How's the Weather?

The Chronicler · **Reply #120 on:** December 21, 2013, 04:30:15 PM

I'm rather concerned about the weather forecast for tomorrow: freezing rain with an ice accumulation (I forget how much) enough to expect power outages. I've even heard that this may be as bad as the ice storm we had here back in 1998.

This really concerns me because I remember what that was like. Back then, I honestly wasn't that worried; I actually thought seeing everything covered in a thick layer of ice was kinda cool. I actually didn't mind having no power for a few days because, back then, the only electronics I had to entertain me was a few cartoons on TV and only one hour of computer games per day (we had only one computer in the whole house, back then). I remember spending much of that time working on a puzzle, and I had fun, especially considering school was obviously canceled for those days.

Things are a lot different these days. Nearly all of my daily activities are on a computer, many of which require internet. If we do end up losing power here, I fear I'll be left with almost nothing entertaining to do. The good news is that I'm aware of this ahead of time, so I can prepare myself for the possibility (for example, I've decided to do my laundry today instead of tomorrow, as I had originally planned). Still, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for no power outage at my house, or at least that such an outage will be quickly restored.

rhombus · **Reply #121 on:** December 21, 2013, 08:04:54 PM

We are currently experiencing extremely heavy rain. We have obtained 3 inches thus far, with an additional 1-2 inches being predicted for tomorrow. Obviously, flash flooding is a major concern. In fact, I now only have one route that is passable to the nearest town, the other 2 routes leading from my parent's home is covered by overburdened streams.

Thankfully, the rain is supposed to stop by tomorrow night. We then are forecast to have a cold but dry week.

The Chronicler · **Reply #122 on:** December 22, 2013, 09:12:19 PM

Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as I had feared. Power and internet never went out at my house, despite a 1/4 inch accumulation of ice. Apparently, the really bad part of the storm happened north of here, between Burlington and the Canadian border, where power outages were reported. The most we had to worry about was getting all that ice off of the cars parked in the driveway. (My dad decided to scrape it all off after turning on the cars and letting them warm up for a while, but to get inside to turn on the cars, he had to use a rubber mallet to break some of the ice around one of the doors.)

Temperatures are expected to warm up tomorrow, so hopefully this means the worst is already behind us.

rhombus · **Reply #123 on:** December 27, 2013, 02:19:35 PM

The rain has stopped, thank goodness, and we are now experiencing our fifth straight day of dry weather. It is actually supposed to warm up to 50 degrees or so by the end of the weekend, before dipping back down below freezing for highs.

rhombus · **Reply #124 on:** January 06, 2014, 07:12:20 PM

We are not under the grips of the "polar vortex" that the meteorologists have been talking about for days. We have just set a new daily record low temperature at -5 F today and we should challenge that reading tomorrow as well. With wind chills around -20 the authorities are recommending that everyone stay inside and avoid going out unless you have too. Sounds like good advice to me.

Ducky123 · **Reply #125 on:** January 07, 2014, 05:40:39 AM

This unusual cold air mass in Canada and the US causes unusual warm temperatures over here in Europe... I wouldn't mind switching over that

Seriously, we have temps in the 50's over here which is far too warm, according to the average temperature.

Pterano · **Reply #126 on:** January 21, 2014, 12:29:10 PM

It's snowing outside and we're supposed to get a decent amount today. Good thing I don't have to commute yet.

jansenov · **Reply #127 on:** January 21, 2014, 04:00:33 PM

It is still far too warm in Europe. Here in Croatia trees are budding, which means when cold weather finally comes the buds will be ruined, and there won't be any fruit this year.

Ducky123 · **Reply #128 on:** January 21, 2014, 06:24:38 PM

It's just getting a little cooler over here in Germany... after weeks of temps above 40 degrees F... now finally in the mid-30's and even lower in the northeastern parts of Germany. It even snowed today... kinda

Melted away instantly.

Pterano · **Reply #129 on:** January 22, 2014, 01:16:18 PM

We got about 7 inches over the course of yesterday. As said, glad I don't have to drive anywhere.

Too bad about the warmth in Europe though...

Ducky123 · **Reply #130 on:** January 25, 2014, 07:29:38 PM

It's FINALLY snowing over here for the first time in this winter. As a person who likes snow and everything you can do with it (except skiing), I'm utterly happy now

rhombus · **Reply #131 on:** January 25, 2014, 09:17:43 PM

I like snow as well, but I am afraid that it has exceeded its welcome in my area of Illinois. With regards to the current weather, we are again being faced with very cold wind chills. The wind chill last night reached a frigid -10 F.

jansenov · **Reply #132 on:** January 26, 2014, 07:38:50 AM

It's cold and snowy in Croatia as well. I think the budding stopped in the nick of time.

rhombus · **Reply #133 on:** February 02, 2014, 02:48:26 PM

^ That is good to hear, jansenov. It would be a shame if the fruit crop suffered on account of early budding and a late frost.

In my neck of the woods, we are having yet another round of snow.

: It isn't a terribly large amount (1-3 inches) but at this point I am almost sick of winter.

jansenov · **Reply #134 on:** February 02, 2014, 03:38:03 PM

A part of Croatia, Gorski kotar, was struck by freezing rain, and so much ice has accumulated that pylons and cables are breaking under the weight and 14,000 homes have been cut off from the electric grid. The grid is being re-established there as we speak. Some areas of forest will be damaged as well, as trees crack under the weight of the ice.
Neighbouring Slovenia was hit by the same thing, only there the situation is more severe. 88,000 homes are without electricty, and unlike Croatia, their civil service was overwhelmed by the situation and they had to use the military, and also request aid from other countries. Slovenia forests appear to have sustained much greater damage. In Serbia there was a lot of snowfall, and in places there is so much snow the Serbian military had to use tanks to break through, but otherwise the situation is under control.

Ducky123 · **Reply #135 on:** February 02, 2014, 09:42:07 PM

Some regions of the Alps received up the 3 metres!!! of fresh snow... (about 10!!! feet) and the snow won't stop hammering those regions.. at the same time, floodings caused by the same storm systemnhit many parts of Italy and the northern coast of Spain receives waves of 10 metres height and more, destroying the coastal areas...

Here's an impressive picture of the massive amount of snow
Here's an impressive picture of the massive amount of snow

Over here in Germany, it has got boring... temps in the 40's, sometimes sunny, then cloudy.

rhombus · **Reply #136 on:** February 03, 2014, 10:26:07 PM

More ice is heading for my area of the country. It looks like that they may end up cancelling classes yet again. Considering my Monday evening class is already 6 lecture hours short due to previous weather cancellations and holidays, I have no idea how I am going to make up all of that material.

Pterano · **Reply #137 on:** February 13, 2014, 02:07:26 PM

Lot of snow here. It stopped for the day, but we're supposed to get more tonight. We're so busy rearranging our house (I'm moving into the basement to a bigger room for one and we're shuffling our offices around) that we just didn't have time to shovel. Fortunately, some guys were wandering our neighborhood and doing shoveling work, so we got them to clear our driveway. They were very efficient.

We'll hire them to come back tomorrow if it gets bad again tonight, which it's looking like it might.

Ducky123 · **Reply #138 on:** February 13, 2014, 02:36:38 PM

Very severe weather from US to Europe...

You guys get snow and ice storms regularly... the UK gets hit by 10m and even higher waves, hurrican-strength storm and floodings, some regions in the Alps drown in snow (some regions received more than 5! metres of snow, 15! feet)

Over here... well, boring. temps between 40 and 50 F, mix of rain, and sun-cloud conditions... no winter here

rhombus · **Reply #139 on:** February 14, 2014, 02:17:17 PM

It is finally warming up over here. We hit 45 degrees for a high today and have received some moderate rain which has helped to melt the remaining snow and ice. The extended forecast actually shows us reaching 60 degrees for a brief period of time next week. I certainly hope that forecasters are correct. I am sick of this winter weather.