45 replies to this topic

[Pablo]

Now we get a giant tornado ripping though mid-USA in December!

 

I remember after Hurricane Katrina the American Red Cross was there for us, handing out money no questions asked. Volunteers working around the clock to help.

 

So I donated some $ today via Paypal. It's tax deductible and it's easy to do.

 

Make sure your money actually goes to the official American Red Cross - American Red Cross | Help Those Affected by Disasters

 

Pablo

[MattD]

Global warming or some kind of change to our global weather patterns.   This was as bad as anything I have seen, on par with the hurricanes and tsunami damage.

You will be happy that coming north to Tn, you won't see snow like we had 30-50 years ago.  Now we get a dusting and they call off school.   People have no idea how to drive on snow anymore, either.

 

It's nice having 60-70 degree days in Dec here in Ind.

[Pappy]

We got a bunch of snow here in the Oxford, Ohio (about 30 mile northwest of Cincinnati) area last year but nothing like the blizzard years of 77, 78, the Ohio River even froze over. I remember playing outside one year in a short sleeve shirt on New Years Day when I was kid  I also remember about 5 inches of snow on Halloween in the early 90's. In 2004 we got a 20 inch snowfall in one day. The worst draught I remember was in the early 60's, all the grass dried up and died but the hottest decade on record is the 1930's. I also remember back in 91 the Mississippi River had record breaking floods. There is also a thing called "one hundred year flood areas". It means there is a 1% chance that you will get a flood that year. Since not many people live a hundred years it's a once in a lifetime occurrence. It's Mother Nature doing what she does. 20,000 thousand years ago she covered much of North America with a glacier and then melted it. All fifty states have had tornadoes and they can happen anytime of the year.

[Phil Smith]

All fifty states have had tornadoes and they can happen anytime of the year.

 

 

I didn't know that.

[Pappy]

Here it is and it's from this web site. https://www.nssl.noa...x101/tornadoes/ However, the idea of a “tornado alley” can be misleading. The U.S. tornado threat shifts from the Southeast in the cooler months of the year, toward the southern and central Plains in May and June, and the northern Plains and Midwest during early summer. Tornadoes can occur and have been reported in all fifty states!
Please remember, violent tornadoes do happen outside “Tornado Alley” every year. When are tornadoes most likely? Tornado season usually refers to the time of year the U.S. sees the most tornadoes. The peak “tornado season” for the southern Plains (e.g., Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas) is from May into early June. On the Gulf coast, it is earlier in the spring. In the northern Plains and upper Midwest (North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota), tornado season is in June or July. But, remember, tornadoes can happen at any time of year. Tornadoes can also happen at any time of day or night, but most tornadoes occur between 4–9 p.m.

[Phil Smith]

It appears to be an 8 lane alley.

 

[Bill from NH]

I had an inch covering of snow until yesterday's rain & wind took it all away.  Today everything is brown with a green touch here & there. Mountains & higher elevations still have snow.

[MattD]

Bill, you still get plenty of snow, don't you?

[Bill from NH]

Matt, some years yes, some years no. The past 2 or 3 winters, we haven't had much. November was one light dusting, December was an inch or so of snow mixed in with rain & freezing rain, so who knows what this winter will finally bring. Higher elevations & mountains have had skiing for a month. Some bad winters we've had 10' or more here at the house. One Plow guy brought his front-end loader to clear my 260' driveway, We need snow to fill up aquifer for the following summer. In 2019 & 2020 most of the state had drought because of little snowfalll the previous winters.

[Tom Katsanis]

On the other extreme here in Victoria Australia we have had a slow summer there were days last week we needed the heater on & our spring was pretty wet & cold compared to normal.

[Pappy]

Bill, you still get plenty of snow, don't you?

Matt, I know you are addressing Bill but two years ago I didn't even put my snow blade on my Polaris. Last year I used it a lot.

 

In 1978 the local weather man on channel 9 predicted ten more years of heavy snow fall during the winter. A bunch of guys went out and bought four wheel drive pick-up trucks and snow blades. The next year everything went back to normal. 

[Pablo]

One hurricane a few years ago, I forget which one, did a complete loop-de-loop and did a double-whammy, slamming the same places twice before it finally curved northeast  and went away.

 

These systems nowadays don't play by the old rules at all. When I moved here from the Republic of Panama in 2000, hurricanes were fairly predictable. They started off the west coast of Africa, came across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, and by the time they arrived we pretty much knew what they were going to do - stew and enjoy the heat of the Gulf, gain steam, and go to the Yucatan, or Texas, or LA and MS and the Panhandle or across FL. And they always curved north and east.

 

Nowadays it seems these doggone things are spawning in the Caribb and the Gulf. In a matter of days, bam you have a hurricane. And I don't think it's going to stop. One of the many reasons I am outta here.

 

I could move to TN and get hit by lightning LOL. But I made my bed and I'll lie in it. Take my chances. My senses are telling me, most of the smart people are moving north......

 

Just my feelings based on a lifetime as a mariner. Never turn your back on Mother Nature   

[MattD]

Butch the best investment I ever made was a snow blower in 2007.    I used it one time for about 6-8 inches of snow.  At that time I took care of 4 homes and one neighbor had a drive about 400 yards long.  It did a super job.    Then it sat in a building for 2-3 years and didn't get used again.   I fully retired and had no need to get out if we had snow, so I sold the blower.   All the time I owned it, there was no appreciable snow after the first time I used it.   Buying a blower is the best way to change weather patterns.    The last 10 years or so we haven't had more then 4-6 inches, maybe once a year and dustings of 1-2 inches several times a year.   

 

Like you, having lived here all my life, I remember the snow and ice of 77 and 78.   That's been over 40 years ago, now, but it shut everything down for a week or more.   We had temps zero and below for 4 days or more, if I remember right.   We haven't had continuous days of sub zero hardly at all since back then.,   Thankful for  that.   Now the weather guy gets all worked about temps in the 20's, which is no big deal at all.,

 

I am just south of you enough that we our weather is a little warmer than yours.   I don't miss the continued cold we had back then.     Weather seems to come up the Ohio River valley and by the time it gets to you, it's a bit  colder than what we get.      

 

My father in law grew up in Buffalo, NY.   He would tell of the 1940's when snow would be piled up 8-12 feet along walks and roads and stay that way all winter.    I don't know if it's still like that today.  Can anybody in that area add to that.

[MattD]

Paul, I wonder about NO and other coastal areas that are below sea level or close to it.  I think it is fallacy to think you can build levees to keep out the Atlantic Ocean.  How many times do these areas get flooded and need complete rebuild before you figure the smart move is to come inland.   None of this stuff is  about the next 4-5 years, but what will it be in 50 years.   Like Grand Isle after the last storm, it doesn't really look feasable to rebuild the whole area when it is setting 4 inches above ocean in every direction.     We do have a great industry in America of weather men and climatologists calculating and  guessing about what we'll see tomorrow!!!

 

Like derought and shortage of water in the southwest.   How much more can you expand those areas when you can't provide water for the current population?

[Pappy]

Another reason these hurricanes and tornadoes seem to be worse than they were fifty years ago is because there is way more stuff for them to destroy today. 100 years ago the same tornadoes could have gone through the same areas and destroyed a dozen shacks and killed three people.

 

Peoples memories of how things use to be can be a little distorted. I've met guys who see my 1/24 scale slot cars and talk about how they were much bigger back in the 60's. 

[Pablo]

I think you nailed it, Pappy.

[SpeedyNH]

my driveway in merrimack nh needed plowing nine times last winter. "needed" = more than three inches and if you ignore it, it all turns to an ice floe. 

[Phil Smith]

What's a snow plow?

[SpeedyNH]

it's what you want to have in a Dallas ice storm on the highway. you drop the plow so you can stop and then get your truck out of the way. 

[Phil Smith]

We certainly have occasional bad ice storms.

[Bill from NH]

There are no good ice storms Phil; Does everything around you get shut down like in  Atlanta, when you have ice? We get ice up north too, but we have the equipment to treat it with chemicals & sand.

[Phil Smith]

Bill, we have years where there's no ice or snow. But every 5 years or so we'll get an ice storm. Last year there was a really bad one (for us). I was without electricity, on and off (mostly off) for days, as was much of this part of Texas, with the temperature mostly in the teens or single digits. Things that very few people here are prepared for, including me. I've lived here my entire life, 66 years, and have never been through anything like that.

[Pablo]

I think we all agree, the weather is a changin'. We had a severe ice event a few years ago in Bay Saint Louis. Power went out. The landlord, myself, and my dogs spent most of the evening in his SUV with the heater on watching the electric company bucket truck repair the lines.

 

I told my landlord there was an electric problem days prior to the event but he chose to ignore it. Until it became a crisis. Lesson learned, don't ignore electrical issues. 

[Mark Onofri]

By this time of the year, Yetti (no not the chassis) have taken up residence in my backyard. BBQ'in tarradactals all hours of the night. Not this year. BillNH , any black bear up there ?

[NSwanberg]

Tour 2022: NASA's Upcoming Earth Missions Seems appropriate.