Complaining about the weather - 2023 edition

[robkelk]

So, it's -40 out there today, after factoring in the wind chill.

I'm not leaving the house...

[classicdrogn]

Probably a good idea. It's still above zero (F) down here near Boston, but only barely with wind chill included, and due to get another dozen or so degrees cooler overnight until the clouds start coming back in tomorrow morning. Stay warm everyone!

[Bob Schroeck]

We're hitting the middle-low 20s F at night here in New Jersey, pretty much for the first time this winter, but daytimes are still in the 30s and 40s. And other than a dusting a couple days ago that vanished as soon as the sun rose, we've had no snow. So I'm not complaining.

[hazard]

We haven't had anything but a mild frost for a week, here, with occasional bouts of nights dipping below freezing point but days being at least as much above.

Which, yes, doesn't sound like much to complain about.

But what we should be getting is a month or more of below zero (C) daytime temperatures, more or less uninterrupted.

[Bob Schroeck]

We're hitting the middle-low 20s F at night here in New Jersey, pretty much for the first time this winter, but daytimes are still in the 30s and 40s. And other than a dusting a couple days ago that vanished as soon as the sun rose, we've had no snow. So I'm not complaining.

And I spoke too soon. Last night it dropped down to the single digits F -- I think I heard 3 degrees at one point -- and the high today is 20 or not much higher. <sigh> Again, at least there's no snow.

[Bob Schroeck]

And 24 hours after that we're back to highs in the 50s F during the day and nighttime lows of 30-something.

[classicdrogn]

My uncle just pointed out that the sudden 80 degree temperature swing (taking wind chill into account) was likely very bad for the local birds, which I had not thought of before now. A lot of the moderately cold tolerant species never left the area, this year.

[robkelk]

Today's forecast calls for ice pellets, freezing rain, and thunderstorms beginning any minute now (it's already started in the suburbs) and continuing for at least 24 hours. Possible ice accretion of 10-15 mm.

If I suddenly drop off the 'net, it's because I lost power in the upcoming ice storm.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Do you at least have adequate water and food? Nothing to do with the weather, but after last week's water safety crisis in Philly, I learned that the FEMA recommendation is to always have a three-day supply of water in storage at a rate of four liters/person/day.

[robkelk]

Yep - there's a 4L bottle of water in the kitchen, plus the juice that I have in the fridge. And I have enough food that doesn't need to be cooked to last the rest of the week.

In the meantime, the commuter rail is down because of frozen power lines.

[Bob Schroeck]

Here's hoping you come through without needing your emergency preparations.

[robkelk]

Record-breaking heat in forecast the week after an ice storm

W. T. F.

[Bob Schroeck]

It's hitting us in NJ, too... it's 87F out there right now.

[classicdrogn]

Don't worry though, climate change isn't real! It's just some wacky Democrat talking point [/sarcasm]

[hazard]

Now now, this doesn't have to be the result of climate change.

It's probably related though.

[Bob Schroeck]

It's hitting us in NJ, too... it's 87F out there right now.

It hit 95F by 5PM yesterday.

Today seems to be heading up to the same ballpark.

[robkelk]

It's very orange out there today.

There are so many wildfires taking place in Northern Quebec that they can't all be fought. (Firefighters were sent to help fight the wildfires in Alberta and Nova Scotia, then these fires started. We thank the volunteers from Minnesota who are coming to help.) The prevailing winds are from the wildfires to the cities.

We have a 1-10 scale for air quality (lower is better) that was forecast to hit 7 today. At 5am, it hit 10... and there's now a "+" at the high end of the scale.

No, I'm staying home today, with the windows closed and the air cleaners running. (I was scheduled to work from home anyway.) And school sports days are being cancelled.

[hazard]

It seems to me that mandatory firebreaks for settlements surrounded by forests will be a good idea.

[robkelk]

Can't be done in northern Quebec. Those lands are where the locals hunt and trap for food - clearing the trees would result in starvation.

[Bob Schroeck]

So after finishing work I went out to mow the front lawn, and the air smelled strongly of wood smoke, and it was so hazy that it almost looked like fog. Turns out there's a wildfire in Jackson, about 30 miles south of us, that just started a few hours ago. Last I looked, it was only 15 acres in size but it was 0% contained. And it's not the first this season, we've already had a few others in the past month or so.

Wildfires in NJ don't often get very large unless they start in the heart of the Pine Barrens (where they're actually part of the forest life cycle), and Jackson is toward to top edge of the Barrens. It'll probably get controlled in the next day or two, but until then we'll have unhealthy air conditions around here.

[robkelk]

Readings are off the scale today. That 0-10 lower-is-better air quality scale, specifically. This morning, it hit 26.

[Bob Schroeck]

The Jackson fire is contained, according to the latest I've heard. The sky here is still slightly yellow and it still looks a little hazy, but at least inside it doesn't smell of smoke.

EDIT: Apparently the report I heard early this morning was a bit too condensed. The wildfire, as of a few hours ago, is only 70% contained, and has burned upwards of 75 acres now. The sky is still yellow-overcast; the haze is somewhat less than it was this morning, but is still there and still visible.

EDIT 2: Something is happening. The haze has gotten significantly heavier, the sky darker, and the smoke smell stronger in just the last hour. And I've just found out that this isn't smoke from the Jackson fire, or at least not just smoke from the Jackson fire. There is a circular air flow around a low pressure system centered just about on the Great Lakes that is grabbing smoke from Ottawa, slinging it around the Great Lakes through the Midwest, and then firing it through Virginia and up at us.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Of course, we're getting this crap in Philly too.  I was thinking about a supermarket run. Bleah.

Edit: I suppose I should be glad that the water crisis was a couple of months ago.

[classicdrogn]

It's been rainy here in the Bridgewater Triangle for the past week, and looks to continue for most of the next, so I suppose most of the particulates are being washed out of the air. (Part of why it's forming raindrops to fall, I suppose.) Even so, air quality around here has only been at Medium, though the last dregs of pollen season is also a part of that.

At least it's not a nasty hot June, bad air quality is bad enough on its own without that, to say nothing of people trying to contain forest fires. I'm mildly favorably disposed toward rainy days in general versus bright and clear, but especially when a bit of damp in the ground cover means reduced fire risk in the burning season.

[hazard]

I think I'll stick to Europe for the next while. I mean, it's shaping up to be a hot summer and the expectation is that it's going to break temperature records, again, after last year broke records, again, after the year before broke records, again, after the year before that broke records, again, after the year before that broke records.

Yes, we've had 4 consecutive 'hottest years on record' and we are expecting this one to be the fifth. But this one is likely to be special.

Because it's anticipated that this will be an El Nino year, after four years of La Nina. Which, I suppose, is rather obscure for most, so let me explain how it was explained to me. The El Nino/La Nina phenomenon directly impacts global average temperatures and with it the average temperature experienced throughout the year everywhere on the planet. La Nina has an effect not too dissimilar to somebody running the air conditioning except on a planetary scale.

El Nino? Somebody turned on the heater.

It was already anticipated that this year would be the hottest year on record for the fifth year in a row. And now, we are anticipating that not only will it be the hottest year on record, but that it will bust records set last year by wide margins.

Fun.