The 2020 'Scream About The Weather' Thread

[Labster]

I do love that the tone of this thread really does seem to live up to the title.

[hazard]

Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, it's still the bad sort of Dutch autumn. Days of rain (drizzle usually), near constantly overcast, occasional days of sun, temperature during the day between 10 and 15 C, often on the low end, temperatures during the night between 8 and 0 degrees often on the high end. Occasional windy days too.

Total amount of frost during this meteorological winter: Zero. Total amount of frost since... let's say October, a few nights. Probably less then 5.

[robkelk]

Ottawa has a frostbite warning for the weekend, and Newfoundland is expecting 60-70 cm of snow with 140 km/h winds.

For us, this is Tuesday Friday.

Newfoundland is getting more snow and stronger winds than was forecast. This is no longer Tuesday - this is a state of emergency. St. John's is closed - the situation is not "if you don't have to be out, stay home", it's "get off the roads and stay where you are right fucking now". People cannot see their next-door neighbours' houses because of the snow. Snow plows have been ordered off the roads because the snow is so bad.

Saturday afternoon will be a good window for those attempting to dig out, with winds expecting to hover around 80 km/h.

Now that it's all over but the cleanup...

A total of 90cm of snow fell at the St. John's airport. (Mount Pearl got a full meter.) Followed by drizzle, so the snow is wet. Snowplows are finally back on the roads, and private snowplows are being allowed back out. Taxis are still ordered off the roads. Some drugstores are open. Grocery stores will be opening tomorrow. The airport in St. John's will remain closed at least until Wednesday. The army has been deployed to help get the roads passable again, dig out fire hydrants, and transport people to hospital when necessary.

There was an avalanche in The Battery neighbourhood of St. John's. At least one person will have to dig out his house - from the inside.




One person is missing - he tried to get to a friend's house during the blizzard. The last message he sent from his cellphone before its power went out included his GPS coordinates at the time, so searchers know which forest to look in.

Photos from CBC - more here:








But, despite it all, life goes on. Or, for the aptly-named Levi Snow, life began. And Chris and Brianne Butt didn't let a meter of snow ruin their wedding day.

[Star Ranger4]

Holy Schnike, Rob, at least in reference to the first of the photos, where the weather managed to blow snow INSIDE the house/apartment/ whichever to that extent. Cause, um, yeah. As a resident of Los Angeles, I cant remember the last time I saw snow, let alone it being cold enough the snow did not melt on landing. No. Again, Incorrect. Last time I remember having snow 'Stick' I was living on the shores of ClearLake CA. (that would be both the name of the lake, as well as the municipality) That was 10-15 years ago when I had a woman who loved me as much as I loved her so cuddling up under the blankets to keep warm... AHEM. Cant say more, this is a family friendly site

[robkelk]

The Battery is built below a cliff, and, well... the first photo shows what happens when there's an avalanche in a built-up area.

Oh, yes: federal environmental regulations against dumping snow into St. John's harbour have been temporarily lifted. There's no place else to put all the snow.

[Star Ranger4]

.... You know, that says more than anything else about how anything *I* can think of about how bad it is out there is less severe than the real situation, Rob. >.<;

[robkelk]

So much snow has been dumped into the harbour that it isn't all melting. They're only half-joking when they say they'll soon need an icebreaker to get to the ocean.

There are a lot of feel-good stories coming out of the area, about how people are working together to get through the mess... but there isn't any news about that one missing person.

[Star Ranger4]

... Umm Yeah. cause from the sound of how bad it is they're not going to find said missing person untill all of that melts and they find the corpsicle, Rob. *Wince* cause... Oh never mind. Anything I would try to say at this point as a southern californian is trite and shows just how badly I dont' GET IT

[robkelk]

They're still hoping. Myself... I can't find fault in what you've said.

[Star Ranger4]

*can only bow and smile in the face of your truths, Rob*

[robkelk]

Hope has run out. His body was discovered this morning.

[Star Ranger4]

Which, really, makes me feel really a wuss because in oh so temperate Los Angeles we had a frost warning last night. *insert wince emoji here* I E... nothing as severe as what killed that young man?

[Black Aeronaut]

Jeeze, that sucks.

Remind me to never visit Canada in the winter time until I learn how to build a quick-n'-dirty igloo.

In the meantime....

....We got freakin' snow.

Yes. It fucking snowed here in South Texas.

Not much, but still.

At least TxDOT was prepared. We've developed a clever methodology for dealing with the albeit small yet dangerous amounts of snow we get. We have specially equipped trucks that spray the pavement with brine, and then flash-dry it, leaving a thin residue of concentrated salt that is glued to the road.

It has been very effective thus far in preventing black ice from forming on our bridges and overpasses.

[robkelk]

In the meantime....

....We got freakin' snow.

Yes. It fucking snowed here in South Texas.

Not much, but still.

Ah, so it's your fault.

As I post this, it's -10F in Ottawa. Wind chill makes it feel closer to -35.

Adding an extra layer of clothes before heading out...

At least TxDOT was prepared. We've developed a clever methodology for dealing with the albeit small yet dangerous amounts of snow we get. We have specially equipped trucks that spray the pavement with brine, and then flash-dry it, leaving a thin residue of concentrated salt that is glued to the road.

It has been very effective thus far in preventing black ice from forming on our bridges and overpasses.

Salt is very good for getting rid of snow, but it does accumulate in the aquifers...

If that's undesired behaviour, get some coarse sand from the local garden store and spread a thin layer on the walkways - just enough to darken the snow so that solar heat stays put. Yes, you'll end up with mud, but you won't be drinking salt water. (And if the local geography means the melt water doesn't have any place to drain to before it re-freezes, the sand will help provide traction to anybody walking or driving on it.)

[Black Aeronaut]

Eh. The weather's been back to what is considered normal for a South Texas winter for a few days now - punctuated by a brief heat wave before it got cold again.

[Bob Schroeck]

... and so far here February has been mild -- 30s F at night, 40s and even 50s during the day. But of course tonight it's going down to 12F. Just for tonight -- it's going back to mild immediately after.

[classicdrogn]

Cold and clear here in the Bridgewater triangle - supposed to be down in the single digits (F) here tonight, almost like a real winter or something.

I'm worrying about things still being thirty degrees warmer than usual six months from now like the heat wave in Europe - apart from comfort concerns, we've lots of conifer forest that will burn like a torch if it gets started, and lots of swamp that will produce massive amounts of mosquitoes seen with pretty aggressive pesticide spraying (which is its own passel of troubles) if previous hot years are any sign. Just what we need with coronavirus starting to get international legs, right?

[Black Aeronaut]

Mist and heavy fog tonight here in South Texas. I only had about 500ft of visability on the freeway at some points in the evening.

And yet I'd still have people blowing by me at 80mph.

Thing is, it's not only the visibility that's the issue. The mist is making the roads wet without the benefit of clearing off the slick stuff.

There were more than one or two accidents tonight, to say the least.

Today's forecast? A high of 78 degrees. And to think, just a couple nights ago, it was literally near-freezing.

[Star Ranger4]

shite, BA. Just... Shite.

[LynnInDenver]

Mist and heavy fog tonight here in South Texas.  I only had about 500ft of visability on the freeway at some points in the evening.

And yet I'd still have people blowing by me at 80mph.

Thing is, it's not only the visibility that's the issue.  The mist is making the roads wet without the benefit of clearing off the slick stuff.

There were more than one or two accidents tonight, to say the least.

Today's forecast?  A high of 78 degrees.  And to think, just a couple nights ago, it was literally near-freezing.

I've had similar experiences here in Colorado on a regular basis. At least 5 degrees below freezing, highway is absolutely utterly soaking wet, and people still driving like it's absolutely dry, and not literally a slight shift in traffic volume downward away from potentially being black ice.

I will literally do what I can to avoid the highway in weather conditions like that. I always moderate my speed. It's actually slightly worse now that I'm driving a Subaru instead of a Saturn; it's like people see I drive an AWD and pretty much decide that I'm not actually taking advantage like I should. Uh, you do know we all have four wheel brakes, right?

We've actually come to the point that we'll cancel events when it starts getting potentially icy.

[robkelk]

EDIT: Ottawa? Yeah, it's cold. And we're expecting a mild blizzard over the weekend. But the Rideau Canal Skateway opens tomorrow!

And, 31 days later (plus days when it was temporarily closed), the Skateway is closed for the season.

This is one of the shortest seasons on record (but not the shortest). And the portion of the Skateway closest to Parliament Hill never got cold enough to freeze enough to be safe to skate on.

It's getting too hot around here, year after year, to keep the Skateway open for very long any more.