O, the weather outside is...

[Alefroth]

Only a few days to go in the 2023 hurricane season and except for a minor disturbance off the Azores, things look quiet. Time now to start hearing about those winters storms from folks further north!

Like this one?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... e-ontario/

[em2nought]

Overall that was thankfully a fairly un-eventful hurricane season here.

[jztemple2]

From Yale Climate Connections, The unusual 2023 Atlantic hurricane season ends

As the 2023 Atlantic hurricane season began, hurricane experts were unsure what to expect: How many named storms would form? How many major hurricanes?

On one hand, scientists were forecasting an El Niño. The natural phenomenon is part of a recurring ocean-and-atmosphere pattern that warms and cools the eastern tropical Pacific through El Niño and La Niña events that last from one to three years. El Niño conditions usually lead to below-average hurricane seasons because of an increase in wind shear, which can disrupt the structure of tropical cyclones.

On the other hand, the oceans were already record-warm. And warm sea surface temperatures tend to lead to above-average hurricane activity.

The seasonal forecast team at Colorado State University wasn’t sure which phenomenon would prove more important.

Meanwhile we were in the eighties over the weekend while we put up decorations, and then down in the fifties as yes, we continued putting up decorations. All I can say is bah, humbug!

[Kraken]

[The Meal]

That humor speaks to me.

[Smoove_B]

That humor speaks to me.

You might enjoy secret things....

Spoiler:

That humor speaks to me.

[The Meal]

<3 (now hide that link from MHS).

[Kraken]

<3 (now hide that link from MHS).

What link?

[Alefroth]

Exactly.

[The Meal]

[jztemple2]

From Yale Climate Connections, Last month was by far the world’s hottest November on record

November 2023 was by far the hottest November on record globally in analyses dating back to 1850, said NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information on December 14. NOAA, NASA, the Japan Meteorological Agency, and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service all rated November 2023 as the warmest November on record, beating the previous November record by a large margin.

Meanwhile, here in Central Florida we're in for several days of nasty weather, unless you want to fly a very heavy kite:

[Unagi]

I like how the icon for Coastal Flooding is a picture of a car driving into the ocean.

I mean, it's actually spot on. Very clever and impactful for an icon.

[jztemple2]

We get it, we get it, it's going to be nasty...

[jztemple2]

Oh, and so we're throwing in tornadoes as well, are we?

[LordMortis]

We're unseasonably warm in the low 40s but not crazy unseasonably in the low 70s warm as has happened enough times in the past so as not to be totally shocking. I like my walks in this weather. I layer up and then unlayer as I go. It's much better than going out in shorts and not being able to further unlayer.

[Kraken]

We're unseasonably warm in the low 40s but not crazy unseasonably in the low 70s warm as has happened enough times in the past so as not to be totally shocking. I like my walks in this weather. I layer up and then unlayer as I go. It's much better than going out in shorts and not being able to further unlayer.

56 degrees, sunny, and calm here today. Pretty ideal. I guess it's going to turn nasty Sunday night, but not cold. Snowfall total so far this winter: 0.2".

[jztemple2]

Ah, the joys of being a homeowner. It has been raining since early afternoon and now there's standing water in the yard. And because of that, my septic drain field won't drain . However, having gone through this before, I now had my standby potable transfer pump ready. One end with the strainer in the check port, the other out in the yard, prime the pump and let it run till the line uphill of the septic tank is dry-ish. Should be good for the rest of the night and into the day if we don't run showers or use a lot of other water. By then the standing water should be gone and Bob's your uncle.

Additional bonus, I have a beach umbrella in the back I use around the pool, now I use it to keep me and the pump dry while I'm working out there.

[em2nought]

Ah, the joys of being a homeowner. It has been raining since early afternoon and now there's standing water in the yard. And because of that, my septic drain field won't drain .

My parents had a house that the subdivision really messed up by not bringing enough fill in before they built. Their yard would have standing water whenever it rained. That is until I dug a little trench through the little woods to let the water drain into the little ditch beside the neighborhood border fence.

Maybe you could scout if you have an option like that. You might even dig a swale if you need to.

[jztemple2]

Nice thought and it was swale of you to mention it . There actually is a swale along the road in front of my house, but it's about seventy feet away from the problem with numerous irrigation lines and a driveway in the way. But it is worth considering. I have a drain like that in the front of the house that the concrete folks put in because they didn't slope a portion of our half-circle driveway correctly and we'd get a pond out there. The underground pipe runs to an outlet in the swale.

The problem is occurring, at least according to the guy I had out here from a septic company, because the ground under the septic drain field isn't absorbing very well anymore. However, they want $7,500-10,000 to put in a new drain field, the higher number is if the county does an inspection and decides I need a pumping system. For that amount of money I can get my septic tank pumped a lot of times and do my transfer pump workaround in the meantime.

Of course my personal preference is to put in some PVC piping that connects to the drain line upstream of the septic tank and just runs off somewhere in the yard where I can dig a french drain or the like. Then when it backs up just let the overflow drain off there. But right now the transfer pump is working out pretty well.

[jztemple2]

So it's Sunday and the storm has finally gone through. It wasn't as windy last night as they had forecast, but it is making up for it today, sustained winds of 20-25mph with gusts over 40mph. However, that's no worse than a summer afternoon thundershower brings so the neighborhood is doing well. Except for the Christmas decorations in some yards which took a pounding. We got 4-5 inches of rain overnight, but the high wind is helping to dry things out. My septic drain field is now working again, thankfully.

So, what's with all you folks up north? No good stories or pictures about excessive snowfall or plunging temperatures?

[Kraken]

We're having a mild winter so far (51 degrees in Boston right now) with no snow yet. Your storm is supposed to blow in here about 3 hours from now and tomorrow's going to be wet and windy. I hope not too nasty; I've got to make a 200-mile drive tomorrow morning.

[jztemple2]

Yeah, that's scary. Results of this weekend's storm.

[Kraken]

It stormed its ass off here overnight, wind gusting to 60 mph. The traffic signals at a five-way intersection came down — they didn’t just lose power, they crashed to the street. The Mass Pike was a white-knuckle drive with very poor visibility this morning, but traffic was so light that it canceled out the lousy weather, time-wise, and we made it to our destination on time. Lots and lots of people lost power and there was lots of localized flooding. I don't *think* any of that affected us, but as the storm raged on for several hours after we left, I won't know until we go home tomorrow. If our cellar is ever going to flood again, it should have done so this morning.

[disarm]

We received about 2" of rain and had heavy winds all morning in CT. Our power went out at 8am and still isn't back twelve hours later, and they're saying it could take a couple days to get everyone back to normal. In the meantime, I have a generator purring away outside to keep the food cold, lights on, and water running. The joys of having well water...

[Jeff V]

Mother in Law arrived on Sunday. Monday and Today were two of the coldest days this season. Last year she ushered in a blizzard, that was our only real winter weather of the year. Forecast for Xmas is over 50, so maybe she did bring a box of hot this time.

[Kraken]

The traffic signals at a five-way intersection came down — they didn’t just lose power, they crashed to the street.

That's not going to buff out.

[jztemple2]

Christmas in Orlando: Never snowy, but sometimes bitterly cold

Looking to celebrate the holiday season like one of those festive movie scenes you’ve always seen? Hot chocolate, a fresh dusting of snow on the ground and a crackling fire inviting you to stay inside. Well, if you live in Florida, keep dreaming. While Central Florida has had its weather extremes on Christmas, none have included a true White Christmas. The climatological probability for Orlando and Central Florida to see snow is 0.0%! But that doesn’t mean winter weather is completely out of the cards. Last year, some across Central Florida woke up to a “beat” of a sound outside, as sleet fell from the sky.

There have been several cold outbreaks around Christmas in Central Florida and around the state. One most recently occurred in 2022 when temperatures dropped into the 20s and 30s Christmas morning. High temperatures only reached 46 degrees in Orlando that year, making it the coldest Christmas Day since 1983. That also is the year that holds the record for the coldest Christmas for Orlando. The low temperature that year was 21 degrees. In fact, the cold was felt statewide on this day in 1983. Northern Florida had temperatures dip into the teens. Places like Tallahassee dipped to 14 degrees, with a high temperature of only 29 degrees. This was also Tallahassee’s coldest Christmas on record. Jacksonville dropped to 11 degrees, with a high of only 30 degrees. Miami was cold by Miami standards, but not as frigid as most of Florida. Miami had a high of 51 degrees on Christmas Day of 1983. If you’re wondering, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Miami is 27 degrees.

The warmest Christmas for Central Florida was pretty recent, and that was in 2015. This is when Orlando hit 86 degrees, with a low of 69 degrees. These temperatures are more typical of May rather than Christmas in Central Florida.

So what is the standard for Christmas Day in Orlando? The average high is 72 degrees, with an average low of 51 degrees.

[Kraken]

Hah, my FL relatives were bundling up because it was 62 today. That's shorts weather up here.

In Boston, only 20% of Christmases are white, and that percentage is falling. This year it's going to be dry and in the 50s.

[LordMortis]

iiiiiI'mm dreaming of a wet Christmas... I'm not sure how many are white, but it's a lot less than when I was young. Though we occasionally had 70 degree Christmas as well. We also had several white Halloweens when I was young.

[jztemple2]

iiiiiI'mm dreaming of a wet Christmas... I'm not sure how many are white, but it's a lot less than when I was young. Though we occasionally had 70 degree Christmas as well. We also had several white Halloweens when I was young.

I remember back when I was very, very young (Johnson was president and no, not Andrew ) we lived in Falmouth, Massachusetts. We were singing midnight mass for Christmas. And as we were finishing up we heard... rain . Nothing more depressing for a kid than knowing that the little bit of snow we had on the ground was going to be washed away.

The last white Christmas we had was when we were visiting relatives in New Jersey a couple of decades ago.

And, a little off topic, my favorite Christmas was many years ago. For my wife's family Christmas is a big deal since both her mother and brother were born on Christmas day. So attendance at the family gathering was mandatory . But one year both of my wife's parents had died and she just didn't want to be reminded of Christmas and family. So we opted out of all decorating and spent the holidays in Hawaii . The great thing about being there is (well, was) that nothing was closed for Christmas day and the weather (getting back on topic) was wonderful every day. Nothing like sitting at a beachside bar enjoying a Mai Tia while watching guys in Santa suits surfing.

[Kraken]

We spent one xmas in St. Martin and had a similar experience. Boxing Day was a bigger deal than xmas there, which caught us by surprise.

[jztemple2]

We spent one xmas in St. Martin and had a similar experience. Boxing Day was a bigger deal than xmas there, which caught us by surprise.

What happens on Boxing day there?

[Kraken]

We spent one xmas in St. Martin and had a similar experience. Boxing Day was a bigger deal than xmas there, which caught us by surprise.

What happens on Boxing day there?

Everything closed. IDK what the natives did behind closed doors. Box, I guess. We were able to get meals at our hotel but both Philipsburg and Marigot were ghost towns.

[Jeff V]

We spent one xmas in St. Martin and had a similar experience. Boxing Day was a bigger deal than xmas there, which caught us by surprise.

What happens on Boxing day there?

Everything closed. IDK what the natives did behind closed doors. Box, I guess. We were able to get meals at our hotel but both Philipsburg and Marigot were ghost towns.

Reminds me of Easter in the Philippines. At 5 pm on the Wednesday before, the whole country shuts down. If you are not prepared for that, you are SOL, nothing at all is available. It stays that way until Saturday evening, when everything reopens. Easter Sunday itself is business as usual.

[Rumpy]

Not a hint of snow on Christmas Day over here. We're having a very mild winter this year. Funny because last year the predictions were for a mild year, but it ended up being quite brutal.

[em2nought]

We spent one xmas in St. Martin and had a similar experience. Boxing Day was a bigger deal than xmas there, which caught us by surprise.

What happens on Boxing day there?

Everything closed. IDK what the natives did behind closed doors. Box, I guess. We were able to get meals at our hotel but both Philipsburg and Marigot were ghost towns.

Reminds me of Easter in the Philippines. At 5 pm on the Wednesday before, the whole country shuts down. If you are not prepared for that, you are SOL, nothing at all is available. It stays that way until Saturday evening, when everything reopens. Easter Sunday itself is business as usual.

Scotland was REALLY like that too when I lived there way back when.

Today I was happy to survive the trip around town. Most people seem to barely be able to drive in Florida when it's sunny, when it's grey and rainy it gets interesting.

[Daehawk]

O, the weather outside is...

...cold! Cold I say. It may be only 39 but Im freezing and my back is cold even though I have a gheater blowing from the front and have to keep turning it off. It feels really cold.

[Jeff V]

Same temps here, but that means it's 10 degrees above average, so delightful.

[Rumpy]

It's been very mild here, above average for this time of the year. Normally our lakes would be frozen over, and people would be doing various activities on them, ie, fishing, skating, snowmobiling, but it hasn't been cold enough to keep them frozen over. I'd also be snowshoeing by now, but the trails are bare and muddy.

[Kasey Chang]

WTF... San Francisco may be "mild" for most of you, but when my room fell into the 60's (right now my thermometer reads 67) it's ridiculous. I need the room in the 70s, and I can only use my personal heater on low else I trip the circuit breaker.