Well, I kinda blew it last night when I said it looked like most of the storm would miss us. SLW and I had a nice fire going, and watched the original version of "Ocean's 11" last night, and I stayed up a bit longer doing the "Storm Watch" thing. I went to bed about 0100, and it was snowing, but not very heavy. I got up once around 0400, looked out the window, and it was really coming down.
Our maple, crab apple, and ash tree have all lost limbs, and the ash tree dropped a YUGE one, bashing a gutter on it's way down. It landed on the support rope for the wire antenna, and tore the end support mast out of the fence post on the South end. I'd only used 1" "Lath Screws" and some conduit hangers to mount the mast to the post, and they acted like a "mechanical fuse" when the limb hit the rope. Hopefully we don't have any roof damage. The limb is well clear of the chimney, so we can still use the fireplace.
Looking out front window. "Big Red" is somewhat buried:
Backyard from dining room window:
View from sun room. You can see the wire antenna running diagonally through the picture, and the two limbs that broke off the ash tree:
From the laundry room:
And the view from the side door on the garage. Notice the neighbor's snowblower for reference. It's a full-size, 24" width model:
And the NWS is predicting another 8"~10" of snowfall before this passes through, and they've declared a "Blizzard Warning" for this area. Some of the agencies I monitor on the scanner are declaring white-out conditions across wide areas.
The Kids up in Laporte are without power, but fortunately the house has gas for heating and cooking. The local radio station, KRFC, is off-the-air, along with KMAX, 94.3, but they're both still streaming online.
The in-laws up at the homestead have something like 48" of snow, and it's still coming down hard. They're not planning on going anywhere for a few days. The other in-laws in Cheyenne are getting hammered, but he reports his new snowblower is working just fine. And the other in-laws on "The Ranch" have heavy equipment, and know how to use it, so they'll be fine, too. No, Beans, I still haven't bought a replacement yet. I'll start seriously looking on nextdoor.com and craigslist in April. I would have bought the lightly-used Honda last year, but it would have been a PITA to get it home in my Jeep.
Now I have a truck, and will sally forth in search of a good, used snowblower in the near future.
Part of your weather may be caused by a "barrier jet", a weather pattern that forms on the lee side of the Front Range. North towards I-80 the elevation drops to around 8.000 ASL while to your West the elevation ranges from 11,000 to 14,000+ ASL. That combined with low pressure over us and SSE of us makes thing 'interesting'.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I'm just a few miles SSE of you and our weather hasn't been as intense.
You might look for a small snowplow set up for your truck. One made for an ATV would work for your needs.
I've noticed some seasonal variations in how VHF/UHF radio signals propagate along the Front Range. VHF/UHF is good for noticing this kind of stuff as the atmospheric conditions can have a pronounced effect on well (or not) they travel long distances.
ReplyDeleteFrom my flying days, I'm somewhat familiar with how the winds along the lee side of a mountain range behave, along with the unique weather patterns they can generate. I've just never lived in an area like this before, so now I get to study it.
The only thing a plow on the truck might be good for is plowing our way out of the cul-de-sac here.....
Summertime, light airplane flying West in the afternoon you are introduced to the "rain shadow" of the mountains. 2-3 minutes of Verga, often hail, and rough air. The change in the prairie vegetation is very noticable.
ReplyDeleteThe weather has changed over the years. In the 60's summers we seldom had tops above 50,000. When I cam back in 1997 from the PNW was surprised to see tops approaching 70,000.
I've noticed the change in the landscape from airliners.
ReplyDeleteYeah, 70k is a big one. Our smaller weather balloons would go up to about 80k before they burst, and the big ones could exceed 90k.
I'm not going to recommend Husqvarna.
ReplyDeleteAfter four years of very intermittent use there are problems this season.
The ground prong in the starter connection box has pulled out, and Husky wants me to replace the entire box and starter.
The electrical box that contains the push button and connection is cracking at the corners.
The attachment point for the speed control in the handle area is plastic, and it is bending badly.
The Husky has one reverse speed, and two would be be better.
Take care.
The "Snow Joe" I had contained lots of plastic. The interlock button on the handle to engage the auger was always popping out-of-place *inside* the handle, meaning you had to take the handle apart, put the button and spring and hinge pin back together, and then screw the handle bits back into place.
DeleteFortunately when the button popped out-of-place the auger still worked...mostly.
I'm DEFINITELY getting an Ariens!
Hmmmm. Winter Wonderland, how's the mining operation going? I see the pup's moving into .06. Nice.
ReplyDeleteNo results yet, but the 100 coins I bought are slowly going up.
DeleteNice. The easily distracted pup's still frisking about in the .05s. Come on, jump up.
Delete