The Weather Thread

[geonuc]

thumper, thanks for bringing back a memory. the winter after we'd moved into our house we had a heavy snow storm. michael was away on a business trip and elliot came up to me and said, 'mom! let's build a snow monster!' i really didn't want to move, much less go out into the cold but i told myself to get going. that i didn't want him to remember me as an inert lump. so i slapped a smile on my face and said, 'great idea! let's go.' i don't remember whether it had 3 heads and 7 tails or 7 heads and 3 tails but it was quite something.

One of the benefits of the digital photography age - we'd all be looking at a picture of that snow monster if it had been created today!

[geonuc]

Doesn't look too icy, but the road is all but impassable at the end where the downgrade begins. But what struck me when taking this picture is all the cars on the street. On a normal day, you might see a third that you see here. Everyone has their car on the street because most of the driveways slope quite a bit (you can see the elevation difference between the houses on the right and those on the left).



DSC03287 by geonuc, on Flickr


DSC03294 by geonuc, on Flickr

[FZR1KG]

The initial forecast for us was 5-8inches.
We get up this morning, I'm meant to take the MIL to work and there is close to 2 feet of snow out there.
I'm thinking she won't be going today.
I'll have to take a few pictures because this is near unprecedented.
We're expecting between 7 to 12 inches from now to Saturday so this will be pretty bad here.

[gethen]

Just stay safe on those roads--all of you.
We haven't had an unusually large amount of snow this winter, around 125" as of February 1st. The problem is that while it has settled some it has been far too cold for any of it to melt. We probably haven't had even a half dozen days above freezing since before Thanksgiving. As a result, we've had to shovel our deck to keep it from collapsing under the weight of the snow, our snowblower outflow chute can barely throw the snow over the existing snowbanks in our driveway, and our dog, a large Lab, is unable to relieve himself anywhere but in our driveway or on the road. The snow is too deep and still too soft for him to move around in. I love winter. It's always been my favorite season, but I am about to cry "uncle" any time now.

[pumpkinpi]

Just stay safe on those roads--all of you.
We haven't had an unusually large amount of snow this winter, around 125" as of February 1st. The problem is that while it has settled some it has been far too cold for any of it to melt. We probably haven't had even a half dozen days above freezing since before Thanksgiving. As a result, we've had to shovel our deck to keep it from collapsing under the weight of the snow, our snowblower outflow chute can barely throw the snow over the existing snowbanks in our driveway, and our dog, a large Lab, is unable to relieve himself anywhere but in our driveway or on the road. The snow is too deep and still too soft for him to move around in. I love winter. It's always been my favorite season, but I am about to cry "uncle" any time now.

How much do you get at one time?

[gethen]

We get big storms now and then--a foot or more occasionally, 4-8 inches of lake effect snow often enough that it's no big deal, and we might go for two or more weeks just getting an inch or two of lake effect every day or so. No really big storms that bring over 18 inches this winter, although we do get them some years.
When everyone else was getting rain or freezing rain back in early January we just got wet snow. It compacted what we had but didn't melt any of it.

[Thumper]

Aww man, stop bragging.

[pumpkinpi]

Oh no! The Sun's getting too high! I no longer get light directly into my office window, and have to turn the heat up more than usual to stay warm on this still single-degree weather.

[gethen]

Aww man, stop bragging.

Yeah, and even better--when everyone else is looking at flowers pushing through the ground and grass turning green, we'll still be looking at 8 inches of dirty grey snow and frozen dirt. In June. Still jealous?

[Thumper]

Yeah, kinda. I didn't mind a "delayed spring" when I used to live through them. What I hate is numerous "false springs" we usually get here. I'll get up to 65 for several days in Jan or ear Feb around here. The bugs come out, plants and trees start to bud. Then whamo back to single digets, killing a bunch of plants. It's hard to get good magnolia blossoms around here. The buds always seem to come out too early then get frozen.

It's also phychological. As long as it's winter, I'm enjoying it, I'm acclimated to it. It's fun and beautiful. When it starts to turn to spring, everything gets muddy, grey, dreary and wet. The only saving grace is we know it is going to get warm and dry because spring is coming. But it doesn't. The cycle repeats over and over.

[Thumper]

thumper, thanks for bringing back a memory. the winter after we'd moved into our house we had a heavy snow storm. michael was away on a business trip and elliot came up to me and said, 'mom! let's build a snow monster!' i really didn't want to move, much less go out into the cold but i told myself to get going. that i didn't want him to remember me as an inert lump. so i slapped a smile on my face and said, 'great idea! let's go.' i don't remember whether it had 3 heads and 7 tails or 7 heads and 3 tails but it was quite something.

I swore I responded to this but don't see it. It wasn't much, it was a simple:

[Rommie]

Reading through this thread is crazy- glad I missed this winter!

In comparison, Europe is beyond mild- temps in the high 40s/low 50s, daffodils springing up because they reckon they're safe from an actual winter this year. Got a cheap ticket to Munich for next weekend some weeks ago with which I was intending to head up to Salzburg for a day of skiing and a day of a Sound of Music tour or whatever, but Salzburg is pushing mid-50s midweek! Not sure if it's worth trekking up there considering the lack of snow versus just staying in Munich (2 hour train ride either way from the airport).

[Thumper]

Finally got The Kid snowboarding over the weekend. I dug out my old ski gear and it didn't disintigrate when I put it on. Got The Kid going with a group lesson and went out to see if I could remember how to ski after 20 years. Just as good as ever. No spills. The Kid had fun but got frustrated that she couldn't master the activity in 2 hours as usual. Shoveled and plowed all Sunday. Took The Kid to an archery range and ice skating on our day off yesterday. Then sleet and freezing rain last night. Rain and warm temps expected all week. It's going to be a muddy grey mess before long. Maybe this is "false spring III." Who knows. When my neighbor called to thank me for plowing his drive, I told him, "This may be my last hurrah this winter, I can't plow your mud next week. If it's gone, it sure was fun while it lasted. A decent respectable winter. Now here come the floods......

[pumpkinpi]

Yay! A blizzard is coming!

I have no problem with snowstorms, as long as I don't have to drive in them. Unfortunately I am schedule to drive down to Mankato tomorrow evening for a conference all day Friday, but that's when the snow will have come in and the blizzard-force winds are beginning. We'll probably delay our departure until Friday morning. It will make for a long day, but I would rather drive when it's safe.

It's so funny. People in the Twin Cities are complaining "will it ever end?" Well, there is still one more month of winter left. And they seem to have forgotten last year, when our final big snowstorm was on May 1. We still have a lot of winter ahead of us. If you don't like snow, people, move to the tropics!

[FZR1KG]

We're going as fast as we can!

[Thumper]

If you don't like snow, people, move to the tropics!

Or just stop your whining, either way. If you and Gethen don't complain about it, nobody should. Be careful!

[FZR1KG]

If you don't like snow, people, move to the tropics!

Or just stop your whining, either way. If you and Gethen don't complain about it, nobody should. Be careful!

I'm still searching for the worlds hardest done by person and point them out to the world and say, stop complaining you idiots, you have no right to!...Look at this guy!.
Now eat all your food. People are starving in Africa.

[FZR1KG]

Nice 64DegF at the marina today.
Not that I'm complaining but it would be nice if the chop would let up a bit.
Its like trying to work on a roller coaster.

[SciFi Chick]

Nice 64DegF at the marina today.
Not that I'm complaining but it would be nice if the chop would let up a bit.
Its like trying to work on a roller coaster.

Feel free to complain. Nothing about this is easy, and sometimes it feels good to blow off steam by complaining.

[gethen]

I would most certainly be complaining about the chop. Snow, wind, ice I can deal with. But put me in rough water and I start puking on cue.

[FZR1KG]

It listened to me!
Last night the wind stopped. No waves at all.
Not even the familiar bathtub sounds you get on a boat.
This morning seems to be calm as well as sunny.
Better than the thunderstorm I woke to yesterday.
Warm sunny and calm. Good when you're in the marina, bad in the Pacific.

[FZR1KG]

Wow. Got 70DegF and at 10am.
It's like Summer here. So freaking hot.
I wish it would make up its mind.
Like stay at 62.458DegF, my favorite, and 30.754% cloud cover.
Except at night. I want it cooler and clear so I can observe the sky.
Except after I go to bed. Then it can rain so things can grow.
Then I would be happy. lol

[FZR1KG]

Ok, now its bucketing down and I see on the radar that the band extends from the Gulf all the way to Canada!
Damn that's a big band of foul weather!
Comes complete with thunder storms and winds that are buffeting the boat like crazy.
Its hot, humid, bucketing down rain with thunder and lightning...am I in Florida?

Well, time to check the leaks lol

[FZR1KG]

Well fuck.
Turns out I'm in a tornado watch and warning area.
I knew that wind was nuts. Up to 60mph gusts.
Not as bad as we went through in Florida and I'm docked with four crossing lines, but man did that chop rock the boat.
Found a couple of minor leaks. I'll get onto fixing them next.

[Cyborg Girl]

Umm tornado watch? Shelter? Now? Fucking hello?