Way too many to name, but I'll get the big ones off my chest...
1. Busted winter weather events. Both here and where I grew up in N VA, it seems 9 times out of 10, winter storms underperform significantly against short-term forecasts (and even moreso against medium-range ones). This winter certainly did nothing but solidify the "Norman bubble theory." We were right on the southern fringes of the deformation band on Nov. 30 and got dry-slotted during the early afternoon, resulting in 2-3" where areas only 15-30 miles north of us saw more than twice that. Okay fine, that's climo, and we had the misfortune of the sharp cutoff being just north rather than just south. But then the mid-January apocalyptic ice storm with wall-to-wall media coverage comes along and proves that despite a +10°C layer at 850 mb, we can somehow manage to see all sleet and no freezing rain due to some whacked drop-size-distribution and bitter cold surface temperatures (amazing, since only one day earlier the concern was sfc temps failing to get below freezing in time). So there we were with Oklahoma's second historic winter event in one season, but this time just a bit off the
northern fringes of a high-impact event. I pretty much threw in the towel completely at that point and was not surprised in the least when the several subsequent winter storms that had local media howling for 4-8" completely failed to materialize.
2. Chase days that start off well north of a warm front. March 30 and last Friday prime examples. Driving over 100 miles through stratiform rain and winter-like temperature just to get into the warm sector, knowing an equally or more unpleasant return trip is in store, isn't exactly my idea of enjoyable chasing. I think I have this sensory association in my head between storm chasing and the smell of warm, humid Plains spring air - warm enough for shorts and t-shirt - with cumulus towers going up everywhere, and when most of the route for a chase fails to conform it just isn't the same. I guess that's part of why I've never felt compelled to give cold-core setups a try.
3. Pretty much any extended period of cloudiness or stratiform rain, particularly with cool temps. Maybe it makes me a lesser weather enthusiast, but I'll take 80 and sunny any day over that depressing garbage. Yes, extreme weather is my favorite kind by far, but it's sort of an all-or-nothing deal for me. No t-storms or snow? No record-breaking heat or bitter cold? Then keep the mediocre, nuisance-type conditions away and at least let me dwell on my meteorological misfortune in comfort.
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)