Sunday, December 1, 2019

Today's Weather Bomb

Weather forecasters seem to be coming up with more and more exaggerated terms to describe our weather forecasts.  We have weather bombs, catastrophic driving conditions, historic records, and dangerous commutes.  There's some truth in all of them, and I learned yesterday that there's actually a technical definition of the term 'weather bomb', something to do with pressure differences between the upper and lower atmosphere.

It's a common comment in the weather news that climate change is leading to new extremes, not just overall warming of the planet.  The 'polar vortex' ( I thought that used to be just the jet stream) is bringing more arctic air further south and mixing up what used to be our 'normal' winters.  At any rate, today we have a messy mix of freezing rain, ice pellets and now snow.  It's the freezing rain that's most dangerous, and we're hoping for better driving conditions by morning.

But it was the ice pellets which got picked up by my wheelchair tires that caused the most trouble for me.  When I came inside they started to melt of course, and that meant I had to sit for an hour on the mat before I was dry enough that I could move.  And if the snow continues to accumulate out there things will look pretty white by morning.

I've watched the weather forecasts all week as we went from an 'unprecedented' low pressure system in the north Pacific, through 'unheard of' snow in northern California, evolving into a 'dangerous' Colorado low, to Ontario's 'weather bomb'.  In this case it's all come true.

Meanwhile I still haven't figure out how to download the recent photos off my iphone and I'm getting supremely frustrated!  ...........,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,  Wait!  Hold on a moment!

I have just figured out a way to email selected photos to myself and then download and save them on my newly repaired desktop!  It is not intuitive at all, and you have to plunge onward ignoring what appear to be simple on-screen instructions that don't actually work, but I persevered and eventually got 2 photos from the other day and one from an hour ago downloaded and then uploaded into the blog, so here they are.  Even better, you can edit them in this process, perhaps more easily than in Lightroom.  I'm back to being a happy camper.

Today's weather, mostly ice pellets, but now snow.

We've had a lot of severe shoreline-damaging waves with each storm.  Both the town and private shoreline owners are going to have to spend a LOT of money fixing things up - and the water level is forecast to be higher next year.  Here the waves are splashing up on the shoreline boulders leaving a few shoreline trees dripping with ice.





8 comments:

  1. We are on the California end of that weather bomb. There's snow in Southern California as well and it closed Highway 5 going from the Central California and the Los Angeles Basin right at Thanksgiving. Quite a mess. We are staying away as much as we can and sitting out really rainy days in RV parks along the way. Right now we are on Lemoore Naval Air Station and will start over to Morro Bay on the coast during a slight break on Tuesday morning. Stay safe in all that ice and snow. - Margy

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  2. We were fortunate to only get the overnight rain. There are advantages to living further south.
    Hoping this Weather Bomb doesn't keep you too house bound.
    Be safe and Enjoy the season.

    It's about time.

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  3. IF YOU LIVE HERE AT THIS TIME OF YEAR---SO FAR YOU WOULD NOT BE HOUSEBOUND. wE HAVE HAD COLD (BUNDLE UP) BUT CLEAR AND SUNNY WEATHER. a FRONT IS MOVING IN THOUGH AND IT WILL GET WARMER--OOPS ALL CAPS SORRY. Warmer means some rain though---fields will be muddy maybe but walkways are fine. Enjoy the best you can
    MB

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  4. It seems as if what used to be just a typical winter snowstorm is now viewed as a catastrophic event. Can't imagine what they'd make of the 36" of snow in 24 hours that we experienced at our son's place a number of years ago. It must be really frustrating to wait for your tires to melt and dry off.
    It's great to hear that you can once again post photos to your blog; the icicles are really pretty.

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  5. Good job with the pictures, F.G. The weather is crazy and that isn't even a fancy word. Freezing rain around The Ridge, Hanover and Durham have already created some plan changes for friends. Snow is one thing but driving in that is not fun at all. Be safe and stay housebound when you have to.

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  6. That does sound like a messy problem for wheelchair tires, but there are so many people who are trying to get home with the nasty weather. And you did find a workaround for pictures, thank heavens, because it really helps me to understand what it's like when I see those icy pictures. I hope it moves through quickly so you can get out and enjoy the outdoors a bit.

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  7. We do indeed have volatile weather passing through our areas from time to time. Having to sit for an hour waiting for tires to dry has to be really frustrating. Nice to see you are getting that photo problem worked out.

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  8. Beautiful shots!

    Strangely, that system never came out this way. We missed it, while places an hour away got hit by it.

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