Crazy Weather!!!

[happyhoix]

Where I live in the SE US, it stopped raining two months ago. Worst drought for this area in recorded history. I live in a mountainous area, and we’ve had fires on three different mountains in the past 3 weeks. Fortunately they were able to contain them, and I don’t think any people or structures were damaged. Driving home today, a smaller fire from yesterday has bloomed into a bigger one, but that’s about 15 miles away and seems to be on a remote mountainside. However, arriving at home, there is a smaller one started on the mountainside southwest of my house. 

Plus the wind is pulling the smoke from the bigger fire down the valley where out town sits. Cough.

Not that I’m complaining. England and northern France are trying to prepare for a giant storm front with 100 mph winds. Big concern for flooding.

www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/10/31/storm-ciaran-france-britain-forecast/

This makes me nervous for the Dutch and their amazing sea walls. 

Anyone else with ridiculous weather?

[Tennesseer]

'Summer' ended last night in southwest Tennessee.  Finally had a  crop killing freeze last night.  I think our average overnight low this time of year is the upper 40s?  We had a couple of nights last week when the overnight low temp was seventy-two?  Nice sitting outside at night in those mild temps.

Rainfall is little.  We need more. 

And November and December are our second severe weather season.  Tornadoes are always a possibility.  Cold fronts from the northwest colliding with Gulf of Mexico warm fronts from the south.  My first Thanksgiving weekend living in Memphis after moving here from NH and we had a tornado that Sunday touchdown.  Killed a co-workers brother, husband, and one of her twin sons.  All three were on the second floor of the house playing pool.  Ignored the tornado warning sirens to go downstairs.

[mollyc]

I wouldn’t call it ridiculous but it’s been so dry up here (or warm when there is precipitation) that we haven’t had our first snowfall yet. Maybe tomorrow.

[happyhoix]

Tennesseer I lived in Jackson TN for about 4 years in the early 80s. I had never lived in the south before, and never in such a flat area, and never someplace with lots of tornados. First few that spring were terrifying!

It became kind of a standing joke, though, because there was a big trailer park on one end of town and the tornados always seemed to ding it a little. And they always had one of the trailer park guys on TV talking about how ‘it sounded just like a freight train.’

Then we moved to east TN, in the mountainous area, and lied to ourselves saying that tornadoes wouldn’t come down into the valley, until one blasted down the mountainside and hit our house in 2011. Sounded just like a freight train

[Tennesseer]

Nov 1, 2023 21:04:40 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Tennesseer I lived in Jackson TN for about 4 years in the early 80s. I had never lived in the south before, and never in such a flat area, and never someplace with lots of tornados. First few that spring were terrifying!

It became kind of a standing joke, though, because there was a big trailer park on one end of town and the tornados always seemed to ding it a little. And they always had one of the trailer park guys on TV talking about how ‘it sounded just like a freight train.’

Then we moved to east TN, in the mountainous area, and lied to ourselves saying that tornadoes wouldn’t come down into the valley, until one blasted down the mountainside and hit our house in 2011. Sounded just like a freight train

Everyone has heard of Tornado Alley. But not everyone knows the term Dixie Alley. Basically, Louisiana, Arkansas, western to central Tennessee and Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama make up Dixie Alley. The weather over the past few years has changed and made Dixie Alley in some years have more tornadoes than Tornado Alley.

It used to be Tornado Alley had more tornadoes than Dixie Alley. But Dixie Alley had more deaths. Why? Because housing in Dixie Alley don't have basements due to the soil (often clay) and the Dixie Alley tornadoes often hit rural counties in the states where quite a few people lived in mobile homes. Mobile homes easily blow over and get crushed. People die with no good places to seek shelter.

[Tiny]

Not ridiculous but definitely different - for the last 4 or 5 years the first frost seems to be coming 2 weeks later than expected. We also don't seem to have that 60's during the day and then mid/upper 30's at night for two or three weeks (Indian Summer <-- yeah, I know it's probably not the best name for it) that would occur with the first frost.

Now a days if you haven't cleaned up your yard and prepped for winter by the time that later first frost hits - you are just screwed- you get to do your clean up/etc - in 40 degree day time temps (maybe with wind or rain).

We just had our first frost and it snowed over night - all the roofs and lawns where covered in snow. You had to clean off your car this morning (scrap ice and snow) if you left your car out.

The trees still have leaves (they didn't get the memo that we were going from fall to Winter over two weeks instead of 4 to 6 weeks. ).  

This is the new "norm". 

[happyhoix]

Nov 1, 2023 21:56:02 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Nov 1, 2023 21:04:40 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Tennesseer I lived in Jackson TN for about 4 years in the early 80s. I had never lived in the south before, and never in such a flat area, and never someplace with lots of tornados. First few that spring were terrifying!

It became kind of a standing joke, though, because there was a big trailer park on one end of town and the tornados always seemed to ding it a little. And they always had one of the trailer park guys on TV talking about how ‘it sounded just like a freight train.’

Then we moved to east TN, in the mountainous area, and lied to ourselves saying that tornadoes wouldn’t come down into the valley, until one blasted down the mountainside and hit our house in 2011. Sounded just like a freight train

Everyone has heard of Tornado Alley. But not everyone knows the term Dixie Alley. Basically, Louisiana, Arkansas, western to central Tennessee and Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama make up Dixie Alley. The weather over the past few years has changed and made Dixie Alley in some years have more tornadoes than Tornado Alley.

It used to be Tornado Alley had more tornadoes than Dixie Alley. But Dixie Alley had more deaths. Why? Because housing in Dixie Alley don't have basements due to the soil (often clay) and the Dixie Alley tornadoes often hit rural counties in the states where quite a few people lived in mobile homes. Mobile homes easily blow over and get crushed. People die with no good places to seek shelter.

I think Dixie Alley is still moving. For maybe five years we always had major tornadoes blowing through here every spring, but the last few years they seem to have shifted down a bit south, over central Georgia and central Alabama.

Not that we don’t still get them, but they seem to mostly be no bigger than 3s. The powerful 4s and 5S are hitting more South.

And we also went from summer to winter in two days. 80s last weekend and 28 degrees this morning. The cat is a little pissy about it, she loves baking her furry self on the screened porch.

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Nov 2, 2023 7:16:25 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Nov 1, 2023 21:56:02 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Everyone has heard of Tornado Alley. But not everyone knows the term Dixie Alley. Basically, Louisiana, Arkansas, western to central Tennessee and Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama make up Dixie Alley. The weather over the past few years has changed and made Dixie Alley in some years have more tornadoes than Tornado Alley.

It used to be Tornado Alley had more tornadoes than Dixie Alley. But Dixie Alley had more deaths. Why? Because housing in Dixie Alley don't have basements due to the soil (often clay) and the Dixie Alley tornadoes often hit rural counties in the states where quite a few people lived in mobile homes. Mobile homes easily blow over and get crushed. People die with no good places to seek shelter.

I think Dixie Alley is still moving. For maybe five years we always had major tornadoes blowing through here every spring, but the last few years they seem to have shifted down a bit south, over central Georgia and central Alabama.

Not that we don’t still get them, but they seem to mostly be no bigger than 3s. The powerful 4s and 5S are hitting more South.

And we also went from summer to winter in two days. 80s last weekend and 28 degrees this morning. The cat is a little pissy about it, she loves baking her furry self on the screened porch.

We hit a low of 22 yesterday morning and 21 this morning (NETN). My brother in NH told me this morning that they hit a low of 26. 

[Tennesseer]

Nov 2, 2023 16:57:39 GMT -5 Cheesy FL-Vol said:

Nov 2, 2023 7:16:25 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

I think Dixie Alley is still moving. For maybe five years we always had major tornadoes blowing through here every spring, but the last few years they seem to have shifted down a bit south, over central Georgia and central Alabama.

Not that we don’t still get them, but they seem to mostly be no bigger than 3s. The powerful 4s and 5S are hitting more South.

And we also went from summer to winter in two days. 80s last weekend and 28 degrees this morning. The cat is a little pissy about it, she loves baking her furry self on the screened porch.

We hit a low of 22 yesterday morning and 21 this morning (NETN). My brother in NH told me this morning that they hit a low of 26. 

When I was asked by my employer to relocate from our office in Bedford, NH to Memphis Tennessee I thought about it. This was in January, 1994. I commuted for a few weeks and noticed in January that planters with pansies were growing everywhere in the Memphis area. So winters in Memphis in January compared to New Hampshire winter temps were mild. One Friday evening flying back home to New Hampshire from Memphis I exited the airport to the airport parking area and the temperature read -32 degrees. My mind was made up: relocating to Memphis.

Little did I know I was leaving a deep freeze area and moving to an area which often felt like I was living in a 500 degree oven during the summer months. I have live here for 30 years now and I still am not used to the summer temps here. Climately, I'm till a Massachusetts boy where I was born and raised.

One time living here in Memphis, it was July and I picked up at the Memphis airport one of my department's managers. He was based in the San Francisco area which is mostly cool all year. The manager who was a former Roman Catholic priest, exited out of the airport, jumped in my vehicle and exclaimed, "It's hotter than the doorknobs of Hell here.". He was right.

[happyhoix]

Nov 2, 2023 17:42:00 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Nov 2, 2023 16:57:39 GMT -5 Cheesy FL-Vol said:

We hit a low of 22 yesterday morning and 21 this morning (NETN). My brother in NH told me this morning that they hit a low of 26. 

When I was asked by my employer to relocate from our office in Bedford, NH to Memphis Tennessee I thought about it. This was in January, 1994. I commuted for a few weeks and noticed in January that planters with pansies were growing everywhere in the Memphis area. So winters in Memphis in January compared to New Hampshire winter temps were mild. One Friday evening flying back home to New Hampshire from Memphis I exited the airport to the airport parking area and the temperature read -32 degrees. My mind was made up: relocating to Memphis.

Little did I know I was leaving a deep freeze area and moving to an area which often felt like I was living in a 500 degree oven during the summer months. I have live here for 30 years now and I still am not used to the summer temps here. Climately, I'm till a Massachusetts boy where I was born and raised.

One time living here in Memphis, it was July and I picked up at the Memphis airport one of my department's managers. He was based in the San Francisco area which is mostly cool all year. The manager who was a former Roman Catholic priest, exited out of the airport, jumped in my vehicle and exclaimed, "It's hotter than the doorknobs of Hell here.". He was right.

Twinsies! I started out life in Ohio/PA, then ended up going to college in TN, then lived in the South from then on. Never have gotten used to getting in a car so hot it takes your breath away. At the same time, I remember getting off a plane in Akron Ohio to visit my parents at Christmas, years ago, coming from a mild 40’s TN to subzero lake effect snow blasting in sideways across the flat hell scape that is Ohio in late December during a blizzard, and experiencing that feeling of your nose hairs freezing. Maybe the best life would be as snow birds migrating between the two areas  .

A friend of mine lived in a condo area in east TN where there was a large German firm nearby. One day in May, getting on the elevator in the lobby, a fairly portly German gentleman got on, very damp and sweat stained, and commented to my friend about ‘how much water there is in the air.’ It was MAY. My friend just looked at him and said ‘oh honey, bless your heart.’ 

Wonder if he survived August. 

[busymom]

It was a very strange year here.  A drought, bad enough to affect my vegetable garden, and not one tornado (not that I'll complain about that).  Snow arrived early, after a hotter than average Summer, now temps are colder than average, and the first snow of the season didn't melt in a day like it usually does.  Makes me wonder what kind of Winter we're going to face.  

[happyhoix]

Nov 2, 2023 21:28:40 GMT -5 busymom said:

It was a very strange year here.  A drought, bad enough to affect my vegetable garden, and not one tornado (not that I'll complain about that).  Snow arrived early, after a hotter than average Summer, now temps are colder than average, and the first snow of the season didn't melt in a day like it usually does.  Makes me wonder what kind of Winter we're going to face.  

I’ve seen two ‘official’ winter predictions- one said the South would be wetter than normal, and lots of snow in the NE and Mid west. Second one I saw just said lots of snow staying on the ground for months.

So - good or bad, depending on how you feel about snow.

If it is going to rain a lot here, I wish it would start already. Driving to work this am in the dark, looked over and saw the eerie scene of the side of a mountain glowing red with fire. Not good.

[NastyWoman]

Nov 2, 2023 17:42:00 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Nov 2, 2023 16:57:39 GMT -5 Cheesy FL-Vol said:

We hit a low of 22 yesterday morning and 21 this morning (NETN). My brother in NH told me this morning that they hit a low of 26. 

When I was asked by my employer to relocate from our office in Bedford, NH to Memphis Tennessee I thought about it. This was in January, 1994. I commuted for a few weeks and noticed in January that planters with pansies were growing everywhere in the Memphis area. So winters in Memphis in January compared to New Hampshire winter temps were mild. One Friday evening flying back home to New Hampshire from Memphis I exited the airport to the airport parking area and the temperature read -32 degrees. My mind was made up: relocating to Memphis.

Little did I know I was leaving a deep freeze area and moving to an area which often felt like I was living in a 500 degree oven during the summer months. I have live here for 30 years now and I still am not used to the summer temps here. Climately, I'm till a Massachusetts boy where I was born and raised.

One time living here in Memphis, it was July and I picked up at the Memphis airport one of my department's managers. He was based in the San Francisco area which is mostly cool all year. The manager who was a former Roman Catholic priest, exited out of the airport, jumped in my vehicle and exclaimed, "It's hotter than the doorknobs of Hell here.". He was right.

The SF Bay Area still is one of the best places to live in the world weather wise. It is also gorgeous here. Now if only it weren't so expensive and we had terra firma instead of non-firma it would be perfect!

And for those of you wondering: the dikes did what they were supposed to do: kept the water in the sea. The storm was pretty bad in places and there was at least one storm related fatality in the town DSis3 lives. But all in all it was not too bad. I do wonder occasionally at what point the rising sea levels will become too much for the systems to cope with.

[countrygirl2]

It is beyond dry here, I cannot remember the last good rain we have had. It was good for the farmers getting crops out but they are pretty much done. Please rain.

I went by the power house lake again and have never seen mud flats in the north end of it before. The birds and egrets? are enjoying it but now its really drying up. We have now lived here 11 years and nothing like this before.

Ir must have drizzled a bit last night as the side walks are damp or maybe just humidity? But we need rain please.

We live in southwestern Indiana.

[happyhoix]

Nov 5, 2023 8:36:45 GMT -5 countrygirl2 said:

It is beyond dry here, I cannot remember the last good rain we have had. It was good for the farmers getting crops out but they are pretty much done. Please rain.

I went by the power house lake again and have never seen mud flats in the north end of it before. The birds and egrets? are enjoying it but now its really drying up. We have now lived here 11 years and nothing like this before.

Ir must have drizzled a bit last night as the side walks are damp or maybe just humidity? But we need rain please.

We live in southwestern Indiana.

There’s a pond across the street from us in our neighborhood - I’ve seen it lower sometimes, and sometimes so high it spills over and runs over the adjacent road, but right now, it’s the lowest I’ve ever seen. Pretty much turning into a mud pit, with a few slightly lower spaces with standing water. The cat tails that normal grow along one end of it are dying out, as their feet are dry. Very ugly and sad. 

The only plus side is I can finally find out if someone did actually dispose of an arm chair by launching it into the pond, as the neighborhood lore claims. No sign of it so far.