Patty Thundersnow

Just changed my username to my OC's Name (Pat Thundersnow), and no I'm not obsessed with it like Jim Cantore is. 

Still, I get quite giddy when crazy or weird weather is taking place where I live.

Just thought I'd post a mini update on how things are going.


Things are going pretty well, despite my fingers being sore from all the pages of text I've had to type for classes. That's what I have to do tomorrow, write a 5 page paper for my intro to advertising class. Fun. Plus, gonna work a bit on a lab that's due during break. 

On top of that, got a pair of midterms this week, on back to back days. So, fun.

Also, I've been working with a friend on writing my Fallout Equestria spinoff "Lightning Strikes Twice". It's been slow going as of late, but I'm planning on doing some work on it at some point this week.

This is gonna be a week where I play A LOT of Fallout 4.

My thoughts on My little Pony: The Movie (which I watched earlier)
 

It was at times good, at times... rather cringeworthy. But, overall, I did enjoy the movie. To the MLP fans out there who have not seen it yet, you need to. It's worth the hour and a half.

Advantages: New ship fuel, new characters.
Drawbacks: WAY TOO MUCH EXPOSITION in the songs.

My grade: B

Story/writing: B
Animation/visuals: A+
Music: C-

Writing: THe story, for what it's worth, was pretty well written. I enjoyed every twist and turn, especially the climax of the story. However, I feel the aftermath from the climax could have lasted longer.

Animation: Hasbro choosing to use Toonboom for the animation was absolutely genius. The visuals were gorgously rendered, with some over the top ainmations at times. But, that is what you can expect from a show like MLP.

Music: I liked the variety of music that was featured in the movie. HOWEVER, I didn't like the writing for the music. There was WAY TOO much exposition for the music.
 

Quick announcement! I will do my reviews again this MLP season in my blog. Just wanted to get the heads up about that.

SInce i've not been on here in a couple days, I'll post my thoughts on the season premiere of Season 8 now.

(pasted from my journals on FurAffinity and DeviantArt)

Here we are, the beginning of another season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It started off with the typical chatter between the characters, and the idea of the school of friendship. I won't give away anything else for those who haven't watched yet, but twilight's best laid plans didn't go well. Going into the second half of the episode, we have twilight turning into... well... Rarity when she's a crying mess. The second half showed the friendship of the friendship 6 bloom. There is a new character that you probably won't like as well. Lots of possible warring overtones and multiple call backs to the movie at the beginning of the episode. 

My grade: 8.8/10 (B+)

Advantages: Callbacks/references to the MLP movie (Movie being canon with the show), New group of characters (the friendship 6), good writing, good song at the end.

Drawbacks: new antagonist, song in act one was not necessary, slightly rushed at times.
 

Sorry about the quiet streak lately. Yesterday, I was going to get on after me and my dad went to a parade for a small town's yearly fair. Turns out, I was not feeling that great following the parade, due to my forehead being turned into a daggum tomato (Got sunburned on it). Long story short, I took a 2 1/2 hour nap or something like that after we got back. Then we went back to that fair to see a Garth Brooks impersonator (that was absolutely awesome). Then today, came back to my dorm, did some homework. So, again, i'm going to be quite busy this week, with preperations of labs, final project proposals/ideas, and studying for the weekly calc 2 quiz. Thanks for hanging in there with me.

-Pat

The pattern of the last couple weeks has been rather weird weather wise.

First we had hot temps.

Then next we had heavy rain last week.

Then even more heat.

and to top it off, more heavy rain.

Mother nature is really weird right now. NOt that i'm complaining.

Today is the 16th anniversary of 9/11. I was in 3rd grade, just beginning my day when the attacks began. I'll never forget that day, along with many of the days that followed right after. Like last year, I am posting a tribute to those who died on 9/11, and this tribute was created by the Blue Man Group. 

Never forget.

What does a pegasus storm enthusiest have to do for a loud thunderstorm...

Come on Mother nature... I want a loud thunderstorm! 

Whelp, this has certainly been an interesting week already. 
 

1. Worked on a paper for my intro to advertising class
2. Had a thunderstorm early Monday Morning.
3. rained most of Monday
4. Had off and on snow squalls/showers/sleet/graupel most of the day toda
5. Played fallout 4 for like 3 1/2 hours, FINALLY reaching freakin' Nuka Land.
6. Still got two midterms.

With NASCAR and auto racing in general getting closer to the start of their respective seasons, I am sharing the NASCAR/auto racing thread again just so if you couldn't find it you can have it here.

This week's christmas song

Resharing this if you guys missed it.

Another new art of my girl <3 by @Mediocre Mare

ALright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday.

Going to geography now. On January 15th, 2022, a catastrophic volcanic eruption occured from an undersea volcano near the island nation of Tonga, also producing a tsunami that hit parts of the west coast of the US and Hawaii. What geographic feature is this volcano part of?

Answer: A: The ring of FIre. This is the most active area on the planet for earthquakes and is also where a vast majority of Earth's volcanoes are located around a ring that includes such countries as Japan, Alaska, western Canada, the west coast of the US, Mexico, and the west coast of South america among other locales.

Saturday's Question

Staying with Geography. Everyone knows that Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world from sea level to its peak at 29,032 feet. However, there is another mountain on Earth that is actually taller when measured from sea floor to peak. What is the name of this mountain?

A: Mount Whitney
B: Mauna Kea
C: Tamu Massif
D: Mount Shasta

Answer will be posted at approximately midnight CST Sunday morning.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday.

Staying with geology. Illinois isn't exactly known for earthquakes, but we do get them here from time to time. Which of the following dates had the strongest earthquake occur in the recorded history of the state of Illinois?

Answer: C. THis earthquake occurred at just after 4:30 am CDT in Wabash county in southeastern Illinois. It had a magnitude of 5.4, and had dozens of aftershocks including a 4.6 magnitude aftershock that occured while I was at school (I was a freshman in high school at the time).

Sunday's Question

Going to weather this time. Wind is always going, always moving. HOwever, sometimes, the wind can get violent. What was the highest wind gust ever recorded?

A: 318 mph (512 Km/h)
B: 276 mph (444 km/h)
C: 345 mph (555 km/h)
D: 265 mph (426 km/h)

Answer will be posted at approximately midnight Sunday night.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday.

Switching it up to geology. THere are several well known seismic zones spread throughout the United States. What fault zone/seismic zone is known for producing a series of strong earthquakes in 1811/1812?

Answer: A. THe New Madrid Seismic Zone produced a series of 4 earthquakes from December 1811 through February 1812 with magnitudes in the 7-8 range. 

Saturday's Question

Staying with geology. Illinois isn't exactly known for earthquakes, but we do get them here from time to time. Which of the following dates had the strongest earthquake occur in the recorded history of the state of Illinois?

A: June 10th, 1987
B: September 27th, 1891
C: April 18th, 2008
D: June 9th, 1838

Answer will be posted at approximately midnight Saturday night.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday/Saturday.

Continuing weather here. Decatur, Illinois once was hit on back to back days with tornadoes.What were those two dates?

Answer: B. Decatur, Illinois took hits from tornadoes on back to back nights, with April 19th being the strongest of the two (rated at F3). This was the outbreak and tornado that sparked my interest in weather.

Sunday/Monday's question

Continuing weather here. A decade later, a city in Illinois was hit by a pair of F2 tornadoes on March 12, 2006. What city was it?

A: Decatur
B: Lincoln
C: Champaign
D: Springfield

Answer to come with the next new question on Monday at around 10 pm.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday/Saturday.

Continuing with geography/geology here. As stated in earlier trivia, the eastern US (Particularly the New Madrid Seismic zone) can and do have a lot of earthquakes, and often these are dangerous. What geographic feature makes earthquakes potentially more hazardous in the eastern US?

Answer: A. Laurentia, or also known as the North American Craton, forms the ancient geological core of North America. THe older rocks in this area allow seismic waves to propagate (travel) further, thus causing the earthquakes on the east and midwest to be felt by more people.

Sunday's Question (going back to a question a day for this week)

WIth Severe Weather preparedness Week this week in Illinois, this week will be focused on Severe weather trivia. First, what are the parameters for a severe thunderstorm in the US?

A: heavy rain, 56 mph wind gusts, 3/4ths inch hail
B: flash flooding, 50 mph wind, 1/2 inch hail
C: Tornado, 58 mph wind, 1 inch hail
D: Tornado, 50 mph wind, flash flooding, 1 inch hail

Answer will be posted at approximately Midnight Sunday.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday/Saturday.

Continuing with weather here. THe US isn't the only place on Earth that sees tornadoes. Canada often sees tornadoes from late June through August. Which of the following tornadoes is the strongest in the recorded history for Canada?

Answer: A. Elie, Manitoba experienced the strongest tornado in Canada's history when an F5 struck the town on June 22nd, 2007. This is the only F5 in recorded history in Canada.

Sunday/Monday's question

Continuing with weather here. How many confirmed F5/EF-5 (or equivalent strength) have occurred across Earth since statistics started to be collected in the early 1950s?

A: 55
B: 62
C: 100
D: 74

Answer to come with the next new question on Monday at around 10 pm.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday/Saturday.

Sticking with meteorology here. The Storm prediction center puts out various products for the US. Which of the following products does the SPC not produce?

Answer: A. The Weather Prediction Center has been doing these types of mesoscale discussions since 2009-2010, when the SPC transferred the responsibility for them to the WPC.

Sunday/Monday's question

Going to a combination of geography and meteorology. Which of the following areas is known for having strong down mountain winds that can rapidly spread fires?

A: Colorado
B: Southern California
C: panhandle of Texas
D: New Mexico

Answer to come with the next new question on Monday around 10 pm or so.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday/Saturday.

Sticking with the history of central Illinois. Why was Christian County, IL renamed to Christian County?

Answer: B. An influx of immigrants from Christian County, Kentucky petitioned for the county name to be changed to Christian County in 1840. 

Sunday/Monday's Question

Moving to the history of Illinois. Over it's 203 year history, the state of Illinois has had three state capitals. Which of the following cities was the second city to be the state capital?

A: Decatur
B: Peoria
C: Vandalia
D: Champaign

Answer will be posted at approximately Midnight Monday.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Friday/Saturday. 

Continuing with meteorology. Sometimes you hear the term 'training' in weather. What does 'training' mean in relation to the weather?

Answer: D. Training in weather terms means that thunderstorms follow the same path, reforming and going over the same places over and over again, and can be slow moving. Flash flooding often happens when these happen. 

Sunday/Monday's question

Continuing with meteorology and the weather's effects on sports. Racing series such as Formula one and NASCAR can see many different types of weather as their seasons go along. Which of the following weather conditions can they easily run in, given it doesn't get too bad?

A: Dust storm
B: Fog
C: Rain
D: Snow

Answer to come with the next new question on Monday at around 10 pm.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Monday.

Going to Geology/geography. It's common knowledge that plate tectonics have shifted the continents over millions of years, and that all 7 continents were once combined into a supercontinent. What is the name of the most recent (and well known) of these supercontinents?

Answer: C. Pangaea is the most recent of the supercontinents, breaking up not long after the dinosaurs went extinct. The other three are also supercontinents that were on earth at one time or another throughout its prehistoric geological history.

Tuesday's Question

Heading back to weather, specifically weather records. What tornado outbreak was the most prolific (meaning in the number of tornadoes produced) in US/World history?

A: 1974 Super Outbreak
B: 2020 Easter tornado Outbreak
C: 2011 Super Outbreak
D: December 2021 upper Midwest derecho and tornado outbreak

Answer will be posted at approximately 10 pm CST Tuesday evening.

Alright, here's the answer to the trivia question from Monday.

WIth Severe Weather preparedness Week this week in Illinois, this week will be focused on Severe weather trivia. THe second question focuses on the types of supercells. Which of the supercell types is the most common?

Answer: A. This type of supercell is most common and produces the most damaging tornadoes. NOt to say the High precip and low precip can't. Hybrid is not a type of supercell.

Tuesday's Question

WIth Severe Weather preparedness Week this week in Illinois, this week will be focused on Severe weather trivia. The third question is a scenario. You're at home and you hear that there's a moderate risk for severe thunderstorms that day. Which of the following things should you have in preparedness?

A: NOAA Weather Radio
B: Helmets to protect your head
C: A kit including non-perishable food, water, and other supplies
D: All of the Above

Answer will be posted at approximately Midnight Tuesday.