Weather

[Back in the fold]

I agree. I don't mind the nice weather but wish it was wet. If it rains here it would be snowing in the mountains where we need it.

Next ten days shows as mid to upper 40s with a 50 thrown in. So far we have only had two light snows.

Lack of adequate mountain snow is not a good thing in our neck of the woods . You being in Sheridan and The Bighorn Mountains watershed and me in Billings and The Absaroka Beartooth watershed, we share a lot of water . It all goes into the Yellowstone or Tongue Rivers at some point . We rely on mountain snowpack and no snow is not good .

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Lack of adequate mountain snow is not a good thing in our neck of the woods . You being in Sheridan and The Bighorn Mountains watershed and me in Billings and The Absaroka Beartooth watershed, we share a lot of water . It all goes into the Yellowstone or Tongue Rivers at some point . We rely on mountain snowpack and no snow is not good .

And a lot of the water in the Yellowstone comes out of the Bighorn, which originates right here in the Wind River Valley. Makes me feel like we're almost neighbors. I remember standing on the bridge over the Mississippi in St. Louis a few years ago, thinking, "The Popo Agie (the little creek that runs through my hometown) is in there!" Weird feeling.

I posted same on Facebook, and one of my friends back in Wyoming responded, "Did you see that stick I threw in there?"

 

[Back in the fold]

And a lot of the water in the Yellowstone comes out of the Bighorn, which originates right here in the Wind River Valley. Makes me feel like we're almost neighbors. I remember standing on the bridge over the Mississippi in St. Louis a few years ago, thinking, "The Popo Agie (the little creek that runs through my hometown) is in there!" Weird feeling.

I posted same on Facebook, and one of my friends back in Wyoming responded, "Did you see that stick I threw in there?"

That was what I was trying to say but I didn’t word it right . All of the water around here , yours too over there in the Winds , intermingles at different confluences and that does make us three neighbors . Did you fish that stick out for your buddy ?

 

[WhistlingBadger]

That was what I was trying to say but I didn’t word it right . All of the water around here , yours too over there in the Winds , intermingles at different confluences and that does make us three neighbors . Did you fish that stick out for your buddy ?

Well, there were a lot to choose from, so I couldn't be sure which was the right one. But I sent him some pictures. Rivers are like that, though. All the waters of the world, except some dead-end lakes, rivers, and ponds here and there, are connected. (And I suspect even most of those dead ends are connected underground) It makes the diversity of fish species all the more amazing, even within a single drainage.

 

[Colin_T]

Lack of snow is from climate change. Don't expect to see too many more white Christmases. We are having 40C+ temperatures in October, November and December. Previously we only got them in January and February. We hit 46C last summer and it's becoming more common.

The native plants here are dying due to lack of rain in autumn, winter and spring. The drier conditions have made our bush fire (wild fire) season start earlier and go longer. As the plants die from lack of water, high temperatures and fire, there is less to take up the CO2 we are producing and the levels go up faster.

The animals are suffering and those that can't move are doomed. Even the ones that can move are dying due to heat and lack of water.

The easterly winds used to be here in January and February (the hottest months back in the 70s & 80s) but we have them now from August to April.

The planet is dying and everything is going to be dead in 50 years.

 

[Oldspartan]

2 inches of snow here. By the time decided to get around to clearing the walks and drives it was half gone. We cleaned the drive at the roadway with shovels to avoid a frozen lump but decided to wait and see if the coming hot spell, over 40F, will melt the rest. If not, we will remove it.

The weather is decidedly abnormal.

 

[GaryE]

Here, we're back to bare grass, and no insulation against the cold winds from the north. Right by the sea like this, the north wind comes in November, and seems to only let up if a gale blows in from the south.

My wife likes hanging wind chimes out, but we have to take them down for winter because it never stops, and they end up broken.

It is absolutely impossible to predict, or even properly guess what winter will bring. We've been having drought levels of snow - very very little. I suppose we could have a deep snowstorm one day, and 2 days later have bare ground again. -16 this morning (celsius), then shooting up to 8 tomorrow. It's up and down like a Cory cat.

 

[gwand]

Picture London on a cold, rainy, foggy day but with the Bromo Seltzer tower instead of Big Ben and that is what Baltimore and the vicinity has been experiencing for a week. Dreary.

 

[gwand]

Baltimore’s Bromo Seltzer tower

 

[jaylach]

Finally got a bit of snow. We were under a winter storm advisory for four days but it wasn't as much as I had hoped with only about eight inches of accumulation. Still it is better than it was. Starting Monday we are supposed to be back in the forties F with a couple of high thirties F thrown in through the end of January. Also looks to be dry through the end of January.

As far as the monthly projections show February is no better with zero days with a high below freezing and mostly high temperatures in the forties and fifties F.

 

[GaryE]

We were told we'd get 2 cm this evening. Took the dog out for training and it was a wild ride home. 10cm of powder with absolute black ice under it. I saw one guy do a 360, but the speeders (ie, going just under the posted limit on a night like this) were fishtailing all over.

I like driving on this when there aren't other cars driving on this. They're the danger. But tonight, we left from out in the country and the road back into town was hard to see. We were the first car down a good section of it. So we have about 30cm down so far this week, and need a lot more to say we're clear of drought, and of a summertime wildfire danger. Unless we get more, I wouldn't want to have a nice little dream home in the woods.

 

[jaylach]

Ya, The first year I was in Ft Worth Texas in 1987 we had a black ice storm come through with some snow on top. I was on my way home from work and saw a really pretty white low slung pickup coming toward me doing donuts on the ice having fun. I pulled over to the side of the road as I didn't want to go past when he was doing his 'tricks' and, sure enough, he lost it and wrapped the bed around a pole. He gets out and starts kicking the side of the truck like it was the truck's fault.

Next night, same storm, I was giving a guy a ride home from work and there was a bit of a hill with cars along the side of the road that could not make the incline due to the ice. I was driving a 1980 Malibu Classic and made it about two thirds of the way up. Coasted back down and let about half the air out of the rear tires and cruised right up to a gas station at the top of the incline where I re-filled the tires. Letting air out of the tires increased the contact surface and softened' the rubber giving more traction. The guy getting the ride was amazed and asked how I knew to do the tire thing. I just told him that I grew up in north east Ohio and knew just about every trick there is concerning snow and ice on the roads including always having a large bag of floor dry or kitty litter in the trunk to spread behind and in front of the drive wheels to give traction if stuck. A bag of sand also works but the floor dry/kitty litter seems to do better.

You would think that winters would be worse here in Sheridan Wyoming than in Ohio just due to the higher elevation but that is not true due to 'lake affect snows'. The house I had in Ohio was close enough to Lake Erie to see the lake from an upstairs' window. Due to northern winds coming across Lake Erie before it froze over we would get more snow in one day than I've seen all winter here in Sheridan due to the northern winds picking up moisture from the lake.

<edited to fix typos and to include the last paragraph.>

 

[GaryE]

Before I taught High School, I had 7 years where I worked in a college 70 km out of the large city. That sounds like nothing distance wise, but half of it was secondary roads. About a third of it was a snowy micro-climate caused by some small mountains/large hills. If the city got a dusting of snow, the micro-climate got a dump. The low mountains were good places for skiers.

With good snow tires and experience, you can get through most things. I had a little Toyota wagon, a 4wd Corolla and I got through storms larger vehicles didn't. In those conditions, the car felt like the bottom of a pair of shoes. You just tuned in and drove it. when you got to work though, you felt how much mental energy had gone into the driving. It was a flow experience with hyper alertness. People pay a lot for video games that try to recreate that.

I've always enjoyed those all in 100% flow experiences in life, and trying to get between 2 places in the countryside during a snowstorm can be one of those. Even better - the first time I bought a pair of killies, I had to get them home through a really bad black ice night.