The Weather Thread

[SciFiFisher]

Does anyone else feel even more annoyed these days when it rains? Like, it's spring, so it's not at all unusual that we have a few "rain all day" kind of days. But man it does piss me off now, because before you could at least go out shopping or to the movies when it rained, and now you're just... stuck inside without even the daily walk.

It's funny because F has off today for Easter Monday (standard in Europe), and asked me if I'd take a long weekend too, which I was tempted to do because originally this week was supposed to be a holiday one for me (well, plus PhD defense on Thursday, but it was going to be mainly holiday). So I was definitely tempted yesterday... until I saw the weather forecast was for rain all day today. Yeah, screw that, I might as well try to get some work done and save a day off for a nice day in the next week or two.

Yes, but for a different reason. Most April days it's cold enough when it rains, that if it were just a few degrees colder it would snow. Then at least you can get outside without getting soaked, and you might be able to get out and play! Like yesterday. We got about 5" and made some pokesnowmonsters (Snowkemon?). Pictures to come.

Snowkemon! I love it.

[Rommie]

Man, maybe it's the cabin fever talking, but I feel like spring is taking forEVER to arrive this year. They were legit calling for a few inches of snow on Monday, but thank goodness we were below the snow line so that didn't happen (apparently they did get 7" north of us though).

I swear, March was warmer than April this year.

[Thumper]

Does anyone else feel even more annoyed these days when it rains?

Well since it's rained 7 out of the last 10 days, or 22 out of the last 30, yes, yes I do. It would be nice to walk the property without sounding like you were walking across giant sponges. Plus, for some reason, Dude likes to head straight toward the biggest mudhole he can find and wallow in it. I've hosed him down 10 times in April for sure...

[SciFiFisher]

Does anyone else feel even more annoyed these days when it rains?

Well since it's rained 7 out of the last 10 days, or 22 out of the last 30, yes, yes I do. It would be nice to walk the property without sounding like you were walking across giant sponges. Plus, for some reason, Dude likes to head straight toward the biggest mudhole he can find and wallow in it. I've hosed him down 10 times in April for sure...

LOL. Our dog seems to love to find stuff that died and became putrid weeks ago to wallow in.

[Thumper]

Yep!
Two sleets and one big hail in May. Rain for the next 6 days. The mower will be getting stuck somewhere, at least once, sometime next week. New steel roof on hold until the monsoon subsides.

[Rommie]

Spring has finally arrived in NH! Not to sound like a gardener's daughter, but our first bleeding hearts have just started blooming... which were in full bloom in Boston over a month ago. VERY crappy spring this year, but this week we have clearly turned a corner and it might even reach 80 this Friday...

Silly us, we went hiking on Sunday for a few hours, and realized quickly that was a mistake because the black flies were DEFINITELY out. Mainly annoying than biting, but we were more surprised because the weekend prior there hadn't been any bugs at all! (Having snow on the ground from the day before probably had something to do with it.) So yeah, time to take a break from hiking for a few weeks.

[Thumper]

It is definitely a buggy year around here. The deer flies are killer. They are lighting me up whenever I'm out. Finally lightning bugs are out. Some mosquitoes but not too bad. Already have seen some horse flies. Lotsa bugs. Constant rains have stopped. I still got stuck on last weeks mowing. Now the ground is starting to crack open from being so dry. It's taking lots of water to keep the sunflowers going.

[SciFiFisher]

I must admit that living in this part of Northern California we don't have to deal with no see ums, biting flies, or other annoying insects that much. We have the occasional mosquito and some normal flies that come around. We have ants, fleas, spiders, and the other assorted hodge podge of insects that are spotted here and there but nothing extreme.

[Rommie]

We have rocketed to real summer just in a few weeks- temps in the high 80s which is pretty unusual! Gonna be a hot summer.

We are really lucky though as two days ago was the first day of really hot weather, and we finally got an AC in our bedroom. There's a strange New England thing where you often put AC everywhere in the house EXCEPT the bedroom, which I guess worked 20 years ago when you only had one or two hot days, but not realistic with it getting hotter every year and last year we had days where we couldn't get it below 85 even in the middle of the night, which wasn't the best for sleeping. It works great so that's awesome.

[SciFiFisher]

I would definitely be a very unhappy person if I did not have AC in the bedroom and the rest of the house. We are hitting 99+ again this week. We already recorded 100+ about two weeks ago. We probably won't see any rain now for most of the rest of summer.

I can't swear to it but I know years ago a lot of people liked to sleep with the windows open at night. Maybe that is why they didn't put AC in the bedroom?

[Rommie]

Well, I mean surely they are sleeping with the windows open else it'd be a complete oven inside for sure.

[Thumper]

It sure seems like we've had the AC on more this year than in the past. Maybe I'm just getting old and soft... Often though we can open the windows at night. With Mrs. T working from home every day, it just gets uncomfortable for her sitting at the computers and sweating. Then I come in from being outside all day and I FREEZE.

[Thumper]

My buddy just got back from inspecting/repairing his beach house at Ocean Isle Beach NC. He had to do that last year as well. They finally got their "dream house" and possibly retirement house, but they'll deal with potential hurricane damage forever. Sounds absolutely torturous to me. Mrs. T and I are renewed in our decision that we will not buy a place on the Florida gulf coast. We'll be happy to rent for a week or two each year.

[SciFiFisher]

We have high heat warnings all week-end. Predicted high is 108. If I wanted to be that hot I would just go to Las Vegas or Phoenix. And yes, it is a dry heat.

[SciFiFisher]

My buddy just got back from inspecting/repairing his beach house at Ocean Isle Beach NC. He had to do that last year as well. They finally got their "dream house" and possibly retirement house, but they'll deal with potential hurricane damage forever. Sounds absolutely torturous to me. Mrs. T and I are renewed in our decision that we will not buy a place on the Florida gulf coast. We'll be happy to rent for a week or two each year.

Frankly, it doesn't make much sense to own a house you only live in a maximum of 30 days or so a year. Of course, with Air BnB I suppose there is the possibility of renting it out the other 11 months of the year and having it pay for itself.

[SciFiFisher]

RE: AC

Yes, my electric bill this month was almost $400. No, I don't regret it. I am not sure if that is slightly higher than this same billing period last month but I don't care. I refuse to bake in my own house. I have a brother who unfortunately has a different electric provider whose rates are pretty high and he is frugal. I like him so I hate to call him cheap. Anyhoo, anytime we go to visit him in the summer we try to keep the visit at a socially acceptable minimum because his house is always 80-85 degrees in the summer. I love visiting with him but I sweat like crazy the entire time I am at his house.

[Sigma_Orionis]

[SciFiFisher]

And the extreme high heat warnings are in effect until at least 9 PM Sunday night (8/16/2020). With 100-108F degree temps predicted for the entire week. Out coolest day is supposed to be Wednesday at an arctic temp of 100. California is implementing rolling black outs in some parts of the state. I suspect mostly in PG & E areas. They are a for profit energy company delivering gas and electric to most of the state. They have higher rates than the public districts. I am fortunate that i am only dependent on them for gas to heat and cook with. They also were blamed for causing some of the worse fires we have had the last 3-4 years. They didn't do maintenance and brush clearing very diligently because *cost*. Yes, they are publicly traded. And *surprise* last year filed a second bankruptcy following one in 2001. It didn't get them completely off the hook for the wrongful death lawsuits they were losing or the state of California coming after them. But, it's a prime example of how corporations side step paying all of their debts, limiting financial liability, and looking like jerks.

This is another example of the law of unintended consequences of having shareholders. In an effort to appease shareholders and keep stock prices up PG&E did what a lot of companies do. They stopped planning long term and focused only on short term results. I.e. the money that should have been spent on maintenance, brush clearing, updating old equipment, and etc was instead spent on rewarding shareholders with a bigger ROI.

[code monkey]

wow! that's quite a bill, fisher. mine have been considerably lower but I expect that i'm reaping the benefits of my new heating/cooling system. this year's birthday gift to myself. far more lavish than the pair of shoes I was contemplating but the old one went out during the cold weather and, like you, I will not be uncomfortable in my own house.

[SciFiFisher]

wow! that's quite a bill, fisher. mine have been considerably lower but I expect that i'm reaping the benefits of my new heating/cooling system. this year's birthday gift to myself. far more lavish than the pair of shoes I was contemplating but the old one went out during the cold weather and, like you, I will not be uncomfortable in my own house.

Partly it's because we have some pretty intense sunshine here. It heats up the house very efficiently. I also believe our house, which was built in in the late 80's, was poorly insulated. Then the other factor is that we have a three tier rate system. The more electricity you use the higher the Kwh cost. It ranges from 12 cents to 29.4 cents per Kwh. about 1/2 of our usage was at the lower tier. About 1/3 was at the middle tier of 16.7 cents per Kwh and about 1/6 was at the higher tier of 29.4 cents.

One of the things I dearly miss about Washington state is the cost of electricity where I used to live is still only about 7 cents per Kwh.

[Rommie]

So, we are in a serious drought right now in most of New England. One of those "no starting fires period and don't even think about driving in grass or doing something similarly silly" which I know is common out West this time of year, but really doesn't happen much around here.

I confess that honestly I don't mind the drought as much as it probably would in normal years, for the simple reason that all the public life I have is essentially spent outside. No one is under the mistaken impression that winter isn't going to come, or that we can sit on outdoor patios all year like our friends down south, but dang it on the rare days where it rains you sure notice. So for once I hope the streak lasts as long as possible.

[Rommie]

Woke up this morning to a dusting of snow, and it's still coming down hard and fast! Maybe an inch of the white stuff, so looks like we're getting more than expected.

The slightly bad thing is in the Boston area a ton of trees still have plenty of leaves right now. I think we are ok with this amount, but in trouble if we get a lot more.

[SciFiFisher]

Well, the Southern part of California was still trying to burn down a few days ago. But, here in Southern California our "turn down the thermostat" days are around 78 during the day and down to 45 at night. We are still waiting for the fall/winter rains to start.

[Rommie]

Our first nor'easter has just blown through! (Technically still ongoing but definitely dying down.) There wasn't one at all last year as winters get more mild, and it's kind of fun to see Bostonites get so serious about their snow. Might not happen often any more with climate change, but hearty New Englanders are ready to engage in this tradition! Anyway we definitely got a foot or so overnight- there wasn't much at all at 11pm when we went to bed, and now it's a real winter wonderland.

The funny one with the new house is we had a storm that nothing happened with a weekend or two back (only got maybe 2") and we discovered the previous owner had a snow service that cleared the driveway. We texted him and he called the snow service to cancel. Woke up this morning... and they've cleared our driveway again! So I guess we'll call them directly, though I think right now F thinks we should just keep them after he realized how hard it is to shovel a foot of snow from our front walk.

[SciFiFisher]

Our first nor'easter has just blown through! (Technically still ongoing but definitely dying down.) There wasn't one at all last year as winters get more mild, and it's kind of fun to see Bostonites get so serious about their snow. Might not happen often any more with climate change, but hearty New Englanders are ready to engage in this tradition! Anyway we definitely got a foot or so overnight- there wasn't much at all at 11pm when we went to bed, and now it's a real winter wonderland.

The funny one with the new house is we had a storm that nothing happened with a weekend or two back (only got maybe 2") and we discovered the previous owner had a snow service that cleared the driveway. We texted him and he called the snow service to cancel. Woke up this morning... and they've cleared our driveway again! So I guess we'll call them directly, though I think right now F thinks we should just keep them after he realized how hard it is to shovel a foot of snow from our front walk.

Well, if he does insist on shoveling the snow it's a really good way to find out if his back and his heart can take it.