The Weather Thread

[Thumper]

Well, I'm disappointed, the forecast keeps changing. We were supposed to get down to -8 this morning but we barely got down below 8. Must have been just enough cloud cover to hold a little heat in. One more or two more days of decent winter weather then we'll probably lose all our snow next week. I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Got a buddy who just bought a beach house in North Carolina. They just got back from spending a week there over Christmas. He'd text me it was 60 and he was walking on the beach. He texted last night that his little cousins were able to build snowmen in his yard yesterday.

[pumpkinpi]

Well, I'm disappointed, the forecast keeps changing. We were supposed to get down to -8 this morning but we barely got down below 8. Must have been just enough cloud cover to hold a little heat in. One more or two more days of decent winter weather then we'll probably lose all our snow next week. I enjoyed it while it lasted.

Got a buddy who just bought a beach house in North Carolina. They just got back from spending a week there over Christmas. He'd text me it was 60 and he was walking on the beach. He texted last night that his little cousins were able to build snowmen in his yard yesterday.

As referenced in my previous post we have only a smattering of snow covering the ground. We've been in a single digits above to double digits below zero cold snap for a couple weeks (-9 right now) but the next time we have a prediction of precipitation, it will be warm enough for it to be rain.

Oh wait, I can't complain. That might melt all the snow and ice off the roads so I can get my January bike ride in! I'm at 44 straight months with at least one ride.

[Thumper]

I'm at 44 straight months with at least one ride.

That is awesome.

[Rommie]

Record cold recorded this morning- it was -23C (-9F) this morning at the airport! And was a balmy -30C (-22F) with windchill on my walk in today to work...

I was fine, just literally wore all my ski gear (snow pants, ski goggles, etc). But it was the first time that just keeping my phone in my pocket wasn't enough to warm it, my podcast abruptly died halfway through the walk. I felt very Canadian.

Funny thing though is I'm actually headed to Europe this weekend for two weeks- Oxford first to give a talk/ see collaborators/ go see the Harry Potter play in London (got tickets well over a year ago!), then Holland for a week. First time in history someone is going to the UK to thaw out, and I'm telling my friend I'm just happy to go somewhere where it's not so dry I have an urge to bathe in skin cream to stop itching all the time.

[Loresinger]

I just visualized you in a tub of luxurious cream with your feet partially out and being fed grapes LOL

[Parrothead]

The good news being, after this weekend the temp goes up to a balmy 0 C. We got close to some record lows the past few days. Last time it was this cold on these days was in '58 or '59. Gotta love it, looking at the thermometer, -21 C outside, 21 C inside. Sun is out so not too bad, bundle up and make sure I'm wearing shades when going out.

[Thumper]

32 and sleeting this morning. People scared out of their minds trying to drive into work. It is going to be a mess. All the schools closed. It'll be raining by evening rush. 50F on Wednesday. Here comes the sloppy muddy grey/brown mess. I thoroughly enjoyed walking around the property over the weekend in the white, bright, crisp beauty. Because it was probably the last nice winter day this year. Went through more bird seed than in any other week in memory. I've never seen so many cowbirds and red wing black birds.

[Thumper]

Just a few little piles of snow left on the property. They'll be gone before I get home. 55 yesterday, going that high today. Then temps plummet through tomorrow down into the 20's while it rains. At one point someone was suggesting up to 24 inches of snow in some areas. That has recently been revised to "less than an inch."

You read that right. Mud everywhere. Everything is soaky puddly wet. All cars are a shade of salty brown.

[SciFiFisher]

We got some badly needed rain this week.

[Thumper]

Well that's good. You're welcome to some of ours too.

[Thumper]

We got some badly needed rain this week.

Sounds like some areas of CA got a bit too much rain...
They finally settled on "Freezing rain, sleet, a half inch of ice, followed by 3-5 inches of snow." That supposedly starts at 10:00am this morning. It'll surely make my afternoon commute about 2 hours long. It's currently 60F! and foggy.

[Thumper]

Still high 50's and pouring. It's 26 in Indianapolis ( just a couple hours away).

[SciFiFisher]

We got some badly needed rain this week.

Sounds like some areas of CA got a bit too much rain...
They finally settled on "Freezing rain, sleet, a half inch of ice, followed by 3-5 inches of snow." That supposedly starts at 10:00am this morning. It'll surely make my afternoon commute about 2 hours long. It's currently 60F! and foggy.

Southern California has some conditions that under "normal conditions" can make them prone to flash flooding. After the major fires last year a lot of the ground cover that helps contain/control some of that flooding was destroyed. They hit the trifecta of bad situations in some places. Rain + loose soil = Mud Slides. At least 13 people are dead.

[Thumper]

Yes, I was listening to some very sad news stories on NPR this morning. The reporter was with some firefighters going "house to house" looking for survivors. Except that in some areas the houses were gone. Just mud, boulders, and some twisted debris. Sounded awful.

It's currently 37 here, we lost over 20 degrees in the last 6 hours. Due to lose another 20 before morning. A couple hours ago it was down to 39 here but still 55 about 20 miles east of us.

[Thumper]

Well, the white death finally came. It was a plain old monsoon wet commute home. Though we all had to drive like it was a whiteout blizzard. Doubled my commute time home. Met friends for dinner at a half empty place that usually packed on Friday night. It was nice. We didn't feel rushed and just hung out at the table after we were done. It was really coming down by the time we headed home. But with nobody on the roads it was just plain fun. I got to finally practice with the traction control and antilock brakes on the Subaru. I've had it since last February but we didn't have a winter last year.
Saturday spent a good portion of the day shoveling, plowing, and feeding the birds and deer. We took birthday dinner over to the in-laws so they wouldn't have to venture out. It was glorious and sunny most of Saturday and all of Sunday. Yesterday is snowed slowly most of the day. Alot more shoveling and servicing Mrs. T's car. Decided there wasn't enough new snow to plow the entire driveway so my test drive consisted of going up and down the drive about 5 times packing the snow down. Fed birds and deer again. Surprisingly, it continued to snow all night. There was 3-4 new inches of snow waiting for me this morning. So I got to shovel again. And participate in another disappointing commute, but you'll have that. All the schools are closed BTW, again. 50 and rain predicted for Saturday. So I have 4 days to enjoy winter.

[Thumper]

Still disappointed with the condition of the roads given it hasn't snowed in over 30 hours (I guess I shouldn't have taken myself off the auxiliary plow list...). But it is just so beautiful at the house. Snow still coats all the branches of the trees. When we take the Christmas trees down, I tie them up in the front yard so the birds can use them as temporary cover and extra feeding stations. As I was shoveling into darkness last night, the deer got comfortable enough with me that they come in to eat the feed corn while I was scraping and banging away on the pad in front of the garage. When I'd stop to catch my breath, I could make out their shadows out in the yard and crossing the drive, and I could hear them next to me in the treeline.

[Rommie]

So I'm in the Netherlands this week visiting my bf, and WOW did we just have an insane storm pass through. 80mph gusts were expected, so we both decided to work from home. His home is over 400 years old so we figured it's gone through worse, and yeah, only lost two tiles around a pipe.

Meanwhile, not only did the trains and planes and trams stop altogether (me: "you mean I can't flee the country if I really need to?!"), this is a now infamous video on Twitter a few dozen miles from here. Even more insane to me though is the building I used to work in in Amsterdam has literally lost part of its roof- this particular bit is the center atrium area. Maybe it's best I don't work there anymore!

Still a bit gusty, but nothing like it was an hour ago, so I think the worst is over. Pretty wild stuff.

[Thumper]

this is a now infamous video on Twitter a few dozen miles from here.

So were those two people just exceptionally light? Everybody else just seemed to be standing around watching them blow by.

Even more insane to me though is the building I used to work in in Amsterdam has literally lost part of its roof- this particular bit is the center atrium area.

You're telling me that's not supposed to be an outdoor courtyard?

[Thumper]

Got up into the 40's during the weekend. Most all the snow was melted in Indy. We still have some, at least at our place. The dog and I were able to build a quick 5 foot snowman Saturday morning.
But now indeed everything is muddy and grey and wet. Supposed to rain and be in the 40's and 50's most of the week.

[Swift]

The dog and I were able to build a quick 5 foot snowman Saturday morning.

I'm trying to figure out what the dog's role in this might have been....

[Thumper]

The dog and I were able to build a quick 5 foot snowman Saturday morning.

I'm trying to figure out what the dog's role in this might have been....

Mostly supervisory, inspection, and QC.

[pumpkinpi]

Crazy snowstorm. A foot or so has been predicted for almost a week. But there was a sharp gradient from 1" to the predicted foot that went straight through the metro area. As of this morning we were on the 3" end of the gradient, but we ended up with the foot and it's still coming down! I had to have a neighbor blow out my driveway because my snowblower was stalling (out of gas), so I could get to pick up my kids in time. Ugh! We just don't get a foot of snow very often. But I would be surprised if the schools are cancelled or even delayed tomorrow. It's stopping soon, and so there will be plenty of time over night to clear the roads.

[Thumper]

Sounds like fun. What's this snowblower concept you speak of?
It rained all day, it was 55 at 8:00pm. Then a wind and thunderstorm blew through about midnight. Brief power outage. Had to get out and move some branches and limbs to get out of my drive. I'm sure there is lumber down all over my property. You could hear the sticks hitting the side of the house. I'm just glad nothing came through the roof. Plenty of pickup sticks ahead for me. Temps plunging today supposed to snow later...

[Thumper]

Saturday, there was still almost a foot of snow on my yard, and a 5 foot snowman. Mon and Tue it got up to 60F and rained most of the time. Last night I came home to an inch of new snow...
50F and rain predicted for Fri night/Sat.

[pumpkinpi]

Crazy snowstorm. A foot or so has been predicted for almost a week. But there was a sharp gradient from 1" to the predicted foot that went straight through the metro area. As of this morning we were on the 3" end of the gradient, but we ended up with the foot and it's still coming down! I had to have a neighbor blow out my driveway because my snowblower was stalling (out of gas), so I could get to pick up my kids in time. Ugh! We just don't get a foot of snow very often. But I would be surprised if the schools are cancelled or even delayed tomorrow. It's stopping soon, and so there will be plenty of time over night to clear the roads.

Surprised! School was cancelled.
The roads were actually pretty clear the next day. But I have an unconfirmed suspicion on why schools closed. The Saint Paul Public Schools (with very high minority and low socioeconomic status population) had a serious issue with buses, where students were stuck on them for hours, as well as stuck at schools until 8pm or later because the buses couldn't get to them. (I followed a teacher friend on Facebook who was posting from her room that late as she stayed with the kids.) So my guess is SPPS cancelled schools the next day to give everyone a chance to regroup, and schools around the region followed suit. I can't say I disagree with the decision in general, because it's good to give plows a chance to get roads fully clear. But I wonder if it would have happened without the SPPS issue.

It was the biggest snowstorm we've had in 7 years, with an official 12.4" recorded at the airport. We probably had about that much. Having lived in MD and through a few nor'easters that dropped more than 2' of snow, I still laugh that this amount is considered a big storm!