The WeatherBlog reader who correctly predicted the record 59 days of 90-degree-plus weather we saw this summer at BWI-Marshall is looking ahead to this winter's weather.
"For the upcoming winter," said Angel Hernandez, of Easton, "I predict it to be less eventful than last year, with two notable storms of 6 inches and up. I hope I'm wrong for both my dog's and my inner child's sake."
The dog, Ginger, and the inner child, both want more snow than that. "Ginger loved the huge snows," Angel said. "See the attached 2 photos for reference." Here's one of them (left). Nice doggie.
Angel's prediction of 59 days of 90-degree weather over the summer was dead-on. The guesses from 16 other readers ranged from 38 days to 66 days. The average was 52 days, just below the previous record of 54 days, set in 1988.
"When I read your blog post," Angel said, "I figured we had already endured a record winter, so it would only make sense to be bold and choose a number that would blow away the previous record. Sixty days seemed too uniform; 58 was too even, too predictable. Fifty-nine had that edge; it said risktaker, but not outlandish." Very meteorological.
The long, hot summer came with its advantages, he said. "I usually hate Maryland summers and the humidity they bring, but I can say that, thankfully, I embraced those string of 90+ temp days. I must've lost at least 15 pounds walking in the thick of it."
Thanks to Angel for participating. He will receive a fabulous Baltimore Sun "I Survived the Blizzards of 2010" T-shirt (photo, held by my editor, Kim Walker), originally available only to Sun staffers who helped keep the newspaper publishing (if not always physically delivered) during the blizzards of December 2009 and February 2010.
On the reverse, it features the Feb. 11 "Snow More" front page, with my byline among the many, and Jed Kirschbaum's terrific photo of wind-whipped snow on Park Avenue in Baltimore.
Runners-up get only glory. They are "Mark" (nucker1) with a guess of 60 days, and "Jack" and "Amer," with guesses of 61 each. "David" gets an honorable mention with his close-but-too-few guess of 55 days.
Watch this space on Dec. 1 for the opening of the Winter Snows Contest. You can submit your predictions then for the seasonal snow total at BWI-Marshall. AccuWeather.com and NOAA will be issuing their winter forecasts tomorrow, but we'll give our readers another few weeks to run their models and do their calculations.
Thanks to everyone who participated.