The Weather Thread

[SciFi Chick]

So Hurricane Florence... will she or won't she?

It depends on how tipsy she is.

Apparently, she's blind drunk.

[SciFi Chick]

While we're waiting to see what Florence is going to do, we're getting the aftermath of Gordon here. It was blisteringly hot and humid last week. As late as Thursday, I was in nothing but shorts and boots sweating my $#@@& off 90F outside at 8:00pm. Saturday I was shivering after walking in a56F rain. As of yesterday at 11:00am, we've gotten 3.5in of rain in the last couple of days, and it was still coming down most of the afternoon. Went from A/C, to windows, to windows shut in 24 hours.

Wow. Those drastic weather changes are the worst.

[Thumper]

Back to hot and muggy. This morning, was the clearest I've seen in weeks. I forgot about all the stars. Last night, we had a nice view of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter, the Moon, and Venus, but little else. This morning, crystal clear and I spotted Orion for the first time this season. Good morning Charlie. By the time I headed down the hill and made it to work, it was back to socked in foggy.
It wasn't lost on me how still it was last night and this morning, while further east, friends and strangers were enduring the strongest, scariest winds of their lives.

[Thumper]

Day 5 of rain. It looks like early spring out there, except for all the leaves falling. You can't go anywhere near the yard, or you'd drown, or get stuck, or both...

[SciFiFisher]

We haven't hit rain season yet. The predicted high for today is 95. Someone forgot to tell Northern CA that it is fall.

[pumpkinpi]

We've had some nice crisp mornings. Perfect for walking in to work. I saw my breath for the first time this season.

The Sun's rising late enough that I can keep track of it on my cubicle horizon. (the colored post-its)

[Rommie]

Sun has dipped behind the nearby building at sunset, so our evening cocktail hours on the balcony is over. To be fair, it was getting a bit cold for that anyway.

Definitely transition here with the weather not knowing what to do yet. Only noticed the first turning leaves this weekend, which seems late!

[geonuc]

It's interesting watching the Bend weather change from summer (aka smoke haze season) to winter (aka winter tires season).

I walked down to my fave brewpub yesterday in short sleeves. They have a nice outdoor area by the river. By the time I got there (four blocks away), the sun had dropped sufficiently that I wished I had brought a jacket.

[SciFiFisher]

It's interesting watching the Bend weather change from summer (aka smoke haze season) to winter (aka winter tires season).

I walked down to my fave brewpub yesterday in short sleeves. They have a nice outdoor area by the river. By the time I got there (four blocks away), the sun had dropped sufficiently that I wished I had brought a jacket.

Welcome to the Pacific Northwest and other parts of the Western area of the U.S. Temperatures can drop a lot... rapidly. Even here in Northern CA where we are hitting daytime temps of 95F, we drop down to the 50's overnight.

[Thumper]

Meacham OR, often records the lowest temperature recorded in the continental United States on a given day. This even in the summer months where it can be in the 90's during the day.
We usually don't get swings like that here (and I'm guessing not in Atlanta either). If it's a high of 88 some August day, it'll go all the way down to 79 by 5 in the morning.

[SciFi Chick]

Apparently, Michael is upset with Z and I. We're so naughty. Off to batten down the hatches. Literally, I might add.

[Thumper]

It will never be dry at my property ever again.

[geonuc]

It will never be dry at my property ever again.

Not ever.

[Thumper]

And I came back from 8 days in Florida where it basically didn't rain once the whole time I was there...

[geonuc]

So, winter is coming and I'm thinking of all the things I need to do to prepare.

- Swap tires. Not sure when Bendites typically do this but I've scheduled the mobile tire guy for tomorrow. The Pathfinder and Corolla will get winter shoes. The BRZ will not. I have noticed some people have already put studded tires on (you can hear them half a block away). It hasn't so much as threatened to snow yet. My winter tires are not studded. I have chains for both the Pathfinder and Corolla.

- Make sure the car radiators have good anti-freeze in them. They did ok earlier this year when it got really cold so I don't anticipate having to do anything special.

- Look into roof snow removal companies. This may not be a problem for our house. Our neighbor doesn't do it, and we have no gutters, which tend to build up the ice dams. Might buy a snow rake.

- Winter boots. Ones that have ice grippy soles. The best ones are expensive so I bought a cheap (~$35) pair and I'll see how that goes. I'm well situated with hiking boots so this may be superfluous.

- Snow cover for the car windshield. This seemed like a good idea for the Pathfinder, which sits outside, so I ordered one with mirror covers, along with another long-handled scraper. The Corolla is garaged and the BRZ will probably spend the winter under its car cover.

- Bags of snow melt stuff, magnesium or calcium chloride. For the sidewalk. Not sure about this. We made do with the snow shovel last season (despite getting here late, we managed to be here for the entire snow season because the winter was mild). Some folks say this stuff corrodes concrete. I'll have to look into that.

- Heater for the garage. Bought an electric one which seems to help enough that I can work in there if I want to.

- Blow out the irrigation system. I probably won't do this. I closed off the valves a few weeks ago and I really don't like watering the lawn anyway. My wife does. Central Oregon is in a drought. Our main reservoir is dry (not low, dry). So if the winter kills my irrigation plumbing, so be it. The hoses are disconnected from the spigots, which penetrate the foundation into heated interior space, so I don't need to worry about them.

- We had the house repainted last week and I'm repainting the front porch (required some wood repair or I'd have the painters do it.). I wanted this done before the freezing temperatures set in.

What have I missed?

[geonuc]

And I came back from 8 days in Florida where it basically didn't rain once the whole time I was there...

Should have visited SFC and Z instead. Then you'd have a hurricane run over you.

[SciFiFisher]

What have I missed?

Bags of salt and a shovel for the car? When I was doing a lot of winter travel I always kept a kit with a blanket, shovel, and salt in it in case I got stuck and needed to get unstuck.

[SciFiFisher]

And I came back from 8 days in Florida where it basically didn't rain once the whole time I was there...

Hey, we just did the Florida thing for Cookie's wedding and it didn't rain the entire 4 days we were there. Is Florida drying up?

[Thumper]

So, winter is coming and I'm thinking of all the things I need to do to prepare.

- Swap tires. Not sure when Bendites typically do this but I've scheduled the mobile tire guy for tomorrow. The Pathfinder and Corolla will get winter shoes. The BRZ will not. I have noticed some people have already put studded tires on (you can hear them half a block away). It hasn't so much as threatened to snow yet. My winter tires are not studded. I have chains for both the Pathfinder and Corolla.

My uncle hates that they allow studded tires in Oregon. I would think unless you plan to do some serious, serious off road driving, you don't need studs. Besides, you have chains.

- Make sure the car radiators have good anti-freeze in them. They did ok earlier this year when it got really cold so I don't anticipate having to do anything special.

You can buy a fairly inexpensive gauge to see if the coolant is still good. If it's been serveral years since you've replaced coolant, you might consider just flushing and replacing, but again you're probably okay.

- Look into roof snow removal companies. This may not be a problem for our house. Our neighbor doesn't do it, and we have no gutters, which tend to build up the ice dams. Might buy a snow rake.

Interesting. I would have assumed that roofs would have been designed to handle snow loads, but what do I know.

- Winter boots. Ones that have ice grippy soles. The best ones are expensive so I bought a cheap (~$35) pair and I'll see how that goes. I'm well situated with hiking boots so this may be superfluous.

My insulated winter boots don't have soles that do much for snow or ice traction. I bought a set of add on grippers at REI. They were inexpensive and I tried them out several times last year and was satisfied. Kind of a very mild crampon.

- Bags of snow melt stuff, magnesium or calcium chloride. For the sidewalk. Not sure about this. We made do with the snow shovel last season (despite getting here late, we managed to be here for the entire snow season because the winter was mild). Some folks say this stuff corrodes concrete. I'll have to look into that.

I used some regular rock salt (like the we use at the DOT) and it did cause concrete damage. I've gotten some of the concrete safe variety to use. I try to just shovel or plow thorougly and not use the stuff unless it's extremely icy and we're expecting my folks or in laws over.

- Heater for the garage. Bought an electric one which seems to help enough that I can work in there if I want to.

I've used a 3 burner Mr. Heater propane powered heater for years and it's worked great. It just clamps on to any propane tank and doesn't have a blower. It's portable and light and I move it around as needed in the garage. It takes enough of the chill off to be comfortable. The only downside is it creates alot of moisture and then everything in the garage that's cold gets condensation all over it.

Furnace working good with spare filters?

Maybe check insulation in attics and crawl spaces?

Have procedures to heat the house, at least minimally, during an extended outage?

(Sorry, Z's not here so I figured it would be up to me to reply with a novel...)

[Thumper]

And I came back from 8 days in Florida where it basically didn't rain once the whole time I was there...

Hey, we just did the Florida thing for Cookie's wedding and it didn't rain the entire 4 days we were there. Is Florida drying up?

Yeah, sounded like you guys were there just before us (We were in the Orlando area with a day trip to KSC). It was hot the day we got there but then it just got pleasanter the longer we stayed. I forgot I was in Florida.

[geonuc]

So, winter is coming and I'm thinking of all the things I need to do to prepare.

- Swap tires. Not sure when Bendites typically do this but I've scheduled the mobile tire guy for tomorrow. The Pathfinder and Corolla will get winter shoes. The BRZ will not. I have noticed some people have already put studded tires on (you can hear them half a block away). It hasn't so much as threatened to snow yet. My winter tires are not studded. I have chains for both the Pathfinder and Corolla.

My uncle hates that they allow studded tires in Oregon. I would think unless you plan to do some serious, serious off road driving, you don't need studs. Besides, you have chains.

- Make sure the car radiators have good anti-freeze in them. They did ok earlier this year when it got really cold so I don't anticipate having to do anything special.

You can buy a fairly inexpensive gauge to see if the coolant is still good. If it's been serveral years since you've replaced coolant, you might consider just flushing and replacing, but again you're probably okay.

- Look into roof snow removal companies. This may not be a problem for our house. Our neighbor doesn't do it, and we have no gutters, which tend to build up the ice dams. Might buy a snow rake.

Interesting. I would have assumed that roofs would have been designed to handle snow loads, but what do I know.

- Winter boots. Ones that have ice grippy soles. The best ones are expensive so I bought a cheap (~$35) pair and I'll see how that goes. I'm well situated with hiking boots so this may be superfluous.

My insulated winter boots don't have soles that do much for snow or ice traction. I bought a set of add on grippers at REI. They were inexpensive and I tried them out several times last year and was satisfied. Kind of a very mild crampon.

- Bags of snow melt stuff, magnesium or calcium chloride. For the sidewalk. Not sure about this. We made do with the snow shovel last season (despite getting here late, we managed to be here for the entire snow season because the winter was mild). Some folks say this stuff corrodes concrete. I'll have to look into that.

I used some regular rock salt (like the we use at the DOT) and it did cause concrete damage. I've gotten some of the concrete safe variety to use. I try to just shovel or plow thorougly and not use the stuff unless it's extremely icy and we're expecting my folks or in laws over.

- Heater for the garage. Bought an electric one which seems to help enough that I can work in there if I want to.

I've used a 3 burner Mr. Heater propane powered heater for years and it's worked great. It just clamps on to any propane tank and doesn't have a blower. It's portable and light and I move it around as needed in the garage. It takes enough of the chill off to be comfortable. The only downside is it creates alot of moisture and then everything in the garage that's cold gets condensation all over it.

Furnace working good with spare filters?

Maybe check insulation in attics and crawl spaces?

Have procedures to heat the house, at least minimally, during an extended outage?

(Sorry, Z's not here so I figured it would be up to me to reply with a novel...)

Thanks!

Furnace is good and I have filters. The attic probably needs insulation but I don't have an easy way to get into it. I have a Honda generator that can power the electric heater or the furnace if I do some minor electrical wiring work. We have a gas fireplace too. Probably need to refresh the gas supply for the generator, though.

[Thumper]

Yeah, always have fresh or stabilized fuel on hand for the generator.

[Thumper]

Thermometer showed 30F when I left the house. Car thermo made it down to 31 on the morning commute. There was hard frost on the pool cars in the parking lot when I got in. That's the first freezing weather of the season. Supposed to rain tomorrow and possibly snow Saturday.
Going to try to mow some tonight until it gets dark. I'll be digging into the plow bag and end up bundled in Carhartts.

[geonuc]

We're into the 20's this week and the volcanoes have already started growing their winter snow coats.

[Rommie]

Already saw the first snow here mid-October. Had a friend visit so we went hiking an hour north, and not only got caught in a little snow squall there was already some sticking in the cracks around trees etc on the ground. Apparently we're getting real snow in the city on Saturday!

Personally I can't wait for winter this year. We have a car and OMG you guys I'm gonna get so much skiing in. There's a little hill run by the city just a half hour north that does night skiing where it's $20/2hr, pain and a half to get to by public transit though, and bf is still a beginner so it'll be perfect for us.