Friday, November 8, 2024

Winter Comes In With Epic Snowfalls!

 Still here and cruising along. FAR better than last year. Even loaded up the fireplace and lit it. SLW and I are going to pop some corn, and watch Holiday Inn on the TeeVee.

Anywhoo....It started raining yesterday, and by this morning we had ~1" of snow on the cars, trucks, and yards.  The streets (up here...) are still warm, so it's not sticking on the roads. As of 2145 MST we've received .4" of rain, and the rain gauge stopped as the rain turned to snow, then picked up again when it got warmer and rained some more. Started off as rain around 0900, then turned to "Wintry Mix", and now it's snowing.  We had an inch on Thursday that melted in a few hours, and an inch or so this morning, that hasn't melted.

Down by Denver is another story. They've received around 8", with another 6~8" forecast overnight. ALL the highways are closed South and East of Denver. Traffic is a nightmare, and many vehicles are stranded. Further South, into New Mexico, things are even worse. NWS is calling it a "Historic Snowfall for November", and the Northern part of NM is basically shut down.

East of Denver out on the plains is bleak. I think I heard there was about 12", and 6~10" is expected.

Luna is enjoying it, for now. Don't know how she'll react when it's 15*, but she's MUCH more an outside dog than Pebbles was. She's definitely a ColoRADo dog.

So keep warm and dry, keep your head on a swivel, and enjoy your weekend, if possible!

16 comments:

  1. We know that you and SLW will hunker down and deal with it as you have done in the past when the WX does it's usual yearly thing.

    AZ is expecting a brief warmer spell until Veterans Day on Monday. We're expect to be grilling steaks outdoors on Monday, but that could change.

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    1. Grilling steaks, huh? Have that last bite for me. It's going to be in the upper 50's for a few days next week, so I'll drain the tank and carb for the Snowblower, run it until warm, and change the oil. And I'm looking into a "High Altitude Kit" (smaller carb jets) for it. The oil had a tinge of gasoline smell to it, so it's probably running a bit rich.

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  2. We, down here in Gainesville, Florida, had a day like that on Dec 23, 1989. Started in the 70's, rained tons and the temp dropped to 19 in 8 hours. The interstate was iced over and you could hear cars sliding on it. The airport was iced and snowed in.

    House lost power and we found out exactly why waterbeds aren't a thing up north in the Cold Lands.

    It snowed enough that I could make a 4" tall snowman. Trimmed the bushes by taking a 2x4 and just whacking said bushes.

    Fun if you were inside and warm, not so much if you had to be out in that garbage.

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    1. I seem to remember that. Caused havoc with the citrus farmers, didn't?
      We had a freak December heatwave here three (?) years ago where it shot up to the 90's, and then dropped to about 15* in several hours.

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    2. 89 wasn't as nearly devastating for Florida Citrus as the 70's freezes pretty much killed everything north of Orlando.

      First time I ever saw snow was on Christmas Day, 1973, in Satellite Beach, FL. That's south of Cape Canaveral, on the east side barrier island.

      It was depressing driving north on I-75 or I-95 or even US1 after 76, as all you saw were groves and groves of dead trees.

      And then many got replaced by what seemed like millions of McMansions.

      All the big Indian River Citrus growers in Brevard County are now gone. Lost to time. No more stopping off at the groves' stores and picking up paper sacks of 'seconds' (not visually perfect) for $5.00.

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    3. OK, that must have been the big freeze I remembered.

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  3. Politely informed my paper hanger managers I'm not going out until next week. Every first snow is the same. Those who aren't prepared; those who haven't driven in snow; the list goes on. Middle son didn't head father's advice to treat his doors with silicone. Cost him $283 to have a locksmith come out and get his car doors open. Had a neighbor come up to me this morning with a broken windshield wiper. One week old. Suggested that 1) Go back to O'Reilly where she bought it and 2) A $10 wiper blade is money wasted. You know what I use.

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    1. Yep, I have the same snow rake you do. Made doing the Jeep, and now the truck, pretty easy. I got catalogs from them for a year or so. Really fun to go through all the supplies, banners, courtesy paper floor mats, etc, etc that car dealers use. Nice walk down memory lane from my Hard-Core Hot Rod days.
      Did his door locks freeze, or did the weather stripping freeze to the body? I wipe down SLW's weather stripping on all four of her doors every year in the Fall. I use a rubber preserver to keep them soft and pliable, and they won't get frozen and weld the doors shut.

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    2. Alas, he is his late mother's son. I am not sure if was locks or weatherstripping or both.

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    3. I had the locking gas cap on my brand new 1975 VW Scirocco. Took a big pair of channel locks to get it off. The dealer said "Sorry, not a warranty item", and gladly took my $25 for a new one. It promptly got a dose of Lock-Eze with graphite in it.

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  4. I'm actually jealous. I've read people get sick of it by the time their first winter is over, but the coolest overnight temperature on our 10 day forecast is 65. Tonight's low is going to be 76. I could use a bit more variation. Every fall Bass Pro sends me ads for flannel and I laugh at it. One flannel shirt is a lifetime supply.

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    Replies
    1. I grew up in Northern Illinois (WA9THB), and snow was just snow. It was 90% wet, heavy, Heart Attack snow, and a real PITA to shovel.
      Out here it's 90% dry, powdery snow that's much easier to shovel. My snowblower will sling it all the way across the street, and the "worst" part of it is the wind blowing the snow back in your face! I use the face shield I bought for grinding parts, and it really helps.
      One flannel shirt is a lifetime supply...
      HAH! I don't have any flannels, but I do have lots of other warm, outdoors clothing.
      BTW...you and your wife are welcome to come up here any time you'd like. It's quite beautiful in Spring and Summer, and spectacular in the Fall. Winter is Winter....

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  5. So far all we've seen is a little over 2 inches of rain.

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    1. We got about .8" here over the last two days. It rained again this morning and all the snow is gone now.

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  6. We've had a few inches of snow, a couple of times, but the weather has been moderate with temps in the upper 30s to low 40s. We still have some snow on the ground, though, and temps are supposed to drop into the teens and 20s in a few more days. Kinda glad we're not getting pounded with feet of snow (so far), but it's still early in the season.

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    Replies
    1. This storm dumped up to 4 feet in some areas, and about SIX FEET up in Rocky Mountain National Park.

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Keep it civil, please....

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