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Friday Rundown: From Cold Snaps to Snap Counts, Winter Weather & the Super Bowl

These topics air Friday January 31, 2014 at noon and 8pm on 90.5 WESA. To leave a question or comment before or after the show dial 412-256-8783. Join the conversation LIVE between 12pm & 1 pm weekdays at 412-246-2002. More Essential Pittsburgh segments can be heard here.

Predicting the Weather
From the earliest years of our nation’s history there have been two books published each year to guide gardeners, cooks, housekeepers and farmer’s on a range of topics, including seasonal weather. The Farmer’s Almanac and the Old Farmer’s Almanac include long range predictions of weather in the United States. This year, both books predicted a colder than normal winter for our area. But what about the rest of the country? How accurate are the famed Almanacs? Paul Knight is a Penn State University Climatologist and co-host of the WPSU TV program Weather World out of State College. He joins us to talk about long range weather prediction.

Seasonal Affective Disorder
As soon as the clocks change each fall, do you feel like your body goes into hibernation mode? When winter mood shifts bring us to the point of depression, the experience is called Seasonal Affective Disorder, also known as SAD, and the mental health effects can be devastating for some people. Kathryn Roecklein, Assistant professor in the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition at Pitt and CMU studies and treats SAD. She helps us get a better understanding of the disorder.

Cold Weather Super Bowl
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sportswriter Emeritus Bob Dvorchak joins us to discuss Sunday's Super Bowl in East Rutherford, NJ, the first one scheduled to be played outdoors in a cold weather city. What effect will this have on the outcome of the game? And if the Super Bowl goes well in New York, will the league possibly look at scheduling one in Pittsburgh? Also, Bob looks at one of the potential rule changes fans may see next season.

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