URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORTHERN INDIANA
411 AM EST MON FEB 5 2007

…IT WILL NEVER BE WARM AGAIN…

…WIND CHILL ADVISORY EXTENDED UNTIL THE 12TH OF NEVER…

EXTREMELY COLD AIR WILL REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GREAT LAKES REGION EARLY THIS WEEK, AND THROUGHOUT THE REMAINDER OF HUMAN HISTORY. BRISK WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH THE FRIGID TEMPERATURES TO PRODUCE POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING WIND CHILL VALUES. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE.

WIND CHILL TEMPERATURES WILL RANGE FROM 25 BELOW TO 30 BELOW ZERO UNTIL ABOUT 10 AM THIS MORNING. AFTER THAT, IT WILL GET EVEN COLDER. TEMPERATURES WILL REACH ABSOLUTE ZERO BY WEDNESDAY. THIS IS COLD ENOUGH FOR EXPOSED FLESH TO FREEZE IN ABOUT 1 MILLISECOND. PLEASE DRESS ACCORDINGLY.

A WIND CHILL ADVISORY MEANS THAT VERY COLD AIR AND BRISK WINDS WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE LOW WIND CHILLS. FROSTBITE, HYPOTHERMIA, AND INSTANT DEATH WILL OCCUR IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN WHILE OUTDOORS, AND PROBABLY EVEN IF THEY ARE. DRESS IN LAYERS, COVER ALL EXPOSED SKIN SURFACES, AND KISS YOUR ASS GOODBYE.

SOMEONE PLEASE PUNCH AL GORE.

(Disclaimer: the preceding may or may not be an actual National Weather Service bulletin.)

There are just over three hours until Super Bowl XLI kicks off. I’ll be spending at least part of the game at a Super Bowl Party with a no-blogging policy (heh), so updates will probably be sparse.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m rooting for the Colts. But I don’t feel too passionately about it. There are, of course, many in this region who feel passionately about one team or the other — but, according to the South Bend Tribune, it’s about a 50-50 split between the two teams. Nug is experiencing a personal 50-50 spot: she’s rooting for the “Col-Bears.”

P.S. At iFilm, you can already preview some of tonight’s Super Bowl ads. Later, AOL Sports will have video of all the “best commercials” and will give you chance to vote among them. YouTube will do the same.

Here’s USA Today’s coverage of the ads. Tomorrow, of course, the annual “Ad Meter” results will come out. Will someone finally break Anheuser-Busch’s eight-year winning streak?

More immediately, SuperAdFreak is planning an elaborate liveblog of the Super Bowl ads. Badger Blogger, SpringsTV Talk, Gclectic and shedwa are also promising to liveblog the ads. Derek Walden, Big & Sharp and all things alceste liveblogged the ads last year; I have no idea if they will again.

As for the game, Deadspin and AOL Fanhouse will both presumably be liveblogging. And it appears that Red Renee will be liveblogging everything — game, ads, stray nipples, whatever.

UPDATE: BfloBlog asks, “Why Do Men Torture Themselves On Super Bowl Sunday?”:

Years ago I used to somehow believe it was normal to travel to other couples’ homes and watch a football game with a room full of strangers. I have yet to understand why this seemed acceptable to me. Inevitably, I would end up seated far from the television, my view obstructed by a female who didn’t care about anything but the commercials, for the biggest football game of the year. The sport that I used to spend every Sunday focused on; watching three or four games a week, going to Bills games, and generally spending far too much of my time obsessing over was suddenly, for the biggest game of the year, treated like a cocktail party but with Bud Lite and casseroles.

On top of that you have men you don’t really know, or who are social acquantances, reveal exactly how f***ing stupid they are when it comes to football or to sports in general. If you want to hear the following line: “You know, JP Losman could be just as good a quarterback as Manning with another year�, then go to a traditional Super Bowl party.

Heh. Read the whole thing.

Well, as we’ve already got people on the blog riled today, let’s add another dimension to it. The latest news from the culture wars isn’t a good one for either equality or freedom, really. Yesterday, the Michigan State Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that public universities and governmental agencies may not provide domestic partnership benefits to their employees, in response to the 2004 MI state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman and outlaws recognition of any “similar union for any purpose”.

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From the National Weather Service:

DANGEROUS WINTER CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR TODAY THROUGH MONDAY.

EXTREMELY COLD AIR WILL OVERSPREAD THE S. GREAT LAKES REGION TODAY THROUGH MONDAY. VERY STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH THE FRIGID TEMPS TO PRODUCE LIFE THREATENING WIND CHILL VALUES & SIGNIFICANT BLOWING & DRIFTING SNOW.

THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SITUATION. PEOPLE NEED TO STAY INDOORS AND RESTRICT UNNECESSARY TRAVEL. EXPOSED FLESH WILL EXPERIENCE FROSTBITE IN A VERY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. BLOWING SNOW WILL CAUSE WHITE OUT CONDITIONS & SIGNIFICANT DRIFTING SNOW WILL MAKE TRAVEL ON [NORTH-SOUTH] ROADS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE. …

THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN N. IN HAS ISSUED A BLIZZARD WARNING.WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EST /11 PM CST/ TONIGHT. THE WINTER STORM WARNING HAS BEEN CANCELLED. A WIND CHILL ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT EST /11 PM CST/ TONIGHT TO 12 PM EST /11 AM CST/ MONDAY.

WEST WINDS GUSTING TO NEAR 50 MPH WILL CAUSE SIGNIFICANT BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. WHITE OUT CONDITIONS WILL RESULT TODAY AND TONIGHT.ESPECIALLY IN OPEN AREAS. [NORTH-SOUTH] ROADS IN RURAL AREAS WILL BECOME NEARLY IMPASSABLE.

THE STRONG WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH BITTER COLD TEMPS TO PRODUCE WIND CHILLS TO NEARLY 25 BELOW ZERO THROUGH MONDAY. EXPOSED FLESH WILL FREEZE IN LESS THAN 30 MINUTES.

WHILE THE SNOWFALL WILL BE NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO MEASURE DUE TO BLOWING, 2 TO 5 INCHES CAN BE EXPECTED BY LATE TONIGHT.

Right now, it’s 8° with a wind chill of -14°.

P.S. Punxsutawney Phil, you suck. :)

…over the Super Bowl. Heh. Excerpt:

FOWLER, Ind. — As Sunday’s Super Bowl approaches, the battle line between fans of the Chicago Bears and fans of the Indianapolis Colts runs right down the middle of the 100 Mile Rib & Chop House.

The 80-year-old restaurant and bar here, named for its location, is about 100 miles from Indianapolis and 100 miles from Chicago. With the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts set to face off in the big game, the restaurant is girding for open intra-bar warfare, and working hard to aid and abet both camps.

Owner John Hoskins has divided the 100 Mile House into two zones. The north side is marked by a 4-foot-tall stuffed bear wearing the Bears’ navy-and-orange jersey. On the south side stands a 6-foot-wide inflatable Colts player in a three-point stance, on loan from an employee who got it as a wedding gift. Team posters and flags are plastered on either side. The bar runs the length of the room.

Later, the article notes that one of the bartenders at 100 Mile House “set a record for tips — $337 — on Jan. 21 during the conference playoffs, when the Bears and Colts played back-to-back games the same day.” It also quotes Wally Parham, 57, as saying, “I hope the Bears win. I hope the Colts win. I’m all confused.”

Read the whole thing. (Hat tip: Barb.)

As you may or may not have noticed, I’ve added a link to LoyCam in my left sidebar. Check out the icicles!

I’m afraid the snow outside isn’t going to be melting anytime soon:

Yikes.

P.S. Speaking of cold and snow, check out these awesome aerial photos of a lake-effect snow band slamming into Buffalo. Here’s one of ‘em:

Cool.

Indiana beat #2-ranked Wisconsin, 71-66, in Bloomington this evening, a win that should take the Hoosiers off the bubble and make them a lock.

Here are some more photos of this white, wintry day at Notre Dame. A few samples:

P.S. Apropos of that last picture, here’s yet another Robbie-running-around-in-the-snow video for your viewing pleasure:

In looking for pictures of the snow, I came across this photo from one of the ND webcams:

If you look carefully, you’ll see the outline of the Basilica and the Dome. On a clear day, the picture would look something like this:

Check out this and the other ND webcams here.

UPDATE BY BRENDAN: Speaking of webcams, here’s the live view on LoyCam:

Here are some more photos of this morning’s snowstorm. Scroll down for the most recent ones.

The radar view of the system is quite impressive. At 6:52 AM, minutes before the above video was taken, it looked a bit like some kind of lake-effect mini-hurricane:

You can view the latest radar in motion here; an archived version of the 4:13 AM to 10:40 AM loop is after the jump.

[UPDATE, 9:29 AM: From the National Weather Service:

MORE SNOW & BLOWING SNOW ON THE WAY.

A PAIR OF SYSTEMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT, BRINGING MORE LAKE EFFECT SNOW TO THE AREA. AS THE SYSTEMS MOVE OVER LAKE MICHIGAN, THEY WILL PICK UP ADDITIONAL MOISTURE AND HELP ENHANCE SNOWFALL AMOUNTS. GIVEN THE RELATIVELY DRY SNOW AND BRISK CONDITIONS, BLOWING & DRIFTING SNOW CAN BE EXPECTED. THE SNOW SHOULD DIMINISH AFTERNOON THEN REDEVELOP EARLY THIS EVENING.

Lovely.]

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The first legitimate lake-effect snow event of the season (the National Weather Service is calling it “EXTREME,” which should make our resident Buffalonians laugh very, very hard) gave Robbie ample opportunity to run around in the powdery white stuff this afternoon:

As graceful and athletic as Robbie looks when he runs, it’s surprisingly difficult to get a good still photo of him running; more often he looks like Gollum or… well… like this. But here’s a pretty good shot:

Woof! Whee!

Also, while it’s not exactly graceful-looking, this picture is kind of cool, as you can see how his hind legs are actually in front of his front legs as he launches himself forward.

More photos here.

Attention fellow 3Ls eager to take full advantage of their last semester in the rich cultural wasteland uh, center that is South Bend… Brooke has a list of various upcoming events. It also includes events in Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.

A couple of events that didn’t make Brooke’s list, but that Becky and I will be going to: Mozart and Salieri, today at DPAC; and Cape Breton Island fiddler Natalie MacMaster, also at DPAC, on March 8.