Weather

[Bognor]

The tornado damage I could see was not as spectacular as some of the winter storm damage we get.  It looked as though some sort of giant flail had passed thru about an 80 meter wide swath of field and forest and chewed up a bunch of cottonwood branches.  I did not see any actual overturned trees.

Bog

[Jaded]

Saw this and thought of Scott:
http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=15516&from=hp_video_4

Some crazy tornado footage.

[splusmer]

Wow, no kidding!  I hadn't seen the first, but the second was from last summer ('08)--two guys tracking the tornado in western Iowa didn't know that the weather service radar in eastern Nebraska had gone offline, so the picture hadn't updated in like 15 minutes, and they didn't know the storm had chagned direction.  This, BTW, was the same tornado that hit that Boy Scout camp and killed several Scouts.

[Rock]

So it finally got really cold here in Kansas City for the first time this year.  5 day forecast says snow on Tuesday.  I hope I don't have to bring out the shovel already to clear the driveway.  Hopefully it won't accumulate much.  The break room had the weather channel on during lunch, and apparently it's snowing in Houston!  And even though it's not much, Houston is clearly not equipped to handle it, and it's a dangerous situation according to the earnest, concerned-sounding reporter on TV. 

[Gwyn]

To those of you caught up in this great snowstorm we're hearing about, I'm sure it's a nuisance if you still have Christmas shopping to do, or places to go and such, but I have to say I'm really, really jealous.  We're having our usual wet and warm weather, not even a glimmer of hope for snow.  [wistful sigh]  You guys are so lucky.

[Jaded]

We got robbed. Maybe 5" of snow? I'm hearing 20" or more further south... that's just backwards!

And it's cold, so it's a light, powdery snow. Just beautiful and rather than shovel it, I literally swept my truck clean.

[Cragsclaw]

I'm with Gwyn. I'm so jealous of your snowy christmas.. and I think Jaded's 5" would be about ideal.. not sure I could handle 20" !!!!  god grief!!

Although we have had some spectacularly perfect days so far this week.. 26-27C ( low 80s F)  warm sunshine, clear blue skies and refreshing breeze.   Tomorrow though.. forecast is for 39C (103F)  *ugh*

[Cragmyre]

Yup, in Franklin MA, I got about 18 to 20.  Thankfully we have a guy plow our driveway, though I still have to go clean up the walkway and other areas that the plow leaves behind.  I also ensured that my Christmas blow-ups stayed on throughout the storm so they didn't get buried

[irata]

Seeing that 200+ person snowball fight on CNN  (DC, I think ... someone spoiled it by pulling a gun) made me a bit nostalgic about the few times I've been to snowy places in my life.

But then I remembered it's a beautiful, balmy 80-something degrees down here, and I got right back to enjoying that with my girl, hee... 

[splusmer]

Cloudy, cloudy, cloudy, cloudy, CLOUDY!  And foggy (first four days of the week--really weird for the Plains).  You'd think we were in the Pacific Northwest, except that our gray dreary skies are matched by our gray dreary ground (no nice greenery, no real trees, no real hills let alone mountains).

And we had snow on the ground from Dec. 24th through to about the 18th or so (although it got above freezing--more or less--late last week).  I think we've had two, maybe three sunny days in the last month (or at least it seems that way).

And tornadoes in Texas and California in January ?!?  Okay, so Texas isn't *that* unusual--rare, but not unknown--but *California*?

[irata]

Cloudy, cloudy, cloudy, cloudy, CLOUDY!  And foggy (first four days of the week--really weird for the Plains).  You'd think we were in the Pacific Northwest, except that our gray dreary skies are matched by our gray dreary ground (no nice greenery, no real trees, no real hills let alone mountains).

And we had snow on the ground from Dec. 24th through to about the 18th or so (although it got above freezing--more or less--late last week).  I think we've had two, maybe three sunny days in the last month (or at least it seems that way).

And tornadoes in Texas and California in January ?!?  Okay, so Texas isn't *that* unusual--rare, but not unknown--but *California*?

Because we all know Global Warming is a myth and everything. 

[Gwyn]

Anyone here experiencing the two to three feet of snow we've been hearing about in the news?   Seattle is having a painfully mild winter so far, but for one cold snap way last fall.  All our rain has gone to California, we had our warmest January ever with most people going around in light sweaters or shirt sleeves -- I've even spotted some rhodies and cherry trees in bloom.  I'm totally in snow envy!

[splusmer]

We've had a lot more snow in the Kansas City region than I've ever experienced so far.  It's not come all-at-once, but in frequency. 

I lived in the DC area back before starting at the magazine and never experienced what they are getting out there (note to non-U.S. friends:  some areas in the "Mid Atlantic" region got pretty close to a meter of snow in two days, and a lot got at least 2/3rds of a meter).  I've never seen that much snow out of a single storm, personally, not even in North Dakota or Vermont (my first month in Vermont it snowed every day but two, and I think the total for the month was maybe at the level this storm dumped in two days).  And now those same areas of the country are about to get hit with a second storm (either the one that hit Kansas City relatively lightly on Friday, or the one that his hitting us even more lightly today).

At least we haven't had the horrible ice storms the last 2-3 winters have had.

Never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually looking forward to hot and humid (I've had a month-long sinus infection, partially caused, I think, by the dry cold air).

[aRGee]

We got 11-12 inches Friday night into Saturday. It came down very fast. We had more total snow the week after Christmas but that came over a 4 or 5 day window. We are expecting another foot Tuesday into Wednesday.
This is not lake effect which we can get in the Great Lakes area but old fashion plain snowstorm coming in off the Great Plains.

[splusmer]

From Kansas with love! :O

[Inanna]

We're having what would really be considered a pretty mild summer. We've had a few spells of 40+ degree days but this week is 30-35degrees and a lot of the summer has been in the 20s. (Sorry for talking celcius, maybe some of you who are smarter than me know the conversion). Anyway, I for one am very happy with this. This past weekend was the one year anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires so I'm very glad we're not experiencing those extremes in temp again.

Anyway, I sidetracked, I really wanted to talk about snow. We get snow in Aust of course but not in any of the capital cities and I just don't know how you cope with that sort of snowfall. I saw some images of the snowfalls over there on the news over the weekend and I must admit it looked spectacularly beautiful. It made me stop in my tracks as I passed the tv and gape at the images. I'm sure all that beauty diminishes somewhat every time you have to shovel the drive though heh.

[Zuki]

Snow is gorgeous, Inanna. Since I wake up very early most mornings, there is a beauty that I experience of a fresh snowfall. The world outside is silent - in a way that only snow can make it. Its a soft silence, like the world is holding its breath, but not straining to do so. It's also gloriously bright, even though the sky is often gray. The light reflected from the white snow seems to permeate the very air.

Then there's the joy of bundling up in many layers, grabbing a sled, and literally trudging through snow to get to the hill top. Once there, you enjoy a ride of exhilaration, barely in control and barely hanging on to your sled as you slid with wicked speed with snow flakes melting on your face.

This video captures alot of awesomeness of snow pretty well. 

[splusmer]

I am going to try to start swimming again, maybe even today, so I packed my gym bag this morning.  I decided to bring it in to my office because I didn't look forward getting into a swimsuit that had been sitting in the car all day in temps that might reach around 18F/-7.8C.

In the two blocks walking from my car to my office the contents still managed to get so cold they would have been, err, "unpleasant" to put on.

I'm ready for even 20C (a lovely 68F)!

[Cragmyre]

Supposed to hit us tonight/tomorrow.  Us being Massachusetts.

[irata]

Any and all Pubbers caught in the snowstorms since the weekend:  star safe (and warm!). 

Being from the tropics, there is a definite limit to the cold I can endure - less than 30 degrees Fahrenheit is too cold for me, even in winter clothing.  I literally feel pain from the cold at those temperatures.

I do agree with Zuki in that snow is fun and beautiful - though for me, in small doses.