Dealing With The Weather

My efforts for dealing with the snow storm were very simple:  I stayed home.  I did not have anywhere I needed to go on Saturday. Sunday, I renewed on line the library books that were due. I shoveled the south half of my driveway: the melting was such that the north half had less than an inch of snow. I should have pushed it to the side, but my back was bothering me.  Most of the side walk was melted. I did clear a path for the mailman.

Shovel or Melt Part 2

On January 8, 2017, I had to go to a meeting, leaving the house mid-afternoon.  There was still a cover of snow on the driveway, where the sun is shaded from the ground by the house. About 2 hours later, I arrived home and almost all of that snow was melted.  Waiting to let the snow melt was not a bad thing to do.

Shovel or Melt

When I left work on 1/6/17, I was debating how to handle the snow in my driveway. Shovel or melt.  When I arrived home, the part of my driveway that was not blocked from the sun by the house was bare... That decided it.  I will let the atmosphere melt my driveway. The temperature today was above freezing, but most of the melting occurred where the sun shined.  That is okay. I believe the rest of the snow will melt in the next few days.

Snowstorm In Lubbock

We had a snowstorm in Lubbock on January 6, 2017. It came through mid-morning, and was done well before noon. As the snow was falling, it looked like we had the potential for a lot of snow.  However,the radar showed that this snowstorm was a thin squall line that was moving through the South Plains horizontally, and Lubbock was smack dab in the center of it. The squall line was thin, and if it had been vertical, Lubbock would have received very little snow. As it was, we received about 1 to 1.5 inches of snow.

Snow in Lubbock, Again

I worked late tonight. This seems to be a common theme with me these days.  Not by choice, necessarily, but by a sense of obligation to my patients.  On my way home at about 7:30 PM, the icy rain started. By time I was home, it was mostly snow.  Much of the snow that fell after Christmas was melted by today, and now, the lawns and dirt areas are snow covered. A peak out the door shows that the concrete and asphalt are still wet, and not frozen, although we can anticipate the freezing will occur overnight.  The weather forecasters anticipate the roads will be dangerous early AM but clear up later in the morning.  So it is my hope. It is what it will be. 

TRASH!

One of the fall outs of having snow in Lubbock, is not being able to access the alley from the backyard, to get to the dumpster.  So, I had two weeks of piled trash in my house/garage.  More than that, because over theses many days, I have been doing some cleaning and shredding.

Earlier this week, I thought to drive around to the end of the alley and walk it into my dumpster, which is the second one in from the street.  But, the end of the alley was really piled with snow.  So, I waited until today.  Well, obviously, I was not the only one who thought to do this, and the first two dumpsters were packed full. I decided not to trek to the third dumpster, so I have two weeks of trash stacked neatly in my garage. I think part of the problem is that the trash collectors have not been able to get through the alleys.  So, maybe this week, with the warming weather and consequently melting snow, the trash collectors will be able to drive through the alleys. 

Then it will be for me to make it to the dumpster, one way or the other.

The Winter Storm

The winter storm is long gone, but the snow remains.  Although Monday and Tuesday were beautifully sunny, little melting occurred, and the residential streets are still a mess, even today, but now passable. 

Today, it was above freezing, but grey, overcast. That is probably good.  If it were warm and sunny, the snow would melt so fast there would be some flooding.  A slower melt is actually better.  We have had some light dusting of snow, but no accumulations and the wind has not been so bad.

The big problem is that it freezes overnight, so what melted during the day freezes at night creating large patches of frozen slush and black ice.  This is dangerous.  And, it takes until mid or late morning until the melting occurs again.  Fortunately, I do not have to get out tomorrow.  

We may get some freezing drizzle over night, but it  should be sunny tomorrow,

I will plan to go to the Texas Tech men's basketball game (complementary tickets from work) Saturday afternoon, and add a trip to the library before that. I did my weekly shopping today, though in anticipation that if there is another storm, I am not unprepared.

The Winter Storm

The winter storm started as predicted on Saturday night, December 26, 2015.  It started with sleet and freezing rain, but progressed to snow.  There was a lot of wind.  Overnight, it was tough, but not awful. It subsided Sunday morning, but by late Sunday morning, the sleet and rain started, and later, the snow began. The wind was of blizzard proportions.

I work for Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, at the John T. Montford Prison, TDCJ.  Tonight, at about 5:00 PM, the emergency alert system sent out the notice that the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center will be closed, due to the storm on, December 28, 2015.  This means, as a social worker at the Montford Prison, I am not required to report to work, as social workers are not essential personnel.  This is a blessing.

I am sorry for the officers and nurses who have to report as essential personnel.  I hope all of them traverse the roads safely and report to work in one piece. But I am thankful I do not have to traverse the treacherous roads during this winter storm.  I am thankful that the administration at TTUHSC has a compassionate understanding of taking care of their staff

Safety first.

The Sleeting Rain Has Started

A while ago, I saw some lightning.  The sleeting rain has started, about 940 PM.  We can expect the weather to get worse, not better. 

I will continue to watch the weather. 

Taki was unnerved by the sound of the weather  After a brief time in my lap, she decided she was okay.

There are already delays and closings in businesses and government offices. This is wise.

It is amazing.  What a storm.

Winter Weather

We are anticipating a winter storm this weekend.  The worst front was supposed to hit about 6 PM.  But mid-morning, the temperatures dipped slightly.  And stayed down.  The wind blew in and has continued to blow hard all day.  It is very cold out, with the ambient temperature, before windchill, at 32°. The snow has not started, and is predicted to start about midnight, slow in the morning, and get heavy in the afternoon.  We will keep an eye on the weather. 

This will be an interesting situation.

The Patriots Vs. The Broncos

Okay, so tonight the New England Patriots are playing the Denver Broncos in Denver, Colorado  http://espn.go.com/nfl/schedule.  As the game is progressing, the weather is getting worse, with light snow to now heavier snow. It can be said that the weather conditions cannot really favor either team.  They both play in winter weather venues.  Perhaps the Denver elevation might make an impact. 

Winter Came Again

As predicted, inclement weather struck again.  It started raining overnight, early this morning. By early afternoon, the rain changed to sleet, and eventually, snow. Non-essential personnel were allowed to leave from work at 4 PM. I am ambivalent regarding my status as non-essential. But, I was glad to be able to leave work early.  I did not leave at 4 PM. I stayed until I completed the tasks I wanted to complete today, so I left about 4:15 but that still allowed me to get home earlier than usual. The car was not too iced over.  It was easy to scrape and clear.  I parked so the windshield face south, which helped a little, but the ice/snow on the car was minimal. I was impressed.  It seemed that somehow, the ice on the side mirrors melted while the car engine was running.  So that was nice.

I drove very slowly going home.  I did not get on the loop, but took the access road, where I could drive slower, without other drivers crowding me.

It is too cold and too icy to drive the Covenant Lifestyle Center. I have not been there for several days. I am doing other exercises at home, but they do not seem to be as effective.

I am tired of winter weather, but I can adapt and adjust as need be.

Wintry Weather, Three Days in a Row

Well, it turned cold over night again, and we woke up to freezing fog and heavy grey skies.  Although the skies have lightened this afternoon, we did not really have any sun today. However, the temperature has risen to above freezing, and when that happens, thawing occurs fairly quickly and extensively.  The down side is, that without the sun, the moisture will not dry well off the streets and sidewalks, except maybe on some of the more well used thoroughfares.  So, driving overnight and in the early morning will be treacherous.

The weather service says that it will warm up early in the week, cool off, then warm up again. There is a slight chance of precipitation.  So, maybe a reprieve will occur.

I did not have to go anywhere today, so I opted to stay in, again. I get cabin fever, and years ago, I would have bundled up and gone out for a walk.  I am in hopes that someday, my physical aches and pains will be resolved to the point that I will once again be able to look forward to such a walk.

Wintry Weather

I do not think it ever got above freezing today.  I waited until right after noon to run errands, driving very slowly, taking my time. It is interesting how the street conditions were.  My street, and several of the residential streets in my neighborhood looked fairly clear.  Some of the more well travelled major streets were still snow covered.  I am not sure what that is about.  As I think about it, maybe the major streets were more traveled yesterday, and the snow could have been packed into ice, as it was not even close to freezing.  When people started going out on the residential streets today, the snow melted with the traffic as it was not packed into ice.  Maybe. Maybe not.

I timed it right. By the time I got home, the temperature had peaked and the temperature was dropping.

I would normally have gone to the Lady Raider Basketball game, especially because it is senior night, the last regularly scheduled home game of the year. But, I did not want to be out and about driving tonight.

In fact, it was a double header today, with the men's team playing this afternoon.  It was senior night for them, too.  If the weather had been nice, I probably would have gone to both games.  The men's team won.  Let's hope the women's team does too. 

So, the weather has affected my plans.  I am okay staying home, and being safe.

Snow Day!

I am officially employed by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center http://ttuhsc.edu/. This year, we have had several days of late openings or early closings due to winter weather. Tech has an alert system that delivers this information to your phone, or email.  So, when I woke up this morning, planning to take my time to go to work, I checked my phone and found a surprise.  Instead of a late start, I learned that TTUHSC was closed in Lubbock.  It makes sense.  We have officially had 5.4 inches of snow In the last 24 hours. It began last night: driving home from work at 5 PM, the streets were clear, with very limited areas of black ice.

Most of the snow has moved on, but we still have a chance for a light wintry mix overnight and through the weekend. So, I have no plans to go anywhere today.  I am hoping things clear up enough over the weekend so I can safely drive to the store to do my regular weekly shopping.  My biggest need will be canned cat food.   But, no one will starve.  I have plenty of other food in the house for the cats, if need be.

But for now, the temperature remains below freezing, and the snow cover persists.  Because schools, the county, the universities, and many other places have closed, the traffic is light.  Because traffic is light, driving is not clearing the streets. There have been several weather related accidents.

I am using my snow day for various projects. I generally do not like daytime TV, but I will watch some. But mostly, I will do other things.

Thunder Snow

I am a weather junkie.  I like The Weather Channel http://www.weather.com/.  I liked it more before it went to canned programming.  I liked it when it broadcast weather 24 hours a day: local, national, and international.  But that is expensive, and I understand the bottom line is important in television broadcasting. 

Years ago, I remember meteorologist, Jim Cantore http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Cantore, being very excited about thundersnow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=thunder+snow&FORM=VIRE4#view=detail&mid=AC74E4C857863C78B3ABAC74E4C857863C78B3AB.  He has some roots in New England, which is neat.

I understand his excitement about thundersnow.  I remember thundersnow when I was in my early teens, and discussing with my mother how rare it is.

Today, once again, he was on the air when there was thundersnow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdSRqLDFZI.  That is neat.

Weather Caution: I Don't Get It

So, I have previously written about the massive shutdown by governments, schools and businesses based on the prediction of a massive storm that hit the Northeast.  The massive part of the storm missed New York City, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.  Government and business officials were criticized for the shut downs.

Another storm was predicted for over the weekend and into Monday.  I think the airlines rescheduled flights, but I did not hear about the massive shut downs of the previous storm.  And, the winter punch was heavy. There were deaths, accidents, lots of problems with storm clean up and people being stuck on the roads.

So, here is my question. Which was the better response? I know for me the radical response that required people to hunker down and shelter in, and be safe, no matter the cost to government and industry, was worth much more than the response that allowed personal freedom that resulted in multiple deaths, problems with clean up, and other issues regarding the storm.

Sorry, the older I get, the more I vote for safety first..

Winter Weather Alert

Earlier this week, a gigantic winter weather storm was predicted for the northeast, expect to drop as much as 2-3 feet of snow on the entire northeast, including New York City, Philadelphia, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Maine.

As a result, the governments of the respective agencies in those parts of the world shut the communities down.  New York City, the State of Connecticut, Boston.  Roads were closed.  Driving was banned. Airlines closed.  Everything was shut down. 

Well, New York City, Philadelphia, and Connecticut did not take the hit that Massachusetts and Maine took, and there was a lot of criticism about closures.  I know it cost a lot of money to close everything down.  But my perspective is weather forecasting is not perfect, and the authorities did they best they could with what information they had.  And, had the forecast called for a mega-storm, and the authorities took no action, and snow clogged up everything, and lives were lost, that would have been worse. 

As it was there was snow, just not the large amounts expected.  And the comment was that with everything closed, it was easier to clean up than it would have been.

Safety first.

Winter Weather

The South Plains were predicted to have rain by about 6 PM tonight, and later in the evening, snow. Hmm. The rain started about 3 PM.  I knew the predictions were off.  I wanted to go to the pool and do my exercises and then go on to the Lady Raider basketball game.  But I decided that the weather predictions were not accurate, and I decided to stay home, instead.

Sure enough, the snow started earlier than predicted.   I am glad I am at home and safe tonight.

Meltdown!

Well, the morning started foggy and cold again, but by late morning, the melting had started in Lubbock.  That is the thing about snow and ice in Lubbock:  when it melts, it usually melts with a vengeance:  everything warms up, and the snow melts, there is no place for the water to go, so we have some minor street flooding.  Ice melts and comes crashing down from lights, branches, roofs, and what have you, sometimes causing more damage with the crash than with the weight of the snow and ice. 

Usually, it does not all melt in one day, and refreezes overnight, with the possibility it will continue to disappear.  We may get some snow tomorrow, but now we have wonderful sunshine.

That is one of the things that amazes me about the weather in West Texas.  The other thing is how quickly things dry out after a rain, even a heavy rain.  Usually, but the next day, all traces of rain are gone, except maybe, debris.