Life in the Polar Vortex - Round 2

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Been some Winter, eh??

Yet another below zero morning, -12 to be exact.  Cleaned out the wood stove and took the ashes out to the pit, walking through on snow that's stronger that concrete.  You could park a Portland Forney on it, in fact the old 14" deep foot prints could trap an elephant so it's safer to walk on top.  Of course the snow pack makes the shed roof overhang a lot closer to head contact zone ... ouch, I'm awake now!   Well, time to get going.  Hmmm, the truck's tires are stuck in the ice. Rocking it a bit breaks it loose.  Drive to the railroad and pick up the trash from the house and shop.  Quick trip to the transfer station, they accept the trash but won't take the snow in the back of the truck.  This all sounds familiar, how many weeks of it?  Just one question:  Where can I sign up for the Tropical Vortex??

[James Patten]

Good news, Stewart: government forecasters are predicting this will be an El-Nino year, which means warmer temperatures for everybody!  Especially next winter.

[John Kokas]

Ah Stewart,  be careful what you wish for!  A Tropical Vortex in Meteorological terms is known as a HURRICANE.....

[Brendan Barry]

Given the choice I would take the hurricane about now.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Never heard a Hurricane called a Tropical Vortex but it makes sense.  We've all seen the destruction from hurricanes and I've been in a few.  I often worked in Virginia and the Carolinas, helping the Executone dealers after storms went through.  One time I had to change motels due to water and wind damage.  Another time a tree fell on my company van, denting the roof.  It was parked at the time and I was able to kick the roof back up to use the side door.  I drove it back to Baltimore that way.

Funny thing - Prior to working for Executone,  I worked on a horse farm near the Mason-Dixon line.  There were years when the Summer was so dry that we wanted a hurricane/tropical storm to come through to break the drought and sometimes it worked.  This was usually from late August through mid September.   

BTW - warming up a bit only -9 this morning.

[Dylan Lambert]

I'll believe the warm temperatures tomorrow when I'm wearing shorts into work... 50 degrees down here in Worcester County for tomorrow, so hopefully no one calls with no heat...

[Terry Harper]

It's all those new heat pumps sucking the warmth out of the atmosphere. 

[Brendan Barry]

Only seven days until spring.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The pics show what most of the day looked like.  There was about an inch of sleet under the snow and a 30-40mph wind to make drifts.  The wood stove feels good tonight!

[Mike Fox]

Wow, you guys have a lot more bare ground than us. 87 inches thus far, so it is almost hip deep if you try to venture into virgin snow without snow shoes.

[Ira Schreiber]

62* and sunny clear in the Banana Belt of Colorado.

Of course, snow predicted tomorrow.

[Wayne Laepple]

And, in eastern Pennsylvania, we are looking at 4-6 inches of snow on Monday. Will this winter ever end?

[Keith Taylor]

And, in eastern Pennsylvania, we are looking at 4-6 inches of snow on Monday. Will this winter ever end?

My guess would be....no.
Keith

[Bill Reidy]

Wow, you guys have a lot more bare ground than us. 87 inches thus far, so it is almost hip deep if you try to venture into virgin snow without snow shoes.

Yup.  I'm in Bartlett, NH for the weekend, and hip deep sounds about right.  Pretty impressive for mid-March.

[Dylan Lambert]

To be honest, I stopped checking the temperature... If there's anything frozen on the ground, it's below freezing as far as I'm concerned.