The Weather Thread

[Rommie]

Wow!

The mega storm around Christmas Eve was just a bunch of rain in Boston and on the coast. The big effect for us though was we were flying the morning of Dec 24 to Cuba... and our flight was delayed so much due to the weather backups that we never would have made the connection! However, the connection was in Newark, which it turns out is just a 3.5 hour drive from our house if there's no traffic (it's just there almost always is traffic to get across the George Washington Bridge and the rest of NYC). So, we braved the frigid temps (it was <10F the entire drive) and endured the United reps yelling at us for taking the initiative to not miss our flight (we had called but no one ever answered!), and made it to Havana!

On Christmas Day in Havana it was 60F and raining, which was fine for us but it was funny to see the locals wearing winter jackets with fake fur lining and the like. Warmed up enough by the end of the week for a beach day though! Then back to New England where it's 50s (presumably to ease us back into the colder temps) and raining this week. Put it this way, I know F wants to go skiing but I think I'll encourage him to not go this weekend as I know he wouldn't enjoy the crap conditions.

[Thumper]

If you can get any company to answer a phone these days, you're doing better than me.
So -12F right around Christmas. +64 today and pouring rain. Everything is flooded. So like a 76 degree transition in just over a week if you're looking at air temp. Something like 100 degree delta if you're looking at wind chill and heat index. I was sweating in a t-shirt today working on the gravel driveway. I was probably wearing 40 pounds of clothes with 4 layers on top before Christmas trying to plow said driveway and I got hypothermic.

[pumpkinpi]

If you can get any company to answer a phone these days, you're doing better than me.
So -12F right around Christmas. +64 today and pouring rain. Everything is flooded. So like a 76 degree transition in just over a week if you're looking at air temp. Something like 100 degree delta if you're looking at wind chill and heat index. I was sweating in a t-shirt today working on the gravel driveway. I was probably wearing 40 pounds of clothes with 4 layers on top before Christmas trying to plow said driveway and I got hypothermic.

That temperature range is WILD!

We're close to 50" of snowfall so far this season, which is more than double the average. The first few snowfalls have melted, but this week we got a foot on top of a couple recent 4-5" snowfalls, so we've got over a foot still on the ground. The snowplow piles are high on our streets and in parking lots! This pile is at the end of our driveway.

[Thumper]

Beautiful!

[Rommie]

Wow! Meanwhile, by the time all that snow makes it here it's all rain. I know this because there is basically no snow in New England because it keeps raining instead of snowing, even up in the mountains.

[Thumper]

My biggest beef is with acclimatization. When it got down to -12, yeah, that's good and cold. But after a couple of days, +10 feels OK. And hanging out in a +25 garage for a few minutes feels almost balmy. But then the weather flips, it gets up to +60-65. And all that acclimatization is lost, reset. It was +25 this morning and probably +35 by the time I got home, and I'm freezing. Everything I built up over Christmas weekend is lost.

Oh and of course back to grey and mud...

[SciFiFisher]

So, for those who had money on California suffering a massive earthquake and sliding into the ocean you are about to lose the pool. It seems that after several years of drought and fires the state of California is going to be washed away. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topst ... r-AA16lNhh

[Rommie]

What I find astounding about all this rain is it sounds to me like it's still going to be a drought in California, because they can't contain the water so most of that just washes out to sea. Is that right? I guess what I wonder about is I was always told the snow pack is what determines the drought for the year, and surely the mountains are socked in with all this precipitation, but I guess there's more to it?

[SciFiFisher]

What I find astounding about all this rain is it sounds to me like it's still going to be a drought in California, because they can't contain the water so most of that just washes out to sea. Is that right? I guess what I wonder about is I was always told the snow pack is what determines the drought for the year, and surely the mountains are socked in with all this precipitation, but I guess there's more to it?

They have had several years of drought which brought the reservoirs to historic lows. They are so far behind on water levels they are in negative numbers in some areas. The good news is this round of moisture did bring a pretty good snow pack to the mountains. And from what I gather there was no way to actually capture and hold the water that did fall in the lower elevations. 42% of the state was experiencing severe drought conditions as of December 2022. 92% of the state is experiencing moderate drought conditions. https://www.drought.gov/states/california.

Edited to add: When it rains that fast/hard it overwhelms the capacity of the land to absorb the water and store it in ground water reservoirs. In addition, the drought and massive fires over the last few years destroyed the vegetation that would have helped hold more of the water so that it could be absorbed. It creates an effect that leads to more water just running off into the ocean.

[Rommie]

Yeah, it's a rather strange juxtaposition to see that December 2022 was the 19th wettest December ever, but 2022 was nevertheless the 9th driest year ever! Climate change is wild.

[Thumper]

Well we were supposed to get whalloped with snow and ice yesterday but it was a bust. People working from home, schools closed. We got some sleet, some slush, then a bunch of rain and temps in the 40's. It is so unbelievably wet and muddy here. Actually snowing harder this morning than yesterday. The Kid over in Ft Wayne got hit harder, maybe 6 inches. And she's due to drive home this afternoon so Mom and Dad will be nervous again. One bright note, with Mrs. T working from home, I convinced her to take a lunch and we had a nice light meal together at an empty restaurant.

[Rommie]

Gonna get down to -6 on Friday night here, and quite windy, so they're saying windchill of -30! I think by that point it doesn't really matter if you use Celsius or Fahrenheit. So, guess I'm working from home tomorrow and just not going outside for a bit. Also, keeping the bird feeder full for the poor birds, and getting some extra wood in the house just in case for the fire. (Our New England house is very well insulated, but still, better to have and use it later than not I think.)

Funny thing though is it's actually gonna get much warmer on Sunday- warm enough that we'll probably day trip to go skiing Sunday afternoon, as it'll be around freezing even up where we plan to go. A 40+ degree temperature swing is pretty crazy!

[SciFiFisher]

Yes, the polar vortex has hit Buffalo too. We are at 7F and it "feels like" -14F. My daughter borrowed the car today and brought it back with only half a tank of gas because they were at one of those places with the uber sensitive handle that keeps turning off. The son in law apparently fought with it and even took a spill on the ice before giving up. She promised to try to fill it all the way on Monday when it was warmer. My response was "You don't love me enough to freeze solid"? The SIL says he doesn't love anyone that much.

[lady_*nix]

@Rommie

WTF, thank you for mentioning. It's in the 60s here today! I grew up with "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes" but this is ridiculous even by MA standards.

[lady_*nix]

Oh LMAO never mind, I just saw the date on your post

[Rommie]

I mean, it’s a sign of how weird this winter has been that your reaction is valid on a post several weeks old!

[lady_*nix]

Entirely fair but yeah, honestly work has been nuts lately and I'm super exhausted. But hey, at least I've kept the job! For over a year! That's something.

[pumpkinpi]

Entirely fair but yeah, honestly work has been nuts lately and I'm super exhausted. But hey, at least I've kept the job! For over a year! That's something.

[pumpkinpi]

We could get 28" of snow this week over the course of 3 days!! I live right where the arrow points. That is a very long, wide band of over 27". The most I've seen is about 18" It will probably be closer to that number. But still....

[geonuc]

The apocalypse is upon us.

[pumpkinpi]

We ended up with about 12-15". It was hard to tell because it fell in two rounds and there was a lot of blowing. Much less than predicted, but there was a heat island effect around the Twin Cities. Suburbs north and south of us got 20".

It was still the biggest snowfall this year, and we don't get as much as a foot at once every year. Schools were called off Wednesday and Thursday. There was supposed to be about 5" of snowfall coming overnight Wednesday, then a lull, then heavy again during the rush hour. The city schools were trying to prevent something that happened a few years back--an unexpected foot fell during the day and some kids were stuck at school until 8-9pm. Once one school district called thos days off, the rest followed. But the snowfall overnight was a lot lower than predicted, and the lull lasted a lot longer. So there definitely could have been school Wednesday. It was good to be home Thursday though.

[Thumper]

In the last 6 days we've had 75 and sunny, wind, snow, more wind, rain, and tornado warnings yesterday. Standby for locusts later this week.

[Thumper]

75 and sunny yesterday. Rain, big rain tomorrow. Freezing temps over the weekend.
I miss the constant comfort of 27 inches of snow throughout the winter...

[Thumper]

Whiteout Tuesday morning. Not much accumulation but cold windy and bad road conditions (right when I was borrowing a trailer and dragging my mower down to the shop ) Up to 60, sunny, and pleasant yesterday. Pouring rain with falling temps currently. Flurries and heading down to the 20's tomorrow.

[Thumper]

Several days in the 80s' then back to 30's and rain. Repeat.
Slight sleet the first week of April keeping the streak alive. But heavy sleet and light snow last Sunday made sure. Only two years since I came to Ohio (1976) that there has not been snow in April.