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Written by Collective Wisdon   
Wednesday, 20 December 2006

The pithy sayings and shorthand words that passed from forecaster to forecaster - year to year. Gems of wisdom about aviation and severe weather forecasting. Shown below - Gary Mounsey and John Michner on the Convective Sigmet Desk.

WST plotting desk - Gary Mounsey and John Michner

  • We always issue one watch too many - Clarence David - SELS Lead 65-79
  • Step down and to the right - Hilmer Crumrine on issuing follow on watches - SELS Lead 62-77
  • Neddy Eddy - Term attached to any small scale vorticty max in the imagery. ID'd by Ned Johnson of the . SFSS 70s
  • Every thunderstorm is embedded in itself. Don Thomas - RADU analyst 80s
  • Boxology - the art of laying out watches
  • Expandogenesis - tendency for outlooks to "grow" as the deadlne nears
  • Is the forecaster handy? No, it's Schirn. RAK (from Concordia) to the KC District desk - answer indicating Burt Handy wasn't on shift.
  • It's not as clear to me as it was at the beginning of the shift. Leon Schirn - District 70s
  • I might be working - all of us at some time in response to a query about upcoming school, church, family activity. Catch-all phrase widely used.
  • Checking the inside of my eyelids for holes. - Roy Manka -comms room
  • Goodness! - and - Oh Lord! - LFW through the years.
  • He comes to work and talks about BBQ and he goes on a BBQ show and talks about the weather -Steve Henderson's wry comment following Mike Weinrich's appearance on a local talk radio program on BBQ.
  • Leave me and the amendments in peace - Dick Kerr at shift change. NAWAU
  • Bad haircuts and tee shirts that show -KC Star description of NSSFC personnel - I think they visited on a weekend.
  • I've seen people die on the wrong side of the jet. - Jack Hales SELS/SPC
  • Have you ever been to Bird City? - Roy Manka
  • Is that right? -Ed Ferguson
  • You've only got so much energy - Vern Nebergall on conserving resources - NAWAU 80s
  • Goodo - Bernie Magor
  • Dubarge - cryptic exclamation - Steve Corfidi
  • When's this dud watch end? Don Thomas to SELS Leads - 70s and 80s
  • If it's April it must be Texas. common wisdom around the SELS desk
  • You're not forecasting for a Master's student in East Cupcake, NJ.
    - Jim Henderson to Roger Edwards, in response to the complexity of the latter's outlook verbiage, and later repeated in a staff meeting announcement memo.
  • I will forgive you making errors of transmission, but errors of omission are unacceptable. -D. C. House to new arrival Don Whitman 1963
  • We had our first salt storm of the winter - attributed to Roy Darrah
  • Map discussion is canceled for today...repeat...map discussion is canceled for today - Jane Parvin (welcome new for almost everyone)
  • Oooooooohh - Sam Beckman
  • It's like shooting fish in a barrel - Bob Johns after putting out a watch that was verifying well
  • There once was a man from Nantucket, whose head was shaped like a bucket - Harry Gordon starting a limerick.
  • I don't know who I am. - Jim Henley PSU/Radar - often
  • Al Pearson was on the TODAY show and in five minutes told them everything he knew about tornado forecasting - Doug Barkley 1967
  • You don't have 40 years experience. You've got one year's experience forty times. - Vern Nebergall
  • Cancel that Sigmet. - Jim Hayes to the WST met - many times.
  • If you don't know code 'em as middle sevens - Sarah McReynolds to RJW on coding middle cloud type for the six-hourly synopitc ob. STJ 1964
  • Need a watch - Jack Hales - often
  • Well, I don't know about that - who else but RAK - Richard Kerr
  • Too bad, too bad, too bad - who else but SKB - Sam Beckman
  • Pull your hand out of a bucket of water and see what happens - Vern Nebergall - on "irreplacable" coworkers.

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