMETHING about what happens to a town of 5000 when a major motion picture is being filmed on it's main street. But there was nothing but the normal cookie cutter attempt to add content. Disappointed!

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DJ's very hard Pot Roast Recipe

Pot Roast yummy

3 lbs chuck roast

Cut up an onion and put in bottom of crock pot.

Season the roast with garlic powder, seasoning salt or whatever you like

Brown the roast in olive oil

Put roast in crock pot on top of onions

Add a few shakes of worstersheer-shire sauce :)

Pour two cans of Campbell ’s golden mushroom soup over the roast

Add a little water to the bottom of the crock pot….maybe ½ a cup or so

Cook on low…mine cooked for 10 1/2hours while at work. Then sat on warm for another hour.. Roast should come out very tender. Makes a really good gravy. Just skim the fat off the top with a spoon before you stir or take the roast out and you will be all set. Eat it with mashed potatoes or whatever.

Tip from Rod - you can use bread to soak up the fat on top, like a sponge. We talked and are thinking of adding more mushrooms next time. The gravy was outstanding.
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In photography - I found a place that will print images on metal sheets!!! SWEET. I've seen this but never knew where or how. hmmmmmm

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The problem at the moment with Columbus us that there are no controversy!

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have a great Thursday
Rod