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Here come de snow

I always make the mistake of thinking weather moves more-or-less straight West to East, as it tended to do in Rhode Island. Instead, it moves in a large and lazy swirl, effectively a long diagonal from the mouth of the Channel to London.

So that blob of weather in the Channel that I assumed would float harmlessly over and dump its payload on France is actually about to curve up into the oval area on the map (that’s me) and snow all over us.

Eh. It’ll turn to rain by morning. We’re just so dang bored of the cold gray monotony, we’re excited by a few flakes.

Any of you caught under this ‘polar vortex’ thingie?

Comments


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: February 1, 2019, 1:24 am

Thank goodness Mrs. Uncle and I are well south of the bad stuff. We have family and friends up north, but they know the ropes and are properly prepared. It’s unpleasant for them, but not perilous because they have the right clothes, multiple ways of heating their homes, and maintain modest stockpiles of food and other necessities (beer, wine, liquor) so see them through longish spells of frigid isolation.

I did hear one really awful story yesterday about a man who had gone out to shovel snow, properly dressed for the cold, but who evidently collapsed in his garage, unheated of course, and with the door open. He was found the next morning pretty much frozen solid. I think this is a good illustration of the wisdom of the buddy system when operating in hazardous environments.


Comment from tomfrompv
Time: February 1, 2019, 2:35 am

It never rains in SoCal, but like the song goes, it pours. So we’re in mudslide watch where anybody in a canyon may wake up with his/her house located down the street someplace. Thunder and lightening even. The mudslides to the fires last year which were due to global warming.

Plus nightmarish traffic since nobody remembers how to drive in the rain. The news this morning made sure to remind everyone to turn on their lights if they turn on their wipers, otherwise get a ticket. Its the law.

Back when people had a sense of humor, during deluges like this, local DJs would advise everyone to spray WD-40 on their tires (Water Displacement <– joke). Or match your speed to the size of the puddle on the road, longer the puddle, higher the speed. It used to be fun to have rain, back then.


Comment from Bob
Time: February 1, 2019, 5:00 am

I’m in SoCal too, and unfortunately I had to drive somewhere today. A couple of times it was raining so insanely hard that there was no visibility at all, even with the wipers on high. Idiots turn on their emergency flashers and blind everyone with the glare.

Anyway, we made it there and back safely and the house was still where we left it.

I am concerned that if the tax assessor finds out about the new lake in my yard, the property taxes will go up.


Comment from AliceH
Time: February 1, 2019, 5:16 am

I’m at the southern edge of weather from the north, so it was 5 degrees when I got up this morning. I’m also at the northern edge of weather from the south, so tomorrow it will be a high of 50 (60 by Sunday). That won’t last either. More snow next week.


Comment from Skandia Recluse
Time: February 1, 2019, 5:35 am

Any of you caught under this ‘polar vortex’ thingie?

Yep. Been very cold at night minus 20 on the F scale, but warming up during daytime – sometimes above zero. It’s really cold when it is twenty below zero during the day, so this is merely ‘cold.’ Some years it is only a few days, other years it lasts six weeks. It’s been cold for about 2-3 weeks now, so ‘normal.’


Comment from Ric Fan
Time: February 1, 2019, 7:49 am

I’m in LA. Instead of thunderclaps, the house shook. It was noisey and bizarre.


Comment from Mrs. Peel
Time: February 1, 2019, 12:06 pm

It’s been cold (40s, which I consider quite cold) and wet here for a while. The wet is more annoying. We’ve had maybe twenty sunny days in the last 5 months.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: February 1, 2019, 12:50 pm

Colder than usual this winter in San Antonio, but today will be in the 60s.


Comment from Wolfus Aurelius
Time: February 1, 2019, 2:34 pm

We had a cold night earlier this week, about 35 F. on the south shore of the lake, which means near-freezing on the north shore. Everybody panics, as they do when it snows or any time the temp drops below about 45. “What a warm January means,” I tell people, “is that April will be foul and July will be even worse.” They shrug and say, “What can ya do?”

“Move,” says I. And when I retire, if I can afford to, I will. Idaho looks nice. . . .


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: February 1, 2019, 4:09 pm

I’ll get #3 Durnedson to send you a report – he’s in Nebraska for work. It’s warmer today.

At the beginning of January it was Hawaii.
In March it will be Alaska, originally scheduled for January.
This Nebraska trip materialized out of no-where just before the weather hit.

Funnily enough he was worried about the Alaska trip because of the cold. Anchorage temps average in way up in the mid 20s during the day, which will make what he expedience in Omaha the last weeks seem quite nice.
Clearly the Lord has a sense of humor similar to my own.


Comment from Pupster
Time: February 2, 2019, 1:50 am

Two days this week of -35 in the mornings, warming up to -6 during the day, not even counting the windchill. Nothing really works well under those conditions, including tires and air compressors.

https://thehostages.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/negative-35.jpg

I had to put air in all the tires to turn off the warning bells and whistles.

Today I stood out in the sun in 15 degrees and it felt great.


Comment from BJM
Time: February 2, 2019, 10:35 pm

@Uncle Al “… the wisdom of the buddy system…”

Exactly, and since we ain’t getting any younger, we bought a set of inexpensive walkie-talkies at Harbor Freight to stay in contact on the property…cuz you don’t want to carry a cell phone into a hot, dirty and/or wet environment. Last summer the Spousal Unit left a cell in the Gator and the 107 heat fried it.

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