Weather Alerts

[sad-cafe]

wow

all we got was ice and snow and a snow day

[AndyinPA]

That's scary. All we're getting out of this storm system is a cold rain and some wind, although not far from us people are getting snow and much higher winds.

[Slim Cognito]

Holy moly! I heard there were tornados up there, but wow! We've had small tornadoes move through and although roofs, fences and cars get tossed around, the houses usually stand firm. They are built for hurricanes. I wonder when that place was built.

I'm supposed to fly back to KC Friday night for D's memorial Sunday. I'm starting to stress whether the plane on which I'm flying out of FL will be able to make it into FL. Sunday night the low is supposed to be -11. Keep fingers crossed everyone.

[AndyinPA]

[John Thomas8]

Things are quite unsettled in Foggy and my neck of the woods.

Tornado warnings/watches popping up constantly.

[northland10]

1 to 2 inches is not a winter storm. The western burbs were getting up to 5 inches, which is a bit better. The wind did not pick up until this morning.

[Foggy]

Things are quite unsettled in Foggy and my neck of the woods.

Tornado warnings/watches popping up constantly.

Yeah, it was a little concerning. I didn't do my daily walk along the river, but I will be there checking out the damage later on today ...

[John Thomas8]

Our little dogs normally don't worry too much about weather and they were unsettled all day yesterday.

[MN-Skeptic]

I find it interesting when the NFL plays games outside this time of year. My sister showed me this site which some of you may find interesting - NFL Weather. An icon will show either a stadium if the game is played in an enclosed stadium or a weather icon if the stadium is open to the weather. A screenshot from today -

20240114 NFL Weather.jpg (101.84 KiB) Viewed 71756 times

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

Our power went out from the winter storm a bit before 2 am (damn you HAARP!). Dr. Vicklund was still awake at the time and woke me up so I could hold the flashlight while she sorted out her daily pills. Power came back at 9:18 this morning.

A couple of years ago, I got a power station that runs off/charges the 40V batteries I use for my yard equipment (lawn mower, snowblower, weedwhacker, leaf blower, etc.). Over the holiday, I realized that it may be a good thing to rewire my gas furnace so that it can run off the power station if we lose power in the middle of winter. Unfortunately, I've been sick since Christmas Eve and haven't gotten around to doing it. I now have $25 of parts in my cart, ready to pull the trigger. Replacing the switch (local means of disconnect) with a switched outlet, and wiring a pigtail extension cord to the furnace power leads (that were previously connected to the switch). Normally, the cord will plug in to the switched outlet, but when power goes out, I can bring the power station down to the basement, turn it on, and plug the cord into the power station. The power station can fit up to four batteries at a time, and they are hot-swappable, so if they start getting low, I can pop the other two batteries in and run the discharged ones to be recharged at my friend's house (he lives in the subdivision on the other side of the street from mine, but is powered by a different utility, so it is unlikely that we both will be down at the same time for an extended period).

[jez]

Just checked the weather for my Dad. Without wind chill factored in, it's -25F/-32C. Add in wind chill factor, it feels like -56F/-49C. Here in SW Ohio, it's currently 26F/-3C with a wind chill of 16F/-9C.

That is a 51 degree (F) difference! Ok, so it's a 1200 mile difference, but still. That difference is amazing to me.

[sugar magnolia]

Just checked the weather for my Dad. Without wind chill factored in, it's -25F/-32C. Add in wind chill factor, it feels like -56F/-49C. Here in SW Ohio, it's currently 26F/-3C with a wind chill of 16F/-9C.

That is a 51 degree (F) difference! Ok, so it's a 1200 mile difference, but still. That difference is amazing to me.

About a 40 degree difference between the high and low at my house yesterday. We get a few of those every year and it always astounds me.

[W. Kevin Vicklund]

I have experienced a 100 degree difference from wind chill to heat index in a single day, without traveling (around 85 degrees actual difference). My tent was frozen to the ground when I woke up, and I was suffering from heat exhaustion by 2 pm (no water on site).

[MN-Skeptic]

It looks like the Steelers-Bills game that's going to be played in Buffalo, NY has been moved to Monday afternoon, starting at 4:30pm ET. Apparently not because of the cold, but because the predicted snow would make travel dangerous for the fans.

[Kendra]

Abnormally cold for Seattle area, but I thought I'd brave it for a quick run to the store. Stepped outside and heard the wind blowing pretty hard. Made it to the garbage dumpster and turned back for home. Brrrr!

[MN-Skeptic]

When I've visited my sister in Seattle, I've seen how many folks live in tents, etc. outside. This weather - across the whole U.S. - is so not good for anyone living outdoors!

[AndyinPA]

Steeler fans traveled to Baltimore for the game in a bad winter storm last weekend. They are traveling to Buffalo this weekend in another bad storm. Yeah, the weather between here and Buffalo is supposed to be very bad this weekend, lots of blowing snow. We are getting snow here today before the deep freeze hits. It has dropped 20 degrees in less than six hours. Generally speaking, Buffalo is the place to avoid driving through or to or from in the winter.

I went to the Giant Eagle yesterday, and between the game and the weather, the place was packed.

[northland10]

Steeler fans traveled to Baltimore for the game in a bad winter storm last weekend. They are traveling to Buffalo this weekend in another bad storm. Yeah, the weather between here and Buffalo is supposed to be very bad this weekend, lots of blowing snow. We are getting snow here today before the deep freeze hits. It has dropped 20 degrees in less than six hours. Generally speaking, Buffalo is the place to avoid driving through or to or from in the winter.

I went to the Giant Eagle yesterday, and between the game and the weather, the place was packed.

I doubt many Buffalo fans would notice it was severe winter weather. For them, that's just a Tuesday.

I just checked some of the warnings. In many places, they are talking about 2-5 inches. In the Buffalo area, it is 1 to 2... feet with a total of up to 3 feet in the worst bands. That beats the UP lake effect snow bands which will bring 1 to 7 inches (quite the spread because lake effect can dump on one town and do nothing to a town a few miles away).

[Kendra]

When I've visited my sister in Seattle, I've seen how many folks live in tents, etc. outside. This weather - across the whole U.S. - is so not good for anyone living outdoors!

Yeah, the cities are opening up daytime and overnight warming shelters. At least the three cities I follow on FB. I can't even comprehend the kind of cold the midwest and eastern states are experiencing.

[RTH10260]

Sanctuary Cities

[Kendra]

Sanctuary Cities

[bill_g]

We have a mix of snow, ice, and rain in the northern Willamette Valley. It's barely a few inches thick, but it's a few inches thick on everything. The digital thermometer says 16F. Anyone parked on the street has a carcicle to thaw out before they even attempt to open the door. My trees seem okay for the moment. Walking is treacherous. Keep your knees bent and be ready to dance a little bit. Try not to hurt yourself. For that matter, just stay at home, and don't drive for a day or three.

We never lost power, but the lights blicked a lot this morning when the wind was gusting. We have buried service. So those bumps must have been regional. I closed the outdoor air intake to the furnace, and manually switched it to resistive heat because the outdoor heat pump is very inefficient below 40F. It tends to run forever. The exchanger freezes over, and the reverser gets a workout trying to keep the ice cleared. I already had the outdoor faucets turned off and drained. I'll set the indoor faucets to drip overnight, and open the cabinets below the sinks just in case we lose power while I sleep.

The cat has stayed out of the bay windows all day. Surprise. I'm keeping the house around 65F. He's been wanting a lot of lap time. I expect he'll want under the covers tonight.

I made another batch of hummingbird food, and loaded the second feeder. Swapped the back porch feeder twice as they froze up. Those tiny birds pounced on the unfrozen one as soon as I hung it up. I barely get two steps away and I can hear vvv vvvv vvvvvvv.

I also made the squirrels a PBJ sammich, cut it into a dozen small squares, and placed them on the back porch rail under the eaves. They're gone. I'll make more tomorrow.

[AndyinPA]

Winter: fun times (or not)

[Reddog]

Finally freezing weather here. Nw Missouri.
Last week I noticed dandelion blooms. That was weird.
Looking forward to 3 days of minus double digit lows, and single digit highs (plus and minus). Finally seasonal weather

[roadscholar]

I now have $25 of parts in my cart, ready to pull the trigger. Replacing the switch (local means of disconnect) with a switched outlet, and wiring a pigtail extension cord to the furnace power leads (that were previously connected to the switch). Normally, the cord will plug in to the switched outlet, but when power goes out, I can bring the power station down to the basement, turn it on, and plug the cord into the power station. The power station can fit up to four batteries at a time, and they are hot-swappable, so if they start getting low, I can pop the other two batteries in and run the discharged ones to be recharged at my friend's house (he lives in the subdivision on the other side of the street from mine, but is powered by a different utility, so it is unlikely that we both will be down at the same time for an extended period).

Don’t know if the Code folks would approve.
But I do. You is very resourceful.