Random Friday Thoughts — January 22, 2016

While I’ve blogged about various topics lately, I haven’t done a “Random Friday Thoughts” blog in some time, so here goes.

SHE’S BACK…..

Former Alaska Governor and 2008 Vice President nominee Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump.

In news that’s even more shocking, right around that announcement, her 26-year-old son, Track, was arrested after a fight with girlfriend, in which he allegedly punched and kicked her.  She was also concerned he would take his own life with a rifle.

Track faces three misdemeanor charges:  assault, interfering with the reporting of domestic violence, and possessing a gun while intoxicated.

Mama Palin says the anger her son displayed may be the result of PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder).  While that may be true, in her twisted logic, she basically says President Obama is to blame because of the lack of respect for returning veterans.

Palin says, “That comes from our own President.  Where they have to look at him and wonder, ‘Do you know what we go through? Do you know what we’re trying to do to secure America?'”

Incredible.

Even the head of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Paul Rieckhoff disagrees with that.  He says, “It’s not President Obama’s fault that Sarah Palin’s son has PTSD.  PTSD is a very serious problem, a complicated mental health injury and I would be extremely reluctant to blame any one person in particular.”

ICE(LAND) ICE(LAND) BABY

Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama says that gays wanting to marry should go to Iceland and stay.

Really?  Looking at this beautiful view above, how could that be a bad thing?

Burn! 😏

CELEBRITY DEATHS KEEP COMING!

We’re only three weeks into 2016 and, sadly, more and more celebrities are dying.

The actors include Alan Rickman (“Harry Potter” series), Dan Haggerty (“Grizzly Adams”) and Pat Harrington, Jr. (“One Day at a Time”).  Then there’s Celine Dion’s husband and brother (within two days of each other) and music legend David Bowie.

And, earlier this week, Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey died.

While “The Heat is On” and “You Belong To The City” were bigger solo hits, this is one my favorite Frey hits.

REBA’S TRIBUTE TO HER FATHER

Last spring, Reba released her latest album, “Love Somebody” and it spent two weeks at #1 on the country album chart.

Sadly, country radio pretty much turned its back on the two singles.  “Going Out Like That”, one of my ten favorite songs of 2015, only made it to #23 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart and “Until They Don’t Love You” didn’t even make it onto the chart!

I’m not holding my breath that “Just Like Them Horses” will even be released to country radio.

It was one of my favorites songs on the album and Reba just put out a video to the song in memory of her father Clark McEntire that died in October 2014.

“WORLD WAR Z 2”

The sequel to 2013’s “World War Z” with Brad Pitt is still scheduled to hit theaters June 9, 2017.  However, the movie is now without a director.

J.A. Bayona (“The Impossible”) was attached to direct the zombie film, but backed out saying he was too involved with other commitments.

The movie is still scheduled to shoot this year.

If you recall, there were many setbacks in getting the first film to theaters.  Typically, that means there’s trouble and it suffers at the box office.  That didn’t happen to “World War Z”.  It grossed $540 million.

It was also my second favorite movie of 2013.

“THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE”

If you have Amazon Prime, check out the highly acclaimed series, “The Man In the High Castle”.  It’s a great show and the premise is far-fetched and thought-provoking.

It’s 1962 and it appears that America lost World War II.  The western United States in under Japanese rule and the much of the rest of United States is under Germany’s control.

Between the two, there’s a “Neutral Zone”.  It’s there where the story is getting interesting because there’s a resistance underway after film reels surface with news-style footage showing that the Allies did win the war and Japan and Germany lost.

Very intriguing and the three stars are beautiful!

“DIETLAND”

Since it’s an election year, I’ve moved on to reading about political figures.  I started out with “It Takes a Village” by Hillary Rodham Clinton.  While informative, it seemed a little too clinical, but I loved the tidbits I learned about Hillary and her early life.

I’ve now moved on to Mike Huckabee and Marco Rubio will be next.  By that time, I’m 100% sure that it’ll be back to Hillary and “Living History”.

But, before I got all serious, I read Sarai Walker’s “Dietland” and I highly, highly recommend it.

The book is about Plum, an overweight woman, that has failed at diets and is considering gastric bypass surgery.  She then realizes she’s being followed and it leads to meeting a woman connected to her past diet failures.  Also, a series of high profile murders of scummy men lead to a revolt about the exploitation of women.

Read my complete review of “Dietland” here.  If you click on the link, it’ll open in a new page.

https://anthonypeoples.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/losing-weight-degrading-women-is-torture-in-dietland/

“THE WALK”

I love Joseph Gordon-Levitt and he’s intense, funny, and incredible in “The Walk” from last fall, which is now out on DVD.

He plays French high-wire artist Philipe Petit, who stunned the world in August 1974, staging the unthinkable — high-wire walking between the newly constructed World Trade Center’s Twin Towers 1,350 feet above the ground

The 45-minute aerial show kept the crowd below holding their breath and police on the roofs of both towers distressed on how to get Petit off the wires alive.

GRADE:  A

“SICARIO”

This was one of my most anticipated movies that I wanted to see on DVD since I never got around to seeing it in theaters.

While it brought home the losing battle we’re fighting in the drug war in Mexico and the United States and the viciousness of the drug lords, it didn’t excite me as much watching it.

Don’t get me wrong.  It is a great movie with superb acting.  I just think I waited too long to see it and my expectations were too high.

One thing I did notice that stood out like a lead character was the haunting score.  While I’ve never paid any attention to that category at the Academy Awards, I mentioned to Ray when we were watching the movie, “that score deserves to be nominated for an Oscar”. And, it was nominated!

You can hear the sounds that caught my attention and made the movie creepier right at the beginning of the trailer here.

GRADE:  B

“FIFTY SHADES OF GREY”

I finally got around to seeing “Fifty Shades of Grey” and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

I don’t think it deserves the “Razzie Award” nomination, but I don’t think that Dakota Johnson should have won a People’s Choice Award either!

It was more entertaining than I expected.  However, there was no chemistry between Johnson and gorgeous stud Jamie Dornan, who plays billionaire Christian Grey.

I’ll definitely see the second movie when it comes to DVD and I have a casting suggestion for “Mrs. Robinson” — Gillian Anderson.

“The X-Files” and “Hannibal” star is the lead in the incredible and mind-blowing series “The Fall” with Dornan!  Season three of that superb series should be out in 2016!

When I think of Dornan as Grey, it’s still “Fifty Shades of ‘Heyyyy'”!

GRADE:  B

LOVE CAKE, BUT NEVER HAD IT BY THE OCEAN

DNCE, Joe Jonas’ current musical project, is scoring its first pop hit, “Cake By The Ocean”.

I latched on to this one early on and it was my #6 favorite song of 2015.  If you listen to Top 40 radio, you hear it all the time now.

It’s still so much fun and it makes me think of summer during these cold months.

Okay, I could keep going.  But, I’ll stop now before I go on a political rant and endorsement.

Thank you for checking out my random thoughts.  Let me know what you’re thinking.

Anthony

Equality is Not “Establishment”

The fight for equal rights is a tough one and it’s one that will not end today or tomorrow.

LGBT and straight people have fought very hard for decades — from the Stonewall riots in the summer of 1969 to Harvey Milk’s fight against Anita Bryant and her crusade in the late- 1970s to Act Up in the 1980s and for every marriage equality battle won before the Supreme Court Of The United States granted that right to every American last summer –for equal rights for everyone.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is a leader in that fight.

My respect for Bernie Sanders dimmed after he lashed out at the HRC by calling it an “establishment organization” after its endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president.

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest LGBT civil rights advocacy group in the United States.  It has been fighting the establishment and the system for equality since its founding in 1980.

The HRC is not the only organization that endorsed Clinton and was called “establishment” by Sanders.  He said the same thing about Planned Parenthood.

That organization calls Sanders’ comments, “regrettable”.

 

Every fight the HRC and Planned Parenthood takes on are difficult ones and Sanders needs to be held accountable for his comments.

 

With the Iowa Caucus a little over a week away, I hope people see that while he may seem like a nice grandfatherly type that speaks his mind, he’s also the “establishment” and is just as “Washington” as the next candidate.

These endorsements don’t give Sanders the right to play nasty with the fights both of these organizations are taking on where we all win — straight, gay, men, women, children, elderly, rich, poor, black, white, Hispanic, and on and on!

We humans all win when there’s equality and when there’s someone there fighting for us.

Anthony

Amazing Television and Rescue

UPDATED:  January 15, 2019

Time does fly.  (Pun intended!)

It’s hard to believe it was ten years ago today that US Airways Flight 1549 was ditched into the Hudson River after taking from LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

Shortly after take-off, the plane encountered a flock of Canadian geese, which causes engine failure.

57-year-old Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger and 49-year-old First Officer Jeff Skiles skillfully saved all 155 passengers on board in this amazing, unpowered emergency water landing.

A movie based on the real-life drama, “Sully” hit movie theaters September 9, 2016.

Clint Eastwood directed Oscar winner Tom Hanks as the Captain and Aaron Eckhart as Skiles. The movie also starred Oscar nominee Laura Linney as Sully’s wife, Lorraine.

If you want a quick refresher, here’s more about what happened in the moment that led Sully to land the plane on the Hudson — from Wikipedia!  🙂

“First Officer Skiles was at the controls of the flight when it took off to the northeast from Runway 4 at 3:25 pm, and was the first to notice a formation of birds approaching the aircraft about two minutes later, while passing through an altitude of about 2,700 feet on the initial climb out to 15,000 feet. According to FDR data, the bird encounter occurred at 3:27:11, when the airplane was at an altitude of 2,818 feet above ground level (agl) and a distance of about 4.5 miles north-northwest of the approach end of Runway 22 at LGA. Subsequently, the airplane’s altitude continued to increase while the airspeed decreased, until 3:27:30, when the airplane reached its highest altitude of about 3,060 feet, at an airspeed of about 185 knots (343 km/h; 213 mph) calibrated airspeed (KCAS). The altitude then started to decrease as the airspeed started to increase, reaching 210 KCAS at 3:28:10 at an altitude of about 1,650 feet. The windshield view was quickly filled with big, dark-brown birds and several loud thuds were heard. Capt. Sullenberger took the controls, while Skiles began going through the three-page emergency procedures checklist in an attempt to restart the engines.”

At that point, birds were hit and both engines lost thrust and the plane turned back toward LaGuardia.

“Responding to the captain’s report of a bird strike, controller Patrick Harten, who was working the departure position, told LaGuardia tower to hold all waiting departures on the ground, and gave Flight 1549 a heading to return to LaGuardia and told him that he could land to the southeast on Runway 13.  Sullenberger responded that he was “unable” to do so.”

The September movie does sound interesting and I’m glad I’m not flying into LaGuardia until late March when maybe it won’t be fresh in my mind!

Anthony

Losing Weight & Degrading Women Is Torture In “Dietland”

When it comes to recommendations, you expect me to suggest movies (you still need to see “Lilting”, “Bridegroom”,”Weekend”, and “Mr. Holmes”), music (“Deja Vu” by Giorgio Moroder, “Communion” by Years & Years, and “Emotion” by Carly Rae Jepsen were tops last year), or television shows (loving “The Man In The High Castle” and “Quantico” while I wait for my regulars to return.)

Last year, I even suggested a couple of books — the incredible “The Girl on the Train” by Paula Hawkins and “Day Four” by Sarah Lotz — both debut novels.

Normally, I read non-fiction books, autobiographies, and biographies.  Since it’s an election year, I’m going to devour political books this year and I’m starting off with “It Takes A Village” by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

However, thanks to “Entertainment Weekly”, I had to get one more book in before polluting my mind with politics.

It named “Dietland” by Sarai Walker as one of the ten best books of 2015.

And, I totally agree.  I devoured the stellar 307-page novel like Plum would choke down greasy cheeseburgers, cupcakes, and homemade lady fingers.

Okay, I need to back up because there’s also Alicia and we definitely can’t forget Jennifer!

“Dietland” is centered around Plum, a reclusive woman from California, now living in New York City and working for a fashion magazine catering to women.  Actually, her job, that allows her to work at home or from the cafe she frequents, is to answer emails from young women that think they’re writing to the editor of the magazine, Kitty, for advice.

And, she’s likely not working from the Austen Media Tower high rise in Manhattan because she doesn’t fit the editor’s or the magazine’s ideal woman mold — Plum is very overweight, clocking in at over 300 pounds.

Although she’s tried dieting and weight loss programs since she was young, her weight keeps going up.

She feels her only alternative is to have gastric bypass surgery.  That’ll allow “Alicia” (her given birth name and the skinny woman deep down inside her overweight body) a chance to shine — a chance to live life, wear fun clothes, date, and fall in love.  Those are the things that Plum feels she’ll never have.

One day, she realizes that she’s being followed.  This eventually leads to a confrontation with the person tailing her and Plum meeting other people including a woman with ties to a weight loss program Plum tried and failed at when she was younger.

In the meantime, a series of high profile events involving men suspected of rape, domestic violence, and other acts against women — directly or indirectly — are starting and gaining national and international attention.

These are not court cases.  No, I’m talking about men being dropped from a plane to their deaths in the desert and much more.

But, who’s doing this?

Is Jennifer the mastermind behind the series of attacks on men and the media that objectify women.  Is Jennifer an alias of one of the main characters or an underground group?  And, how long will it take before she starts a whole revolution of women lashing out at men and institutions that demean them with unrealistic expectations?

And, then the big question is how does this all tie into Plum and her aversion to saying the one word, the f-word, that she’s never been able to say about herself — that’s she fat!

“Dietland” is a stellar debut novel from Sarai (pronounced sa-RAY) Walker and I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next.

Walker has mastered what it feels like to be an outsider.  An outsider that learns if you love yourself, it doesn’t matter what other small-minded people think — since killing them is still against the law!

In a perfect world and if Hollywood took real chances, this book would be optioned for a movie — like five minutes ago!

Anthony

Maddie & Tae’s Country Debut is a Classic

There are many subgenres in country music:  outlaw, traditional, neotraditional, bluegrass, and the latest hot trend, bro-country.

I know that singing about women, partying, alcohol, and pick-up trucks are a staple of good ol’ boy country, but that doesn’t appeal to everyone.  I’m raising my hand!

The Southern Plains duo Maddie & Tae (Madison Marlow and Taylor Dye) are the antithesis of “bro-country” and it’s refreshing.

Although their full length debut album, “Start Here”, came out late last summer and reached #2 on the Billboard Country Album chart, it’s still churning out hits and catching on.

I’m glad I took a chance on it this week.  It’s a great effort for the 20-year-old singers and songwriters that penned all eleven songs on the album.

When their first single, “Girl In A Country Song”, came out in the summer of 2014 and became the most played song on country radio five months later, I took notice and featured it as one of my favorite songs of 2014.

Not only was the song fun and catchy, the video took on the country bros and empowered women to turn the tables and objectify men!

In just three-and-a-half minutes, country music took notice of these two young women and realized that they were smart and not just pretty faces!

By topping the Country Airplay chart, Maddie & Tae became only the second female duo to reach #1 with their first effort in the history of country music.

The follow-up, “Fly” reached #9 last year.

Their current single, “Shut Up and Fish”, is currently gaining traction at country radio and is one of my favorite songs on “Start Here”.

The video also features Taylor’s older brother, Mason Dye, from the 2014 movie, “Flowers in the Attic”.

“Start Here” is full of several great mid-tempo and upbeat songs like “Smoke”, “Right Here, Right Now”, and “Downside of Growing Up” and the ballad, “After The Storm Blows Through”, is incredible.

If you like traditional country, the peppy “No Place Like You” reminds me of 1990s Pam Tillis.

While the third single is just now moving up the country charts, if Maddie & Tae are thinking of releasing a fourth single from the album, my choice is “Your Side of Town”.  It would be a perfect, fun summer song.

The opening musical notes had me thinking “Sin Wagon” by the Dixie Chicks, and with the positive, strong female message that emanates throughout this debut album, that’s a good thing.

I’ve mentioned how much I love “Shut Up and Fish” and “Your Side of Town”, but I think my favorite song on “Start Here” is “Sierra”.  Being the dad of a 14-year-old daughter, a high school freshman, I hear a lot about “girl drama” and I know it’s only going to get worse.

“Sierra” is a fun and cheeky song, but it does send out a very strong message to women.  They should be there to back each other up and not tear each other down — they have men to do that!  Karma comes around and you may need that girlfriend one day.

“Start Here” would be a great album from any country artist, whether it’s a veteran or a superstar, but since it’s from two up-and-comers, that means we’ll be hearing a lot more from Maddie & Tae in the future.

It may have taken me months to buy this album, but it can be the album of 2016 that all new ones will have to measure up to!

GRADE:

Maddie & Tae may be taking on bro-country one song and one concert at a time, but more importantly, “Start Here” is empowering to any teenager, woman, or open-minded man that listens to it.

Anthony

Great Music Defies Age Barriers

Sometimes when driving in to work, I listen to CDs and sometimes I just flip through the programmed channels on the radio.

Today, I heard the two latest hits from Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber and that was just in a 15-minute drive.  That prompted me to write today’s blog.

On today’s drive, I didn’t know that legendary music icon David Bowie had died peacefully in his sleep after a long battle with cancer just two days after his 69th birthday.

I learned that when I logged on to my computer at work.  And, I thought back to last week when I heard “Let’s Dance” on my drive to work after a local station abandoned the Christmas music format.

I was a fan of Bowie’s 1980s music and “Modern Love” was one of my favorites.

In his passing, I was reminded of the strong conviction of his standing up for his beliefs and questioning the system when it wasn’t welcoming to all.  Here’s a short read on Bowie questioning a MTV VJ about why the network didn’t feature black artists.  Michael Jackson would one of the first that benefited from the inclusion.

R.I.P. David Bowie!

Originally, I was talking about hearing Taylor Swift’s “Out of the Woods”, the amazing sixth single from “1989” and “Love Yourself”, my favorite song from Justin Bieber’s “Purpose” album.  (I also heard Taylor’s “Wildest Dreams” and Justin’s “Sorry”.)

At 51, I’m not ashamed to say that I love Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber, who are 26 and almost 22 years old, respectively.

In the early 1980s, I’m sure there were 51-year-olds, that screamed for Elvis, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and David Bowie in their youth, loving the same music as me.

When I was in my teens and early 20s, I idolized Madonna, Erasure (Andy Bell and Vince Clarke), Boy George and Culture Club, Duran Duran, Pete Burns of Dead or Alive, and the Pet Shop Boys.  They were either the same age as me or maybe a few years older.

The point is, while I was in heaven with the fantastic dance music coming out of the 1980s, people decades older than me were enjoying the same sounds and probably weren’t ashamed to admit it.

That’s why many of those artists are still making some of the best music of their careers. Top 40 radio just doesn’t know it!

So, if you’re checking this blog out and you’re about Taylor and Justin’s age, take a moment to enjoy my generation’s superstars.  You’ll likely enjoy it and know that age doesn’t matter.

Enjoy life and music, regardless of your age or the age of the singers you’re listening to!

Anthony

Bitter Cold Wind Chills Today

When you walk out today, it’ll be hard to believe that just two days ago it was raining and temperatures were in the low-40s!  Even yesterday before the cold air started rushing it, we were in the mid-30s.

Today is going to be the coldest day of the winter season.

A “Wind Chill Advisory” is in effect through midday for all of Iowa and a portion of west-central Illinois. This includes the Quad Cities.

We’re starting out at 1° this morning with a wind chill of -20°.

The one-degree start ties the coldest morning this winter back on November 22, 2015.  That occurred right after the 9.9″ of snow that fell in the Quad Cities from the two-day snow event November 20th and 21st.

However, back in November when we hit 1° for the low, highs the next day were back in the 40s!

That definitely won’t be the case today as many hometowns may not even reach 10° for the high.

How’s this for a silver lining:  While it’s starting very cold in the Quad Cities, it could be worse.  Early this morning, it’s -15° in Spencer, Iowa, with a wind chill of -36°.  Mason City, Iowa, is at -12° this morning with a wind chill of -35°!

For those keeping record, we officially picked up 0.2″ of snow Saturday in the Quad Cities from the snowstorm that brought 4-5″ around Bureau County, Illinois.

As for snow chances this week, a little clipper could bring an inch or so Monday and Monday night and then another shot of cold air for Tuesday.  It’ll be similar to today’s weather with highs struggling to reach 10°.

Another snow event is possible later this week.

Anthony

The Cold Blast Is A Bigger Concern

UPDATED POST:  Saturday, January 9, 2015, 3:20 p.m.

Light snow is now falling in the Quad Cities, but it’s very dry in nature and you’ll likely see it blow across the roadways and off houses.  It will accumulate on grassy surfaces.

To the south and east where it’s snowing heavier, here are some reported snow totals:  2.0″ Macomb (IL); 2.0″ Industry (McDonough County, IL); and 1.5″ Princeton (IL).

Anthony

ORIGINAL POST:  Saturday, January 9, 2015, 5:00 a.m.

All week long, I’ve talked about the unseasonably warm weather coming to an end this weekend.  The cold Arctic air will blast across Iowa and Illinois this afternoon and Saturday night with some light snow.

The storm that’ll bring the snow is tracking more to the southeast and this means the Quad Cities will see nothing more than light snow that might be enough to dust the ground.

Off to the east and southeast from around Princeton to Galesburg, Illinois, the snow will accumulate a little more — around 1″ or so.

However, if you have travel plans to Chicago today, the storm is primed to bring them 4-6″ of snow — notice the darker shade of blue on this forecast map at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The bigger story for us and the Midwest is the Arctic blast — very cold temperatures and frigid wind chills.

Winds will be picking up Saturday afternoon and Saturday night as temperatures fall to an overnight low in the single digits.  When you add in the winds, it’ll feel more like -10° to -15°.

Sunday’s highs will only be in the 10° to 15° range, but wind chills will make it feel even colder.

Another little system will bring some light snow Monday night and early Tuesday.  As of now, nothing more than an inch or two.

I don’t expect to post any more weather updates on this storm today.  I just wanted to put it to bed with one last update — mainly because of the cold and winds!

Enjoy your weekend.

Anthony

More on Saturday’s Snow

UPDATED POST:  Friday, January 8, 2016, 4:23 p.m.

Snow lovers, you’re not going to be too happy.  Those not wanting much in the way of snow can start dancing around with joy.

After looking at the latest American models with the incoming storm system, it looks like we’re still going to see snow Saturday afternoon and Saturday night in the transition to colder air, but not much.

My colleague, Andy McCray, and I agree on lowering the snow amounts even more from this morning.

So, here’s the updated snow forecast.

If anything shifts in the thinking overnight, I’ll update you Saturday morning.

Have a great weekend.

Anthony

 

ORIGINAL POST:  Friday, January 8, 2016, 5:05 a.m.

Light rain, fog, and mild temperatures Friday will give way to colder air and snow Saturday.

Much colder weather arrives Saturday night into early next week with a few days with highs only in the teens and lows in the single digits.

After a transition from rain early Friday night to a rain and snow mix to light snow late Friday night from the first storm system passing by, our attention will then be directed to another low pressure system coming out of the southern Plains.

It’s still trending far enough southeast of our area that we’ll only see a glancing blow from the snow Saturday afternoon and Saturday night.

In the Quad Cities, we’ll see about an inch of snow, maybe two inches.

To the east of the metro area around Princeton and Galesburg, Illinois, amounts will be closer to 2-4″.

More snow, around 5″, is possible around Chicago.

Winds will be a problem later Saturday, Saturday night, and Sunday, which will cause blowing snow and visibility issues.

Also, much colder temperatures arrive by Sunday morning.  When you wake up, it’ll be around 10° and wind chills will be below zero.

Highs Sunday will only be in the low-to-mid-teens with wind chills near zero.

While we’ve definitely seen bigger snows, this is still a snow event to take seriously because there will be accumulations, wind, and much colder temperatures.

Anthony

Potential Snow Event Saturday

UPDATED POST:  Thursday, January 7, 2016, 4:01 p.m.

A snow event is still on the way to Illinois Saturday afternoon and Saturday night.  However, our part of northwestern Illinois will likely miss out on the brunt of the accumulating snow.

The afternoon NAM model takes the low pressure system across Arkansas and Kentucky on its way to Ohio.  This would keep the heaviest snow southeast of the Quad Cities.

NOAA’s GFS model is falling in line with that, too, and takes the storm on a similar path.

While we’ll still see some snow in the Quad Cities Saturday and Saturday night, accumulations look to be on the light side.

Here is a map that my colleague, Andy McCray, put together showing where you’ll see the heavier snow (several inches).

 

Keep in mind that the path of the storm could change again Friday or Saturday.  So, if you have travel plans, check the latest forecast before the snow event.

I’ll have an update, plus snow projections, on “Local 4 News This Morning” Friday from 5-7 a.m.

One thing that’s certain is that the coldest air of the season arrives Saturday night into next week.

Anthony

ORIGINAL POST:  Thursday, January 7, 2016, 6:56 a.m.

If you’ve been watching me on “Local 4 News This Morning” in the Quad Cities this week, you know I’ve warning you about the coldest air of the season that’s heading our way Sunday into next week.

Before that arrives, mild temperatures and rain will have us checking the calendar twice to make sure it’s actually January.

In the transition between highs in the 40s on Friday and highs in the teens Sunday and next week, a low pressure system will move from the southern Plains into the eastern Great Lakes Saturday.

 

The way it looks right now, moderate snow will develop during the day Saturday into Saturday night.  The heaviest snow will fall across Illinois with several inches of snow in or near the Quad Cities.

While the storm is still off the Pacific coast and we can sample weather data better when it’s onshore, you’ll definitely want to keep up on the latest forecast later today and Friday.

 

Once computer models get a better grasp of the intensity of the storm and the path it’ll take, this axis of the heaviest snow could shift west into Iowa or east into Indiana.

Stay tuned!

Anthony