Weather Alerts

[Foggy]

In my next life, I am moving to Oz first thing.

[MN-Skeptic]

It's been more than three weeks since I've had to use the snowblower. It was warm enough, on Valentine's Day, that we got an inch of rain. This coming week's predicted snowfall:

Monday - 0.6"
Tuesday - 4.6"
Wednesday - 10.2"
Thursday - 3.2"
Friday - 0.6"

That's 19.2"

I sure hope the storm goes north of us. Or south of us. Sigh.

[Phoenix520]

We’re getting some of your weather this coming week, you midwesterners. The high Mon will be 70, then gradually down to a high of 46 on the weekend weekend, and nights in the 30s all week.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

My daffodils are blooming and the yellow-bellied sapsucker is drilling on the chimney - It's a premature Spring!

[MN-Skeptic]

It's interesting to see how seriously Minnesota is taking this current snowstorm. From yesterday afternoon through early this morning we had 3"-6" of snow in the Twin Cities area. We have a lull now, but, starting this afternoon, heavy snow - maybe a foot or more - will start falling. Strong winds will make for horrible conditions. West of the Cities it will be a blizzard.

Many schools are doing virtual learning today and tomorrow. Many churches have canceled Ash Wednesday services.

I think the most interesting approach Minneapolis and St. Paul are taking is to have a number of parking ramps with free parking for the next several days. It's always a challenge for the large cities to clear their streets because so many residents rely on street parking. From the sounds of it, many of the free parking ramps are on bus lines to make it easy for folks to move their cars before the snow begins. It's a win-win because people won't end up with towed cars and snow plows will be able to clear the streets quicker.

[Phoenix520]

A couple of inches of SNOW are forecast for my city! Today or tomorrow.

ETA LA is issuing its first EVAR blizzard warning!

[AndyinPA]

[northland10]

A couple of inches of SNOW are forecast for my city! Today or tomorrow.

ETA LA is issuing its first EVAR blizzard warning!

Trade ya. I'd even take MN-Skeptic's 3-6 inches. I hate ice storms.

[Phoenix520]

I knew I’d need that ice scraper again some day!!

[Volkonski]

After over 30 years on the Gulf Coast we had to get an ice scraper when we moved to Texoma. Used it once this winter so far.

High today was 75F.

[Kendra]

Supposedly lots of snow/dustings in the Seattle area, appears to be mostly north and east. I'm in the south end and not a flake. Zip. Nada. Just clear skies.

[Azastan]

We had quite the accumulation of graupel yesterday, with a bit sticking around even through today. Haven't seen any snow yet here in the south King County hinterlands (and would like to keep it that way).

Friends down in Chehalis and Yelm report heavy snowfall, so I am going to be realistic and figure we will get hit later in the night.

[Kendra]

We had quite the accumulation of graupel yesterday, with a bit sticking around even through today. Haven't seen any snow yet here in the south King County hinterlands (and would like to keep it that way).

Friends down in Chehalis and Yelm report heavy snowfall, so I am going to be realistic and figure we will get hit later in the night.

My weather alert on the task bar says snowing now, but so far it isn't happening. I'm sure as soon as I go to bed and nod off something will happen.

[AndyinPA]

We lucked out and the storm sort of ended just west of here and north of here. They definitely had snow north. Here, we had rain. Once the rain ended a few hours ago, the temperature started climbing. Good chance we will hit 70 degrees tomorrow, the third record high for February, but midnight tomorrow will be the high temperature for Friday. It's all downhill for the temp on Friday, though, for a cool weekend, with temps heading back into the fifties by Monday. This is the strangest winter I can ever remember.

[Patagoniagirl]

I feel like I lucked out too. The freezing rain made this area a nightmare for about six hours. Ice, ice baby. My trees suffered but I think they will survive. My three story-tall firr tree lost many big branches. We had a lot of thunder but I saw no lightening. It was crack, boom crash for a few hours. Went to check for mail and skated ony front porch. I was thinking of walking to the library but I don't think a broken hip should be in my near future. Now...all rain and 35°.

[Foggy]

It's gonna be 82° today.

[Azastan]

No snow in the hinterlands of South King County, but COLD and WINDY. Per my usual early morning activities, I went out to feed horses around 6.30 and half an hour later, headed back to the house with close-to-frostbitten fingers.

With wind chill it felt like 10 degrees F, so still warmer than what many of you have, but it's going to stay cold today, barely getting above freezing.

But at least there's no snow!

[Volkonski]

It's gonna be 82° today.

That's the weather we had here day before yesterday. Enjoy it while you can. Today it is 46F in Texoma.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

We were hit hard by an icestorm yesterday (the Viking Longhouse was at the northern edge of the bad zone). The outage map looks like a kaleidoscope all across the lower part of the state, with a scoop taken out that corresponds to my employers service area. It's particularly bad on the east side (metro Detroit, A², and so on) with half a million DTE customers that lost power, including my parents (who also had their water heater break before the storm hit). To the south and west of us, Consumers Energy had about 200,000 customers lose power - Dr. Vicklund's parents are in the worst hit portion, but didn't lose power. 1/4" to 1/2 " of ice. I was able to work from home yesterday and normally work from home on Thursday and Friday, so we are snuggled up playing video games (or reviewing drawing during working hours in my case).

One good thing happened. I happened to have most of a ham from this weekend, so on a whim I tried out a new recipe - double glazed ham with my own homemade glaze. I don't think I'll ever go back to my single glaze.

[Kendra]

No snow in the hinterlands of South King County, but COLD and WINDY. Per my usual early morning activities, I went out to feed horses around 6.30 and half an hour later, headed back to the house with close-to-frostbitten fingers.

With wind chill it felt like 10 degrees F, so still warmer than what many of you have, but it's going to stay cold today, barely getting above freezing.

But at least there's no snow!

Ditto, except for horses needing to be fed. Dann cold.

[RTH10260]

for the record, a new record ...

‘Strongest snowstorm in years’ leaves Californians delighted and frozen
The Hollywood sign was dusted in white as arctic air blew across the state, triggering blizzard warnings for the first time since 1989

Gabrielle Canon in San Francisco
Sat 25 Feb 2023 06.00 GMT

Swaths of the Golden State were doused in white this week as a historic storm cast much of the US in a bitter chill – and forecasters say there’s more frosty weather in store.

The snowstorm hovering over the southern part of California could end up becoming one for the record books as typically balmy areas brace for a barrage of more blizzard conditions and blustery winds. Across the state this week, the snowline has already crept far downslope from its winter territory atop high-elevation peaks, dusting foothills and valleys closer to the coast, and even some beaches.

“It is definitely the strongest storm we have had in many years,” said Eric Boldt, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in southern California. And it isn’t all bad news.




https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... o-bay-area

[Foggy]

Wait, the Hollywood sign got snowed on? I thought that was illegal in California.

[Phoenix520]

Don’t worry, we shot the snow what did it. It won’t happen again.

Last night we had 3 separate emergency alerts about flash flooding - at 5pm, 12:30 am, and 4 am.

I have not looked yet to see how close the snow is. I bought a new fleece blanket for the storm and I’m snuggled in. We leave for Palm Springs at 1; not fleeing, going to a memorial service.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://arkansasadvocate.com/2023/02/22 ... er-plants/

After a series of winter storms, regulators approve new standards for power plants

Two years after Winter Storm Uri, which caused a massive power failure in Texas that caused more than 200 deaths, and just two months after another storm, Elliott, forced blackouts in parts of the South, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved new extreme-cold reliability standards for power plants.

However, the vote last week on the standards came with the acknowledgement by the commission that the new rules don’t go nearly far enough. The commission sent the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the nonprofit regulator that sets and enforces reliability standards for the bulk power system in the U.S., back to the drawing board in several respects.

“There are a number of good measures in what we accept today to be sure,” FERC Commissioner Allison Clements said. “But the critical generator weatherization requirements as they were proposed, to be frank, are not up to the task.”

Extreme cold weather, like the temperatures seen during Uri and Elliott, can knock out power plants that haven’t been adequately winterized.

During Uri, natural gas, coal and nuclear plants, as well as wind turbines, failed to hit their expected output, per a report by the University of Texas at Austin. More than 52,000 megawatts of generation went offline during the event, about 40% of the total capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which runs the electric grid for most of the state. Problems included frozen lines and valves, boiler issues, iced turbine blades and other problems. In 2021, natural gas generation made up more than 50% of ERCOT’s capacity in 2021, with wind about 25%.

In December, as Elliott sent temperatures rapidly plunging across much of the central and eastern United States, gas and coal plants tripped offline, forcing Duke Energy in North Carolina and the Tennessee Valley Authority to order rolling blackouts in their respective territories. PJM, the largest U.S. grid operator, overseeing an area that includes 65 million people and all or part of 13 states and the District of Columbia, implored customers to conserve electricity as 46,000 megawatts of power generation, mostly natural gas and coal plants, went offline because of fuel supply problems and equipment failures.

And in Texas this winter, despite new weatherization standards for power plants approved last year, power plants still failed to perform because of both fuel shortages and other problems.

[Kendra]

Certainly minor compared to what California is going through, but lowland snow coming in a few hours to the Puget Sound region in a few hours through tomorrow morning. Thankfully there's nothing I need at the grocery store for a couple of days, so as long as I have cable and internet, I'm good.