Are you tired of reading about snow yet? Folks around here are certainly tired of the snow! But today's storm looks like it's going to be the worst one of the season. When I woke up the flakes were coming down but also twirling down. It was cool looking but I don't know how it was working. There wasn't any significant wind, but the snow was falling in / from different directions. At first the flakes were the little ones. Then there were LOTS of little ones. Then they got fat and fluffy. But the whole time, they're just coming. Lots of snow. The University is closed as are all the schools in the area.
I'm sitting in my room with the blinds open just watching the snow pile up on the roof. Fortunately, MRM has a metal roof and it really has been working. Snow keeps sliding right off. But outside my window is the porch roof and it's not as slanted, so snow doesn't slide off of it as often, even with the metal roof. So I'm able to see snow accumulating outside my window.
In the last hour, it has turned to teeny tiny flakes with occasional ice pellets that I can hear and also see as they bounce off the roof. The prediction is that we'll get 8 inches of snow and then it will turn to ice/ rain/ freezing rain/ sleet. Oh joy.
There's a 4 foot tall chain link fence in the backyard. Only 8-12 inches of the top of the fence is visible. It's in an area where that height is not due to snow banks created by plowing or shoveling and it's not drifted snow up against the fence. That's over 3 feet of accumulated snow just in the past 2 months. This is a real winter. :-)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
2/12/2008 digging the car out . . . again
I teach a graduate course in a town called Dixfield on Tuesday nights. Last Tuesday's class was canceled because of bad weather. The class is held at the local high school and all the participants are teachers in the high school, middle school, or 2 elementary schools nearby. Since their district was closed due to bad weather, we didn't meet either.
So this week, both UMF and their school district were open, so class was on. It only took me 20 minutes to get the snow off my car and shovel around it so I could get out. But remember, that's after the 90 minute process Friday morning (only 4 days ago) and the digging out on the Saturday morning before that (6 days before that).
It was sunny and beautiful (really cold but in my car with the heater on, I just noticed sunshine and blue skies) on the drive to Dixfield and there were no winds. Yea. Apparently the day of the bad winds there were many accidents where people were literally blown off the highway. It's bad enough that the roads are icy, but when the wind blows you off the road, it doesn't matter what kind of traction you're getting. So I was very appreciative of sunshine and no wind.
But guess what . . . there's another storm coming tonight!
So this week, both UMF and their school district were open, so class was on. It only took me 20 minutes to get the snow off my car and shovel around it so I could get out. But remember, that's after the 90 minute process Friday morning (only 4 days ago) and the digging out on the Saturday morning before that (6 days before that).
It was sunny and beautiful (really cold but in my car with the heater on, I just noticed sunshine and blue skies) on the drive to Dixfield and there were no winds. Yea. Apparently the day of the bad winds there were many accidents where people were literally blown off the highway. It's bad enough that the roads are icy, but when the wind blows you off the road, it doesn't matter what kind of traction you're getting. So I was very appreciative of sunshine and no wind.
But guess what . . . there's another storm coming tonight!
2/11/2008 Howling Update
The Boston Globe had this little article about Maine weather:
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GRAY, Maine—Mainers should brace themselves for high winds and wicked cold wind chills today after a messy weekend of winter weather.
more stories like this
The National Weather Service has issued wind and blowing snow advisories across the state, calling for sustained winds of 15 to 30 miles per hour, with a few gusts up to 50 miles per hour.
The winds could bring down tree limbs that are already weighted down with snow, which could result in power outages.
Bangor Hydro crews worked through the night to restore power to customers in Hancock, Washington, and Penobscot counties. About 8,000 customers were without power around midnight, but the majority of those outages have been restored.
(retrieved 2/13/2008 from http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/02/11/wind_advisories_issued_across_maine/)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gray is about an hour and a half south of Farmington. It's the home of the National Weather Service's Weather Forecast Office. When those "sustained winds" hit, it was like you were riding inside a noisy truck without earplugs. It was a loud noise that just kept going. Paul, a friend at work, said it's basically hurricane winds. Alan (another friend at work) said his old house was just creaking like crazy. It was definitely a new weather experience. The brunt of those winds was during the night, so I slept through most of it, but apparently, the high, sustained winds lasted well over an hour. And then there were sustained winds that weren't as high plus lots of gusts all throughout the night/ early morning.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
GRAY, Maine—Mainers should brace themselves for high winds and wicked cold wind chills today after a messy weekend of winter weather.
more stories like this
The National Weather Service has issued wind and blowing snow advisories across the state, calling for sustained winds of 15 to 30 miles per hour, with a few gusts up to 50 miles per hour.
The winds could bring down tree limbs that are already weighted down with snow, which could result in power outages.
Bangor Hydro crews worked through the night to restore power to customers in Hancock, Washington, and Penobscot counties. About 8,000 customers were without power around midnight, but the majority of those outages have been restored.
(retrieved 2/13/2008 from http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/articles/2008/02/11/wind_advisories_issued_across_maine/)
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Gray is about an hour and a half south of Farmington. It's the home of the National Weather Service's Weather Forecast Office. When those "sustained winds" hit, it was like you were riding inside a noisy truck without earplugs. It was a loud noise that just kept going. Paul, a friend at work, said it's basically hurricane winds. Alan (another friend at work) said his old house was just creaking like crazy. It was definitely a new weather experience. The brunt of those winds was during the night, so I slept through most of it, but apparently, the high, sustained winds lasted well over an hour. And then there were sustained winds that weren't as high plus lots of gusts all throughout the night/ early morning.
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