It surprises me that nothing has been mentioned about the coldest weather in the U.S. for twenty or more years.
I fervently hope that all TG members are OK and coping with the conditions.
Bob.
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It surprises me that nothing has been mentioned about the coldest weather in the U.S. for twenty or more years.
I fervently hope that all TG members are OK and coping with the conditions.
Bob.
Even Niagara Falls was pretty much frozen.
But, I think that sort of thing may be usual for them? I'm only guessing though.
From what I hear, the vortex came down a lot further than it normally does.
Maybe, we'll get some members giving us some real information?!
Ironically, or perhaps frighteningly, New Mexico is having a very warm winter. Last night it did not even get down to freezing, and the high temperature in Placitas is going to get up to 50f.
Yes it's cold and showy here, but doesn't seem any worse than usual.
What sort of weather condition is that?! rotflmaoQuote:
Originally Posted by wizard509
I don't know about you guys, but December for the last 15 years has been mostly tolerable (in Illinois, USA) with hardly any snow and fairly mild temperatures, with January always being the super sub zero and snowy month. This year, snowstorms and sub zero January weather has been the situation for the entire month of December - with January following tradition as cold and snowy. Just a couple Decembers ago, I can remember seeing a kid in shorts on a bicycle in early December. When I was a kid here, December was always cold and snowy, however, sub zero temperatures was still a January/February thing. So with a life experience of winter seasons encountered in the same part of Illinois over the last 40+ years of memory, this is the coldest winter so far (not the snowiest, but the coldest). Just last week the actual temperature (not wind chill) was 20 below zero F. I don't think I've ever experienced temperatures in Illinois colder than 10 below in 40 years. I've also lived in Alaska and have witnessed actual 75 below zero temperatures, but the local 20 below was damned cold enough...
I know a guy who lives in a mobile home with propane for heat. Last five years, a single tank supply of propane lasted the entire winter. This year, more than half of the tank supply was used in December alone, because the heater was working hard everyday of the month.
At least in Illinois, the cold weather is definitely noticeably worse than it has been in decades.
Oops, sorry showy should be snowy. Not that was necessarily wrong because snow can be very pretty and showy can't it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik
I agree gameprinter. This winter has been worse in lots of ways from the past few years which were very mild, although I don't think it's been too bad in the grand scheme of things. So I stick to my previous statements.
I seen it snow 4 feet, followed by weeks of high winds and more snow, so that 2 story snow drifts blocked roads or covered buildings, yeah it could be a lot worse. I'm not a fan of the cold (especially as I get older - 51 years in 2 days...) Winter ain't over though, so it could get worse.
A lot of places in Canada have been affected by this too, luckily for us here on the west coast we have had very mild weather for January. It did come with a cost though, torrential rains and flooding. Our back yard was under about 10cm of water for 2 days. There is also a lower than normal snowpack in the mountains which could mean water shortages if we get a really dry hot summer. But compared to what they have been enduring on the other side of the Rockies, I'm not complaining!
I see you live in Illinois which isn't far from here. Do you live in the far north part, cause I have never seen that much show ever except in photos. I have a friend that lives in Bismark North Dakota and I often wonder what kind of snow they get. Frances lives even farther north, so I wonder.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gamerprinter
Yeah, northern third. If you bisect the state vertically down the middle, then slice the vertical area by thirds. Ottawa is about 10 miles east of the point where the center vertical crosses the top third slice. I'm about 90 miles from Chicago. I've got relatives around the center of Illinois on the Indiana border, and they hardly get snow at all, and it never gets as cold as it does here. Illinois is a lot bigger of a state than most people realize. If you line up Illinois directly over Texas, but keep it on the same latitute - the distance from the southern point of Illinois to the Texas panhandle is a difference of less than 50 miles. In a way Illinois is both a northern and a southern state... (residents in southern Illinois sound like they are from Kentucky, by their accent.)
I lived and worked in a studio in Dallas for several years and I know how big Texas is and didn't realize Illinois was so big.Several years ago I made a quick trip to Chicago on business but that was in the summer.
Actually Larry even though I live in Canada here on the south coast of BC the climate is not as cold and snowy as other parts of Canada. We do however, get a lot of rain and the coastal areas of BC are actually a rainforest. A temperate rainforest, which is different from a tropical one but still a rainforest. Most of the snow here is up in the mountains. Some winters we do get snow at the lower elevations sometimes it will last a day or two but the rain usually follows to wash it all away. And often the snow here is wet and heavy hard to shovel and horrible to drive in as it makes the roads very slick and icy. On occasion we will get an arctic outflow and it will blow south westward through the mountain passes and when that combines with a low pressure system coming down from the gulf of Alaska then we can get really really hammered with snow. Thankfully though that doesn't happen very often.
Angelize's location in BC has weather influenced by the maritime climate which is wetter, but warmer, however all locations in the center of the continent, US midwest are much colder in winter (and tends to be hotter in summer). Your friend in North Dakota witnesses Arctic weather - the Dakotas are cold country in the winter, I wouldn't want to live there. As an aside, Ottawa, IL has the US's most diverse weather conditions with sub zero temperatures in the winter, and commonly over 100 degrees F in summer with 100+% humidity. About 50 years ago, the US Army Corps of Engineers was setting up a test road to test various kinds of asphalt for US highways, and after research they placed the test road in Ottawa, due to its wide range of extreme climate.
@Angelize, I spent 4 days stuck in Victoria (out of cash) when I got out of the US army - I was last stationed in Anchorage, AK and drove home intending to use the Alcan highway, except it was December, and 1 out 3 gas stations were open on the way down. I was getting paranoid about driving in the middle of Yukon Territory and running out of fuel. So I bought a ferry boat ticket (and spent most of my traveling cash) in Whitehorse, drove to the panhandle of AK and took a ferry down the Alaska marine highway, eventually getting to Vancouver island and Victoria. My parents were sending me $500 US Mail overnight express, but took 5 days to get to Victoria. The weather was cool, but not even close to freezing. So I've spent some time in your neck of the woods.
Even though the temperature is often 6 or 7 degrees above freezing in the winter here it is a very damp wet cold and you can get hypothermia if exposed to the elements too long. Another condition that can happen is if you don't have proper waterproof footwear and your feet get wet for a prolonged period of time is something called swamp foot and the consequences can be similar to that of frostbite. (these are the kinds of perils that hikers that get lost in the woods can face.
Another thing that takes getting used to here is the lack of sunshine from about October to May. We often go weeks at a time without a glimpse of the sun. And when the hot weather (well for us it's hot lol) arrives in July then we complain we can't stand the heat! There is a local saying that the 4 seasons are Winter rains, Spring rains, The Dry Spell, and Fall rains!
Hope you guys all stay warm and safe in the cold weather there.
Conversely, there is currently a major heatwave in Melbourne, Australia ... with temperatures in the 40's (and up to 44 degs C).
"At the Australian Open a player hallucinated that he saw Snoopy on court before he fainted mid-match.
A ball boy collapsed and water bottles melted on court as the tournament sizzled in extreme heat." - Herald Sun News article
A lot of weird weather at the moment... that's for sure.
Well, I'm glad to hear no horror stories about the weather, I guess TG members have been lucky.
We woke this morning to our first heavy snowfall of the winter, but within a couple of hours of daylight, it started thawing as fast as it was falling.
I guess the weather has always been weird, which is why we have always all talked about it so much.
Bob.
Well here on the left coast we have had 80F weather, red flag warnings and brush fires already. Plus the Governor has declared a drought.
It was snowing large clumps here yesterday but none accumulated. Kind of reminded me of when I worked in Dallas and was on my way back after Christmas. We had gotten as far as Oklahoma City when it started snowing like this, so we stopped to get something to eat but when we got back on the road about 4-6 inches had accumulated making the further progress impossible. We didn't get very far before we had to give up and spend a couple of days there till the roads once again became usable. I'm just glad yesterday wasn't a repeat of that.
We're in the single digits here (Fahrenheit) and our weather prediction is that it will continue through the end of this month.
We're in central New York a 90 minute drive up to Niagara Falls, BTW. With the Wind Chill figured in, it's getting down to -22° F. at night.
Watertown, N.Y. received the dubious distinction of being the coldest town in America last night, -60° or something with Wind Chill accounted for.
This is the third year in a row we've had freakish season weather, and I defy anyone to tell us that the carbon we've been putting in the air hasn't changed something. It's been super-cold and also super-warm, and that means that we're putting energy into weather systems, hot or cold, with emissions.
On the other hand, none of the people who like skiing are complaining.
-g
As much as I like the space program, I can't help but wonder if all that exhaust from the rockets make a mighty contribute. I'll have to check.
I'm sad to report, Larry, that several sources, including aerospace.com, say that the current fuel does contribute to the Greenhouse Effect, and if we really get into space travel in the next 50 years, it will present a significant threat to our atmosphere. Of course, we could switch from carbone to Dilitium crystals, but...
Emissions of black carbon (soot) from increased rocket launches could contribute to global climate change. Black carbon particles efficiently absorb the sun’s visible light and so can increase solar heating in the atmosphere, similar to the way carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases increase heating by absorbing Earth’s infrared light. Additional thermal energy from particles heated by the sun can change the overall circulation of the atmosphere as well.
—Aerospace.com
I think it is the solid fuel boosters that are the main problem, the liquid fuel not so much emitting mostly water vapor. Aircraft of the other hand in particular commercial aircraft at least to my mind are the more serious contributors at the moment. Automobiles certainly fit in there also but I wish to limit my remarks to spacecraft and aircraft, mostly spacecraft.
Okay, Larry, as far as greenhouse goes, I will not limit my remarks!
It's a close call, cars versus airplanes. Today's cars comfortably fit four people, but studies show that a car that averages 25-30 mph emits the same carrying one as carrying 4 people. You don't drive a car all day, either.
There are far fewer planes than cars, and they can carry hundreds of passengers, and no one is really prepared to make airlines fuel-efficient, not Boeing, not Marietta, no one.
A 300 mile trip, like Philly to Boston? Four people in a car would produce 104Kg of CO2, while a plane with four people aboard would emit more than 700Kg of CO2.
Can't say I've found anything on solid fuel rockets, but you know Branson is going to send people to Mars using a piggyback shuttle-on-a-plane launch, which is something to think about. What sort of fuel, what altitude is separation and the shuttle starts powering, that sort of think.
The bottom line is that people manufacture and disperse C02 into our atmosphere an order of magnitude greater than Nature does over any measured amount of time these days.
We could practice holding our breath, or put corks in cows...
-g
Doesn't that make cows explode?!Quote:
Originally Posted by Gare
Yeah. It's sort of fun to watch on Independence Day or Guy Fawkes Day.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik
You bring the kids, a picnic dinner, you hold the buns over your head and before you know it...
-g-
Yeah, I can see the newspaper headlines now "onlookers hold breath as cork kills cow" ;))Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik