Almanacs “Daily almanac - Columbus Dispatch” plus 3 more

Daily almanac - Columbus Dispatch
A frantic 48 hours - Tri-City Herald
Outdoors almanac - Oshkosh Northwestern
Snow prediction didn't measure up - Burlington County Times

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 04:38 AM PST

Ten years ago: Right-wing Austrian leader Joerg Haider resigned as head of the Freedom Party in an apparent bid to end Austria's international ostracism.

Five years ago: In Santa Maria, Calif., the prosecution and defense gave opening statements in the sexual molestation trial of Michael Jackson, who was later acquitted.

One year ago: Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer, died in Phoenix. He was 90.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY "In science, all facts, no matter how trivial or banal, enjoy democratic equality."

- Mary McCarthy,
American author and critic (1912-89)

Source: Associated Press

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A frantic 48 hours - Tri-City Herald

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 03:41 AM PST

What a crazy past two days spent shuttling between Toyota Center and the Herald office.

But it was well worth it to watch some of the best basketball you can see all year at the 4A Eastern Regional tournament.

Congratulations to the eight teams that qualified for the state tournament next week at the Tacoma Dome.

I'd had a feeling that the Moses Lake girls might sneak through, and behold, the Chiefs did just that behind the brilliant play of junior point guard Jordan Loera.

I don't know if I'd go quite as far as her coach, Matt Strophy, and declare her to be the best basketball player in the state of Washington. But Loera would definitely be in the discussion.

As for the Chiawana girls, there was a bit of heartbreak in watching a seven-point halftime lead slip away in an eventual 54-48 overtime loss to Mead in the championship game.

But there weren't many tears. The Riverhawks already had accomplished their primary goal of the week -- making it to Tacoma.

"In our eyes, the district championship is a big deal," said coach Steve Davis. "This game is just a seeding situation. If this is going to happen, you want to do this now, not next week."

The Riverhawks start three veterans off last year's Pasco team that won the CBBN Columbia, district and regional titles, but most head to the westside feeling like junior Mikaela Rivard.

"I've never been there. I'm so excited," said Rivard, who led Chiawana in the title game with 16 points. "It's going to be a fun experience."

The boys half of the tournament produced a pair of bummers for Tri-City fans as Richland lost on a buzzer-beater and Kamiakin's comeback against Walla Walla came up short.

It marks the second straight year no Tri-City team qualified for state.

As I was perusing the regional program, this stat struck me -- the last time a Tri-City school won the regional title was Richland in 1997. Since then, only one team has even made the championship game -- Pasco in 2007, when the Bulldogs lost to Ferris 65-45.

I put it to the TCH readership. Why have the Tri-City teams struggled at regionals for so long?

I'm at a loss to explain it. But think about this -- who was the last big-time recruit to come out of the Tri-Cities? And don't say Scot Pollard, he of the half-year at Kamiakin before shuffling off to San Diego for graduation.

Wa-Hi has two this year -- Gary Winston (Idaho) and Michael Weisner (Montana).

By the way, this is the final year of the eight-team 4A regional bracket. Next year, the field drops to six, following the 3A tournament's format by giving the GSL and CBBN district champions first-round byes.

Each league will send three teams to regionals, with the 3s traveling to the 2s for loser-out games Tuesday night. The final four teams gather at Toyota Center for semifinals Friday, and the championship and winner-to-state games Saturday.

The 3A tournament will have four CBBN and two GSL teams, as it did in 2007 and 2008, with the eastside looking as if it will get two state berths after reclassification.

Also, the GSL almanac will return in an online format in the next couple of weeks. Check it out at gslalmanac.com when it's ready.

Til next time ...

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Outdoors almanac - Oshkosh Northwestern

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 02:08 AM PST

Great Lakes

Kevin Romdenne's 16-inch, two-pound yellow perch was the biggest in an ice fishing contest headquartered at Little Sturgeon Bay last weekend.

Whitefish continue to dominate the catches, and the best action seems to be coming from 25 to 50 feet of water from Sugar Creek to Sherwood Point, with the Henderson Point to Sand Bay stretch the most popular. Ice thickness varies widely, but ranges from 12 to 18 inches in many areas.

While the Fox and Menominee rivers are still attracting cautious ice anglers, the focus will soon switch to open-water walleye. Boaters targeting the area below De Pere will have to be patient — nights in the 20s and daytime highs in the low to mid-30s are in the forecast this week. There's open water on the lower Fox, where it dumps into Green Bay.

As soon as fishermen with small boats can push out over ice or launch into open water, they'll be after trout in the Lake Michigan shallows. Browns are the favored targets, but some lakers also are hooked. Lake trout season opens Monday. All other trout and salmon seasons are open year-round in Lake Michigan waters.

Inland waters

Anglers targeting perch, walleye, white bass and pike on Lake Winnebago and its upriver lakes need to look out for thin ice where sturgeon holes were cut during the recent season. Even though they're usually well-marked, fishermen should exercise great caution while moving about, even on foot.

Panfish are hitting best early and late in the day. Mild, cloudy afternoons have been particularly productive for some.

The early catch-and-release-only trout season opens, artificial bait only, Saturday. The season runs through April 25.

Anglers must have ice-fishing shelters off inland waters south of State 64 by March 7. That's also the date of the season closure for game fish species on many waters. Check fishing regulations for waters that remain open all year.

Hunting

Deer management unit public information meetings will be held March 10 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Denmark High School (for hunters in units 64, 64M, 80A, 80B and 81) and March 11 from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Clintonville High School for units 47, 51B, 62B, 63A and 63B.

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Snow prediction didn't measure up - Burlington County Times

Posted: 28 Feb 2010 02:01 AM PST

Weather prognosticators forecast a snowy winter. They were only half right.

Accuweather expected this winter to be a rough one for the Mid-Atlantic.

"Did we think it was going to be record breaking? Probably not," Accuweather meteorologist Tom Kines said Friday.

As we enter March still reeling from a month that brought both a "snowicane" and "snowmageddon," a look back at long-range forecasts for the winter of 2010 shows this season has generated more than twice the snow even the most dire predictions expected.

NBC 10's Glenn "Hurricane" Schwartz predicted 18-24 inches this winter for Philadelphia. Accuweather predicted in mid-December that the region could see up to 30 inches this winter, well above the 19.3-inch average that fell between 1971 and 2000.

And while the Farmer's Almanac correctly called two of the storms, they missed two others, including the one the weekend before Christmas - two days before winter officially began - which provided nearly two-thirds of the snow some were predicting for the whole season.

As of midnight Friday, Philadelphia had seen 75 inches total.

And Accuweather says that may not be the last of it.

The weather pattern responsible for this season's aggressive winter weather is expected to stick around until at least mid-March, which could mean more snowstorms. El Niño conditions could start breaking down by April, Kines said.

But "if you're rooting for spring," he said, "you're going to have to wait a while."

The 2010 Farmer's Almanac has a gentler prediction.

The system that blew through the region this week should be the last major snowstorm of the season, according to the publication, which has been predicting the weather since 1818.

Skeptics take note: that comes from the same forecast that predicted that February would bring two major snowstorms about two weeks apart.

"The blizzard conditions that belted the Middle Atlantic states this past weekend, bringing things to a standstill from Virginia to Philadelphia, was not a surprise to those working at the Farmers' Almanac," publication officials crowed in a mid-February press release.

Indeed, the almanac's forecast for the northeast called for blizzard conditions around the middle of the month and another snowstorm two weeks later.

The predictions went so far as to name exact dates for the storms, which were a few days off in both cases. The almanac blamed El Niño.

The Farmers' Almanac does not, however, mention the third snowstorm the region saw this month, nor did it anticipate a snowstorm in mid-December.

The publication's March predictions call for some heavy wet snow and possible local flooding mid-month, with heavy rain later making way for clearer conditions. But the wet stuff will keep coming. The almanac expects the summer to bring two hurricane threats and plenty of thunderstorms, and for snow to return by early November.

Annie Tasker can be reached at 215-345-3187 or atasker@phillyBurbs.com.

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Almanacs

Sunday, February 28, 2010