Plenty of weather to complain about in 2021

[Labster]

Previous year is previous

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We've been having quite a windstorm here in Southern California, with winds here being over 30mph sustained, gusts to 50mph, all day long.

The neighbor's chimney landed on my property, but at least we didn't have any damage from cinder blocks falling on bricks.  I'm kind of glad it's gone for now -- I have no idea why people like to sit around stinky wood while it's burning.  I mean, campfires are fine, but you know, dry the wood out first?

Oh, and this happened to my car!  It looks like one large branch broke, and another one broke its fall and also broke itself.  I was able to move my car before it fell all the way down, no real damage, but man, close call!

   

Everything is a mess.  The hot winds, they blow hard, causing damage everywhere and trash to pile up.  And on January 20, 2021, we're all going to have to go out and clean up the damage before we can get on with our lives.  I feel like that's probably a metaphor for something.

[Bob Schroeck]

Is it just me, or are trees falling and/or breaking with far greater frequency than they did just twenty or thirty years ago? I mean, I was a kid in the sixties and seventies and I don't remember trees falling after every slightly-heavier-than-normal rainstorm, the way they seem to do now.

[hazard]

You, I think, but at the same time the changing climate patterns do mean that trees that previously were settled in well suited climates may now find them in climates with conditions the tree finds more difficult to handle. At the same time, air quality has generally improved in that time, and that's a key stress factor for plants too.

It might even be a maintenance issue and a result of a shifting definition of 'slightly heavier than usual rainstorm'. KNMI records show the Netherlands have been getting more rain per year over time for example, without necessarily impacting the number of rain events.

[classicdrogn]

I think easy mass communication also has a strong element in that perception - you don't need a van full of expensive equipment and half a dozen people to report an incident in a way that can be seen worldwide.

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm not even talking about stuff in the news. I'm talking trees I can see by going around my own neighborhood. Hell, we've lost two trees in our back yard since 2010.

[Star Ranger4]

Man. Repeat of what Labster was talking about here. Lots of rain on saturday, then the sort of day that makes one wonder if the Ex President didn't sneak into Los Angles when no one was looking (IE, BLOOOOOOOWWWWWW HAAAARRRRRRDDDD).

Didn't take a pic, but saw one branch come down by our pool, and when mom got back from an errand there was another tree down, blocking the intersection in. Fortunatly there are two ways in though.

[Bob Schroeck]

So after a round of rapid shopping this morning, I'm sitting at home waiting on a winter storm that -- last I checked -- was forecast to last 48 hours in this area and drop upwards of 18 inches on us. It was supposed to start at 5 PM today... but the snow actually began falling at about noon. In the last 90 minutes, the flurries of big fluffy flakes have already covered sidewalks and driveways.

[robkelk]

Meanwhile in Ottawa, the weather radar:


  Screenshot 2021-01-31 151528.png (Size: 45.1 KB / Downloads: 181)

On the other hand, tonight's forecast low is -22°C. We could stand to get a bit of insulating snow here.

[hazard]

Meanwhile in the Netherlands: Rain + temperatures hovering around 0 Celsius. I'm so glad public roadways get salted here, including the cycling paths. Black ice is no joke.

Then again, the ice tends not to last long anyway. We haven't really had long periods of frost for quite a while now.

[Bob Schroeck]

Five and half hours since it started, more or less, and it looks like we have about 1.5 inches, maybe 2; it's hard to say.

[Bob Schroeck]

Still coming down heavy, in big fluffy flakes. The local forecast has been revised, projecting 8 to 12 inches in our area, with the northern tip of the state still supposed to get 18 inches. We seem to have about 8 inches right now, if the accumulations on the tables in the back yard are any indication, and the forecast has started talking about the end of the snow in "several hours" as opposed to "tomorrow noon", which is good.

[classicdrogn]

The storm moving north has now been downgraded from "snow the next three days" for us in the so-called Greater Boston Area to snow this morning, then two days of rain and clouds with highs above freezing for the rest of the week, so what we do get (which isn't lo0oking like more than an inch or two at this point) will probably be gone quite soon. My biggest concern at this point is how much water is going to be in the atmosphere for storm season in the spring and fall, and how hot it's going to be come summer.

[Bob Schroeck]

Still getting mixed signals on the end of the storm, but the snow is definitely stopped right now, with what sounds like it might be bursts of sleet every few minutes. We seem to have the projected foot of snow if the backyard tabletops are any indication; out where I actually have to shovel/snowblow it's harder to tell just what's there.

[hazard]

Sleet mixing with snow?

I'm sure you'd know already, but be careful walking out there. It tends to mix interestingly. At least it's not snow dropping on top of a wet surface.

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm not sure it was actually sleet; and I'm not walking on anything yet -- it's at least a foot deep out there, judging by those tables I've mentioned a couple of times already. I'll be digging my way out rather than walking on top.

Oh, and even if it was sleet, it's back to snow -- smaller, finer flakes than the big feathery things we were getting earlier, but snow none the less. One of my neighbors is already out with his snowblower, but he's likely going to have to touch up his work come the morning.

[hazard]

I was more thinking of the rain falling through the snow and freezing on the ground.

[Bob Schroeck]

Ah. Well, if it was indeed sleet, it wasn't much -- no ice accumulation anywhere. I was basing my speculation on the sound of the blown precipitation against the house and window; it was more staccato than I was expecting snow to be.

[Bob Schroeck]

And 22 hours after that, I've succeeded in clearing out the driveway and about ten feet of sidewalk, after a cumulative 5.25 hours of shoveling split between the afternoon and the evening, with the latter session lasting almost until 9 PM. And this morning, I feel rotten. My back is complaining and I feel groggy despite crawling into bed pretty much on-time. The only upside is the elbow that has been slooooooowly healing since November didn't twinge on me until literally the last couple shovelfulls of snow and this morning is going, "shoveling? What shoveling? I didn't notice anything."

Average accumulation appears to have been about 14 inches, although I had to start off by digging through 3-foot drifts by the garage door, and of course I ended the day's festivities by excavating the four-to-five-foot wall thrown up at the street by the plows. I have two veritable mountain ranges of snow along each side of my driveway, with two substantial peaks at their ends.

And it's still snowing right freaking now.

[hazard]

The expectation is about 15 mm of snow this Sunday where I live. Basically just over half an inch for the metrically impaired.

Even though it'll be freezing or close enough when it drops, and freezing temperatures for the rest of the week, I'd be surprised if the snow stays for more than a few hours if that long, the ground's simply too warm.

[Mamorien]

As of today, I have shoveled our front walk, our back walk, and completely around the car I usually use (though I haven't yet cleaned the snow off the car itself).

[DHBirr]

Winter Weather Advisory at 4:22 P.M. advised people here in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti that, "The snow storm will begin with heavy snowfall, then turn into possible rain and drizzle before tapering off by Friday morning. The end of the storm will bring strong winds and extreme temperatures."

There followed the usual extreme-cold-weather advice:  leave faucets dripping, open cabinets under sinks so warm air gets to the pipes and we can bash our knees on the door edges as we walk past, etc.

The snowfall has begun.  Visibility is poor, traffic on the street outside is slow and sparse.  Lucky thing I made a grocery run Tuesday.

Frabjous.  Simply frabjous.

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“We’ve had our differences, but he’s seen the light … and I made sure he moved toward it, instead of coming back.”

[hazard]

Well, that escalated. Code Red due to a snow storm across the entire Netherlands. Snow has been falling for the past 24 ish hours, with a total expected deposit of 15 to 20 centimeters.

Really, it's not the snow that's the major issue, it's the driving wind and cold.

[Bob Schroeck]

Stay safe, hazard.

Meanwhile a new snowstorm has hit us, but it's apparently not going to be a big one -- 3 to 6 inches, and over by 4PM.

[hazard]

Oh I'll be fine. Even if roads weren't salted regularly with weather like this the wind's blowing fast enough it blows the light dusting of snow coming down off the road and into the berms.

Definitely need to be careful when cycling, but walking is perfectly safe.

[Mamorien]

I walked, rather than drove, over to my parents' apartment this morning because it was still snowing. Such snow as fell then has now gone.