O, the weather outside is...

[Jeff V]

All the snow we had last week is melting now. It's going to be another green xmas.

I did finally put up some lights though.

[Daehawk]

Getting hot. Going to be 67 in a couple days.

[Kraken]

Heh it's 10 here now, on its way to 6. But 50 degrees are forecast for Sunday and Monday. Also, our drought hasn't technically ended because we haven't made up the summer/fall deficit, but precipitation has returned to normal and we're looking at a wet week ahead. I'll be happy if my driveway melts clear so I can drive my car again. There's an S curve going up a hill that any snow at all renders impassable to my Miata. It's spending a lot of time in the garage.

[jztemple2]

Also, our drought hasn't technically ended because we haven't made up the summer/fall deficit, but precipitation has returned to normal and we're looking at a wet week ahead.

Yup, you're still in a drought situation.

[Kraken]

A cute little creek passes through a little culvert under my driveway. It dried up completely in the fall and now it's trickling again. The drought will be over when my brook starts babbling again.

[Daehawk]

Drought here as well. though i can never notices by the outside life. but we're due 2.5" of rain the next 2 or 3 days.

[jztemple2]

Multiple Arctic outbreaks to affect more than 250 million in central, eastern US into mid-January

The central, southern and eastern United States are bracing for the coldest, most persistent frigid Arctic air in years that will come in waves and last through mid-January. Storms packing snow and ice will join in.

Round after round after round of Arctic air is poised to plunge into the central and eastern United States. AccuWeather meteorologists warn that each outbreak of Arctic air has the potential to bring colder air farther south than the previous round and will lead to a major surge in energy demands and the risk of freeze-related damage in the Southern states.

The magnitude and extent of the Arctic air will build into the first full week of January and linger through the middle of the month and will, at times, affect more than 250 million people living in more than 40 states in the Central and Eastern regions.

Even though each layer of cold coming in may stop short of the most extreme conditions in the past 10-15 years, the number of days spent below the historical average will add up in dozens of states from just east of the Rockies to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

[Daehawk]

O, the weather outside is............F me

[jztemple2]

Holy crap, 18H and 4L next Friday? Sheesh.

Meanwhile, in the Sunshine State, locally for me


Weirdly, that drop of 22 degrees in the high from Monday to Tuesday isn't so much from strong north winds on Tuesday as much as it will be from strong winds from the south on Monday. So we're doing our running around on Monday

It's in the upper sixties right now, which is good as I'm wading around in about two feet of water in the bottom of my pool, trying to figure out how to fix that leak at the very bottom; I'll most likely have to get some professional($$$) to come look at it.

[Baroquen]

Snow looking really likely for here on Monday. I know schools just came back from Winter Break, but I'm ready for a snow day; don't mind teaching an extra day in June!

[Kraken]

Gonna be cold within normal parameters here with no significant storms scheduled. The normal parameters are colder here than where I left, but not dramatically so. Highs in the mid 20s, lows in the low 10s. Wear a hat and gloves and don't linger outdoors, you'll be fine.

[Madmarcus]

Snow looking really likely for here on Monday. I know schools just came back from Winter Break, but I'm ready for a snow day; don't mind teaching an extra day in June!

That was my feeling while teaching! This will be the first big spell of cold weather and (potential) snow since I've gotten out of the classroom so I find myself a little disappointed that I really don't care much about the question of how much snow will we get overnight or over the month.

[Blackhawk]

6-10 inches starting tomorrow. Indiana today?

https://youtu.be/i6zaVYWLTkU?si=fTbp4AULv-95rCVC

[jztemple2]

It got up to 79 today with the wind blowing at 20mph with gusts to 30mph. It was bright sunshine up till a couple of hours ago when the clouds started rolling in. The front should move through about sunset followed by a quick drop in the temp, expecting a low of about 40 just before sunrise. Tomorrow the high will be about twenty degrees colder and it will still be windy

[Isgrimnur]

Frankie MacDonald is thinking about us.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUOQW34o-eE

[jztemple2]

The unusually cool weather continues. Our normal high this time of year is 72, which we won't see for the next ten days. And the average low is 54, which we will exceed only once. Must be freakishly cold further north!

[jztemple2]

Meanwhile, in a place that wishes it was cooler, Thousands flee as wildfires burn out of control and destroy homes across the Los Angeles area

Multiple massive wildfires tore across the Los Angeles area with devastating force early Wednesday as residents made a desperate escape from burning homes through flames, ferocious winds and towering clouds of smoke.

Tens of thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate as the fires marched toward highly populated and affluent neighborhoods home to California’s rich and famous

At least three separate blazes were burning in the metropolitan area, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, home of the famed Rose Parade. With thousands of firefighters already attacking the flames, the Los Angeles Fire Department put out a plea for off-duty firefighters to help, and weather conditions were too windy for firefighting aircraft to fly, further hampering the fight.

Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said two people were killed and many others hurt in the fires, which have destroyed more than 1,000 structures.

Images of the devastation that emerged overnight showed luxurious homes that had collapsed in a whirlwind of flaming embers. The tops of palm trees whipped against a glowing red sky.

Tens of thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate as the fires marched toward highly populated and affluent neighborhoods home to California’s rich and famous. Hollywood stars, including Mark Hamill, Mandy Moore and James Woods, were among those forced to flee.

Flames that broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the foothills northeast of LA spread so rapidly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot. Residents — one as old as 102 — waited in their bedclothes as embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and construction vans arrived to take them to safety.

Another blaze that started hours earlier ripped through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hillside area along the coast dotted with celebrity homes and memorialized by the Beach Boys in their 1960s hit “Surfin’ USA.” In the race to get to safety, roadways became impassable when scores of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some toting suitcases.

[Kraken]

Must be freakishly cold further north!

We have 15 degrees here. Cold, especially with the strong winds, but not freakishly so. There are no temps above freezing in the next week's forecast, and the cold could reach freakish next Wednesday, if you believe forecasts that far out.

[Isgrimnur]

2-5 inches predicted. Got my snow shovel in.

[Blackhawk]

The forecast tonight calls for ice fog.

[jztemple2]

The forecast tonight calls for ice fog.

I had to look that up, sounds nasty.

[stessier]

We are supposed to get snow for the first time in three years on Friday. The supermarkets are correspondingly under siege.

[jztemple2]

And today we are going to lunch in Oviedo, which is in Northeast Orlando. We do this a couple times a week and for the first time ever, I'm going to be wearing long pants. Not because I would be too cold, although the expected high will only be in the fifties. No, it's because my wife said that she would be too embarrassed to be seen in public with me if I would be wearing my usual shorts outfit

[Skinypupy]

We are supposed to get snow for the first time in three years on Friday. The supermarkets are correspondingly under siege.

This is the first year I can remember where we haven’t had any snow by this time in January. It’s rained quite a bit and has been snowing in the mountains, but I haven’t even glanced at a snow shovel yet this year.

Was pretty cold this morning though. Wind chill on my 5:30am run was 13 degrees.

[Lassr]

About 4 inches of snow so far this morning.

[Daehawk]

Have about 2 1/2" of snow here. Everything is closed, schools are out. Theres not a single set of tire marks on my road..its nuts how we get so paralyzed by a couple inches of snow. Those that do out out wreck . I have a can of food and no kero so hoping power stays up as the rest of my food is freezer food lol

[dbt1949]

We had about 6" of snow and then it went away followed by temps in the 20s for the foreseeable future.

[Kraken]

If the long-range forecast is to be believed, it will be a couple of degrees above freezing a week from today. No storms on the horizon, so that's nice. Ice shanties are sprouting all over Pontoosuc Lake. Climate change is a China hoax, amiright?

[Isgrimnur]

We got about 3". Driveway was clear today, so I went out and cleared the cars off so if I'm persuaded to go anywhere, I won't have to do it then.

[Daehawk]

Due to our huge 5" snowfall walmart wouldn't deliver the food I ordered friday . So I have 1 can of viienna in my cabinet Im about to eat...until tomorrow..ya me. Live and learn.

[jztemple2]

From our local Spectrum station: Florida's prescribed burn program came from lessons learned during the state's devastating 1998 wildfires

While California is still dealing with the deadly wildfires that have plagued the Los Angeles area, Florida fire management services are working to reduce the risk of brush fires during the dry season. However, that wasn’t always the case. It took a devastating event in the 90s to change the way the state manages Florida forests.

In June 1998, wildfires were raging in Flagler and Volusia counties. Hundreds of homes and business burnt down. Smoke filled the sky, reaching all the way to downtown Orlando. More than 10,000 firefighters from 47 states came in to help, along with 100 aircraft to help battle the flames from above. The wildfires burned 500,000 acres and damaged more than 300 homes.

“Everyone is concerned about California right now. What people don’t understand, in ’98, this was California,” said Florida Forest Service Mitigation Specialist David Grubich.

A special committee was appointed in the wake of the fires, and part of the recommendations was prevention and mitigation of wildfires’ impact.

“That gave birth to what we call our prescribed fire program. With that, it’s a program to certify and educate people about using science for tools to put prescribed fire on the ground,” Grubich explained.

Prescribed burns take away that fuel, so there is nowhere for fires caused by nature or people to move and spread. Grubich said it is the proactive work that helps them avoid disasters like in 1998, and what’s happening in Los Angeles.

“Make it safe, reduce that fuel loading, and make it more manageable so when we get in there, we can get it out quicker and hopefully save structures, save lives,” he said.

In 2024, FFS intentionally burned more than 270,000 acres on state-owned lands.

I remember that June of 1998. Really shocking how much devastation there was.

[Max Peck]

I was under the impression that California does do controlled burns in forested areas. I don't know how that would be possible in the urban environment where the current wildfires are happening, though.

[jztemple2]

I was under the impression that California does do controlled burns in forested areas. I don't know how that would be possible in the urban environment where the current wildfires are happening, though.

I'm guessing that those very high winds would have defeated controlled burn preparations. And once the urban areas began to burn, the winds pushed the flames past any efforts to contain the fire. It apparently was the downflow from the mountains triggered the high winds. Not an issue in Florida

[Kraken]

I remember that June of 1998. Really shocking how much devastation there was.

I do, too. We spent a few days down there for my sister's wedding. The sky was hazy orange and the smell of smoke was inescapable.

[jztemple2]

Another changeable weather weekend. Average temp is about 71, so we'll be above average for a couple of days with thundershowers and potentially heavy rain, then a more than twenty degree drop in the daily high with strong winds. And then lots more rain. Wonder how many folks on vacation here are prepared with the right gear?