How is the weather?

[DavidW]

Stay warm northerners!

[Kalevala]

We had about 20 cm total (about 8"), but now the cold and wind are on their way. There are forecasts of gusts approaching 50 mph (about 45 kts) even down here in the valley. I had to posthole through the backyard in the dark this morning to free up my wind sensor from snow/ice. Almost immediately it registered a 13.8-kt gust, which would likely have been closer to 30 kts at treetop level.

Snowbanks in the village now are several meters high and it really does look like pictures I've seen of Buffalo, NY after a lake-effect storm.

"Posthole" what's that?  Haven't heard that expression before now.

And that's a lot of snow piled up! 

Went outside (briefly) today to apply some more salt and sand; boy, particularly with that wind chill factored in, it's quite nippy outside!  My buddy was nice and came by yesterday to help again with the shoveling.  The end of the driveway is particularly onerous to shovel, so I was grateful for his help.  The town is still plowing (hopefully anyway).  There's a mini frozen lake (streetside) at the bottom of my driveway!

@DavidW I've been hearing in the news about the flooding in Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana and elsewhere due to the rains (I believe that a dam burst in Tennessee?).  How did you fare between the wind and the rain?  Luckily, no power outages--knock on wood--chez moi.

K

[krummholz]

"Posthole" what's that?  Haven't heard that expression before now.

And that's a lot of snow piled up! 

Went outside (briefly) today to apply some more salt and sand; boy, particularly with that wind chill factored in, it's quite nippy outside!  My buddy was nice and came by yesterday to help again with the shoveling.  The end of the driveway is particularly onerous to shovel, so I was grateful for his help.  The town is still plowing (hopefully anyway).  There's a mini frozen lake (streetside) at the bottom of my driveway!

@DavidW I've been hearing in the news about the flooding in Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana and elsewhere due to the rains (I believe that a dam burst in Tennessee?).  How did you fare between the wind and the rain?  Luckily, no power outages--knock on wood--chez moi.

K

"Posthole" is a term I'd never heard before moving to VT, either, so I assume it's a New Englandism, or maybe even just a Vermontism. It means to walk through snow so deep that your footprints look like they were made by driving posts into the ground.

We had a power outage today while I was at work - noticed first that my weather station was not reporting current conditions (was about 3 minutes stale, which is not normal), then the lights went out in the building for a few minutes before the university's generator system kicked in. My station didn't come back online until after I got home, but the power was already back. I reported the outage to the power company, or intended to, but they said the entire town was down, they thought due to an external transmission line. Maybe that wasn't the issue, but whatever, it was not a very long outage, probably less than an hour.

The winds have started to die down now down here in the valley, but up on the hill the airport is still reporting a 39-kt gust as of last hour (about 5:50pm). I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet as far as power is concerned, but hopefully we won't have another outage.

[Kalevala]

"Posthole" is a term I'd never heard before moving to VT, either, so I assume it's a New Englandism, or maybe even just a Vermontism. It means to walk through snow so deep that your footprints look like they were made by driving posts into the ground.

We had a power outage today while I was at work - noticed first that my weather station was not reporting current conditions (was about 3 minutes stale, which is not normal), then the lights went out in the building for a few minutes before the university's generator system kicked in. My station didn't come back online until after I got home, but the power was already back. I reported the outage to the power company, or intended to, but they said the entire town was down, they thought due to an external transmission line. Maybe that wasn't the issue, but whatever, it was not a very long outage, probably less than an hour.

The winds have started to die down now down here in the valley, but up on the hill the airport is still reporting a 39-kt gust as of last hour (about 5:50pm). I don't think we're quite out of the woods yet as far as power is concerned, but hopefully we won't have another outage.

O.k, not great, but those are short power outages; no food losses and I expect no freezing of pipes?  And I get it, it's cold here.  More work for me to do outside tomorrow (sunlight and sanding/salting helped).  And town has ended it's parking ban though more stuff should be plowed.  I'm thinking of making a polite call to the PTB tomorrow to figure out how they could do more plowing on my street (perhaps a temporary parking ban so that the trucks are able to plow here?).  I don't remember it being this bad before...perhaps having to do with the super cold temps.

K

[Karl Henning]

We had about 20 cm total (about 8"), but now the cold and wind are on their way. There are forecasts of gusts approaching 50 mph (about 45 kts) even down here in the valley. I had to posthole through the backyard in the dark this morning to free up my wind sensor from snow/ice. Almost immediately it registered a 13.8-kt gust, which would likely have been closer to 30 kts at treetop level.

Snowbanks in the village now are several meters high and it really does look like pictures I've seen of Buffalo, NY after a lake-effect storm.

I have never missed Buffalo ....

[DavidW]

@DavidW I've been hearing in the news about the flooding in Virginia, Tennessee, Indiana and elsewhere due to the rains (I believe that a dam burst in Tennessee?).  How did you fare between the wind and the rain?  Luckily, no power outages--knock on wood--chez moi.

K

Nothing bad happened here.

[Kalevala]

Hearing about wildfires in the Carolinas.  How are things?

K

[Kalevala]

I copied this over from the "Unimportant News" thread as I just read that they currently think that the power outages might be due to a freak weather incident.

Heard earlier today that there was (still is) a huge power outage in parts of Spain and Portugal.  I found out about this when I went to check the scores and schedule at the Madrid [Tennis] Open.  Wonder whether any of our members here have been effected by it?  Like @ritter  ?

K

[DavidW]

Hearing about wildfires in the Carolinas.  How are things?

K

I just read this. Neither I nor Sonic Dave saw the post, apparently. We had frequent warnings back then. There was a fire at Myrtle Beach, but nothing in my neck of the woods. I don't know how it was for Dave. And of course, it is old news, the drought broke. But thanks for asking, and sorry for replying a month late.

[SonicMan46]

I just read this. Neither I nor Sonic Dave saw the post, apparently. We had frequent warnings back then. There was a fire at Myrtle Beach, but nothing in my neck of the woods. I don't know how it was for Dave. And of course, it is old news, the drought broke. But thanks for asking, and sorry for replying a month late.

Hey K & David - not in my area in the Piedmont - the effects of Hurricane Helene late last year are still impacting western NC, including many of the places we visited often - we've made a number of monetary donations BUT so much needs to be done and restored - SAD for us.  Dave

[Kalevala]

Hey K & David - not in my area in the Piedmont - the effects of Hurricane Helene late last year are still impacting western NC, including many of the places we visited often - we've made a number of monetary donations BUT so much needs to be done and restored - SAD for us.  Dave

I can only imagine that restoration/rebuilding/replacing infrastructure, etc. will be a long haul there.   

K

[Karl Henning]

It seems that in the space of a few days this week we'll race from "Is it still winter, or what?" to air conditioner weather. 

[Kalevala]

It seems that in the space of a few days this week we'll race from "Is it still winter, or what?" to air conditioner weather.

It was raw here yesterday; particularly when I poked my nose outside early in the morning.  That and too much rain!  My branches on my thyme, well, a bunch of them have turned green.  They were so green in fact that I was having a hard time telling whether it was all mold or if I actually had some new growth on it too!

K

[Kalevala]

Well thyme plants have until Saturday morning to show me signs of life (again?); otherwise, I'm replacing them from the farmers' market.    

K

[JBS]

Well thyme plants have until Saturday morning to show me signs of life (again?); otherwise, I'm replacing them from the farmers' market.    

K

So your thyme has almost run out of time, and it's time for some new thyme.

[Der lächelnde Schatten]

So your thyme has almost run out of time, and it's time for some new thyme.

There's always time to buy some more thyme, especially when time allows for thyme.

[Kalevala]

So your thyme has almost run out of time, and it's time for some new thyme.

There's always time to buy some more thyme, especially when time allows for thyme.

I'm hanging in there...would have sworn that I saw some new growth/leaves recently; the weather has been so crappy for a while though, so I'm no longer certain; please say some prayers though for them.  I'd rather not spend the money on (probably) three more plants plus yanking out the old ones, repotting new, etc.

Come on guys!  Hang in there!  Lemon verbena survived the basement and is thriving, new rosemary plant is also happily repotted and doing well on the porch....come on thyme!  We've been through a lot together! 

K

[Kalevala]

I'm still keeping the faith; can't remember when I purchased and planted them.  Another thing:  it takes some time for the plants to get bigger too.  Fingers are crossed here.  Keep thinking that I should be keeping a garden journal [I have a bit, but nothing formal/regular].  Love fresh and also dried thyme in cooking.

K