First snow of the season

[jlhredshift]

OK all you southern types, I got up from the computer to let the dogs out and the front pasture is officially white. Yee Haw

[Van Rijn]

We just had the second rain of the season. The first was in September, and surprisingly strong for a September rain. We rarely get snow, and if we do, it rarely survives long on the ground.

[captain swoop]

There was snow over the North Yorks moors last night, jus a bit mixed with the rain showers. Hard frost tonight tho.

[jaydeehess]

We kind of missed October weather altogether. It just went from Sept to November. There is 10 cm of snow on the ground that may not melt until spring the way the weather has been going. Halloween was cold, we only got about 45 kids and had prepared for 80 (the usual).

I really don't need the calories from all that candy and lil bags of potato chips but d@$m it I paid for it so I'll eat it :lol:

[Chunky]

i love the snow.
i love how the sky looks in the winter...it looks different. it may just be me.

[jlhredshift]

There was snow over the North Yorks moors last night, jus a bit mixed with the rain showers. Hard frost tonight tho.

This is what is amazing about the time in which we live. I remember an excerise in freshman english class, wherein we all pulled a slip of paper from a hat. The class then proceeded to the library. My slip said; determine the weather, including temperature, of London yesterday. I found the information in the New York Times. Today Captain Swoop informs me of this virtually real time. Wow!!

[jlhredshift]

News flash.... Now it is both snowing fairly hard and lightning and thunder. That is very uncommon around here.

[George]

What, no pictures!!?

I fly in to Colomus tomorrow nite, and then head to the SE corner to Marietta after landing. What are my chances of snow? [One year I got stranded in New Concord when at -13F. :(]

[jlhredshift]

What, no pictures!!?

I fly in to Colomus tomorrow nite, and then head to the SE corner to Marietta after landing. What are my chances of snow? [One year I got stranded in New Concord when at -13F. :(]

You'll be OK. The snow is that weird thing called Lake Effect.

[Larry Jacks]

We had two snowstorms in October here in Colorado Springs. One was a 2 weeks ago and dropped about 5" at my house. The last one was a week ago today. It dumped over a foot of snow.

Funny thing about snow here is that how bad the storm, the sun will come out in a day or two. The Saturday after that Thursday storm, I saw a man with Ohio plates on his car who just couldn't believe the change in the weather (it was almost 70 degrees). He'd just moved here a week earlier.

Colorado Springs must've been the inspiration for that Little Orphan Annie song, "The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow".

[George]

You'll be OK. The snow is that weird thing called Lake Effect.
Thanks, the Lake Effect and the George's Driving Effect do not make a pretty mix. :)

[Frantic Freddie]

We had two snowstorms in October here in Colorado Springs. One was a 2 weeks ago and dropped about 5" at my house. The last one was a week ago today. It dumped over a foot of snow.

Funny thing about snow here is that how bad the storm, the sun will come out in a day or two. The Saturday after that Thursday storm, I saw a man with Ohio plates on his car who just couldn't believe the change in the weather (it was almost 70 degrees). He'd just moved here a week earlier.

Colorado Springs must've been the inspiration for that Little Orphan Annie song, "The Sun'll Come Out Tomorrow".

I live south of you in New Mexico & we can get some heavy snows too,then the sun comes out & even though I'm wearin' snow boots,it'll be warm enough to wear just a t-shirt.It's possible to get a bad sunburn on days like that,with the sun reflecting off the snow.

What's really fun is to go the ski areas & see girls skiing in bikinis,woo hoo!!! :clap:

[cjl]

Yep - here near Boulder, we had the same thing. MASSIVE dump about a week ago (Actually, exactly a week ago) that was about a foot and a half at our house. By this last Sunday, it was completely melted and ~65 degrees out.

[Fazor]

You got snow up there in maddy? I'm south of columbus, no snow. Very $#(!'n cold tho. We had flurries last week but nothing's stuck to anything so far. I guess winter is inevadable (at least until my global warming device finishes it's job. mwahahaha...oh). Oh well. At least it'll be good and cold for the OSU game saturday. Cold and football is the best! :)

[Frantic Freddie]

I like to see Colorado get snow,means better fishin' for me in the summer :D

[Swift]

You got snow up there in maddy? I'm south of columbus, no snow. Very $#(!'n cold tho. We had flurries last week but nothing's stuck to anything so far. I guess winter is inevadable (at least until my global warming device finishes it's job. mwahahaha...oh). Oh well. At least it'll be good and cold for the OSU game saturday. Cold and football is the best! :)
I work in Stow and live in Mentor. When I left work at 7:00 the skies were clear in Stow with the moon out. By the time I got to Solon it started to snow, and by Mayfield Heights it was coming down hard (for you outsiders we are talking about 20 miles or so).

Yep, Lake Effect.

Luckily the highway guys in Lake County really know how to move the white stuff; my hat's off to the Lake County ODOT (Cuyahoga should take leasons).

[jrkeller]

OK all you southern types, I got up from the computer to let the dogs out and the front pasture is officially white. Yee Haw

It was sunny and blue today and the high was 67F. Forecast for tomorrow is the same.

I did my pentance for 23 years in Michigan, 6 of them on the Southern shores of Lake Superior. Snow is fine as long as it lasted for a week or two.

[cjl]

I like to see Colorado get snow,means better fishin' for me in the summer :D

Well, so far it's looking pretty good, with more than our average :)

I can't wait to go skiing - the snow should be pretty decent by mid december or so... (OK, it'll probably be terrible, but I'll ski anyways...)

[danscope]

OK all you southern types, I got up from the computer to let the dogs out and the front pasture is officially white. Yee Haw

Hi, Here in Rhode Island, we just lost most of the leaves; but had 67 degrees for the preceding two days. At 11:30 PM now, I have 30 degrees.......But...
NO Snow!!! We don't need no snow. We don't need no Steenkin Snow!!!
Carumbah :) It will be here soon enough though. Gotta rebuild that snow thrower. Give me a sonic screwdriver. Where's K-9 when you need him?.......
Best regards, Dan

[Gillianren]

What's really fun is to go the ski areas & see girls skiing in bikinis,woo hoo!!! :clap:

That sounds really painful to me. Especially the, you know, falling down bit.

We won't get snow here (if at all) for probably another month and more. Every year, I hope for a white Yule, but we haven't gotten one the entire time I've been living here. But my roommate's going back to the Dayton area Monday and will be there about a month, so she'll almost certainly see snow before I do.

[NEOWatcher]

I work in Stow and live in Mentor. When I left work at 7:00 the skies were clear in Stow with the moon out. By the time I got to Solon it started to snow, and by Mayfield Heights it was coming down hard (for you outsiders we are talking about 20 miles or so).
Just to throw in that everything between Solon and Macedonia is about the same.Luckily the highway guys in Lake County really know how to move the white stuff; my hat's off to the Lake County ODOT (Cuyahoga should take leasons).
I think they are still vacuuming leaves. Luckily the snows not deep, the snowblower hates leaves in the mix.

[HenrikOlsen]

We had the first snow on November 1st.

[R.A.F.]

What, no pictures!!?

That was my first thought also. Rest assured that when we get our first snow, pictures of it will be posted to this board!! :)

[jaydeehess]

Pictures??,, real time info??,, can't beat a webcam.

This one is on the webpage of my ISP
http://www.gokenora.com/webcam.shtml

If you select "thermometer" from the preselects menu it focuses on a thermometer next to the camera.

[NEOWatcher]

It's amazing what people think of the first snow. I just finished watching a broadcast.
Snow Watch: East Side Blanketed with Snow (http://www.woio.com/)
Chardon, OH - No surprise here - the city's east side getting nailed with snow this hour.
And they still managed to make it a 2 1/2 minute long story. :rolleyes:

I like the personal interviews (paraphrased):
Reporter: What do you think of this snow ?
Resident: So what ?

[Lord Jubjub]

Well, here in Houston, the temperatures dipped into the single digit Centigrade for the first time this season. It's supposed to get down again tonight.

[danscope]

Hi, Got 30 degrees again tonight. Must be a trend.....(shudder). The wife had to scrape the windshield again this morning. It's damned inconvenient!!!:wall:

[Van Rijn]

That was my first thought also. Rest assured that when we get our first snow, pictures of it will be posted to this board!! :)

I live pretty close to where I was born, though I've moved around the country quite a bit. Anyway, there is a photo when I was perhaps three and there was actually an inch or two of snow on the ground near Sacramento, CA.

I think that was the last time there was significant snow on the ground here.

And, no, I won't post that picture (even if I could find it).

[Gillianren]

Somewhere, there's a picture of my grandparents' house in Arcadia, CA, with a couple of inches of snow around it; it's from when my mom was a kid. (She's almost 63.)

[Big Brother Dunk]

There's no snow here yet, but it's November in Saskatchewan. That means it'll snow any second now.

[Maksutov]

Here in northern MS near TN we've had subfreezing temps four days in a row. I always get a kick out of Southerners staring at me when it's in the 30s. I'm running around with a polo shirt and pants, while they're all bundled up with jackets, coats, caps, earmuffs, gloves, etc. My only concession at that temp is long pants. It really feels like a warm Nov. day for someone from New England.

Usually our first snow of the season here is also typically our last snow. But, enough such that the rednecks go flying off the roads at any particular corner, which results in amazing pileups of many pickup trucks. That's to be expected since almost all of those drivers received driver training courtesy of various real-time videos supplied by a group called NASCAR.

Gas pedal or brake, there's no in-between.

[Damien Evans]

OK all you southern types, I got up from the computer to let the dogs out and the front pasture is officially white. Yee Haw

ah snow, yes that white stuff that comes in june, july and august (normally)

Down here at the moment it's cloudy and about 20 degrees, or around 70 degrees to you Americans

[Maksutov]

ah snow, yes that white stuff that comes in june, july and august (normally)

Down here at the moment it's cloudy and about 20 degrees, or around 70 degrees to you AmericansI've always shot for 20 C, photographically.

[NEOWatcher]

... it's cloudy and about 20 degrees, or around 70 degrees to you Americans
Or anyone observing TST (Temperature savings time) (http://www.bautforum.com/showpost.php?p=859545&postcount=48). (I couldn't pass that up)

[Torsten]

38 cm of it on my lawn.

Last weekend ~80 cm fell in an area where I had 8 more days of field work to complete. I guess I'll finish it in May. . .

Similarly, over a metre on another project that only required a one day visit to the site. Now it will be a 30 km snowmobile ride in. I think I'll leave that one for May as well.

[jseefcoot]

Here in this part of Kentucky we haven't had our first snow, and I hope we finally get a year when we never do.

I love the snow, don't get me wrong, I've spent many an enjoyable winter up north (Like South Dakota or Wisconsin kind of north).

In KY it seems like we get less every year, I guess due to general climate change, but no matter how much we do get it always provides the same result: The average IQ of the average Kentucky driver falls by a magnitude of at least twenty-thirty points. If you're lucky. Speed limits are slashed by around 80%. (No joke! 45mph turns into about 10 or 11 with a light dusting of snow.) At the very threat of up to an inch, all bread, milk, and butter disappears from groceries and convenience stores. There will be lines for gas and kerosene, etc. People just lose it. So when we do get a bad storm, like say a couple of inches or perhaps four (yes that's a bad storm here, even if it takes a week to accumulate), things get extremely stupid.

I wonder if Kentucky can follow in the footsteps of Israel. Except instead of mandating military service, it mandates that all residents spend one winter north of the Great Lakes.

[Gillianren]

It's absolutely pouring outside. Naturally, this is the one day this week where I have somewhere to be. (In fact, I'm going to have to go in just a few minutes.) But we're actually on the Weather Channel for once, which we practically never are, because how often can you say, "It's 60 degrees and drizzly in Seattle"?

[Damien Evans]

Or anyone observing TST (Temperature savings time) (http://www.bautforum.com/showpost.php?p=859545&postcount=48). (I couldn't pass that up)

Temperature saving time...

I LOVE IT!

[Maksutov]

[edit[But we're actually on the Weather Channel for once, which we practically never are, because how often can you say, "It's 60 degrees and drizzly in Seattle"?Let me count the ways...

Whoa, that's a big number!

We sometimes have snow here in Oxford. It's a riot watching the natives trying to deal with it.

[jlhredshift]

Here in northern MS near TN we've had subfreezing temps four days in a row. I always get a kick out of Southerners staring at me when it's in the 30s. I'm running around with a polo shirt and pants, while they're all bundled up with jackets, coats, caps, earmuffs, gloves, etc. My only concession at that temp is long pants. It really feels like a warm Nov. day for someone from New England.

I lived in Florida for 13 years and being from "up north" it amazed me when people would wear parkas when it was 50 degress.

Usually our first snow of the season here is also typically our last snow. But, enough such that the rednecks go flying off the roads at any particular corner, which results in amazing pileups of many pickup trucks. That's to be expected since almost all of those drivers received driver training courtesy of various real-time videos supplied by a group called NASCAR.

Gas pedal or brake, there's no in-between.

Isn't it amazing. Three times in my driving career, during inclement conditions, I have just simply drove off to the side of the road and then watched the people behind me slam into the people that were in front of me. I also saw a lady turning left just stop when she saw a semi coming through the intersection, whereas if she had just kept moving at the same speed there would not have been a collision. As far as I am concerned lines and signs are just suggestions. I am not going to stay inside the lines and take a hit, No way!

[George]

Back in 1985, when we had some real snow, there were over 200 accidents in the first hour the snow came down. All roads were closed. After a while, my friend had a 4wd Jeep and he pulled me around on my skis, using a water ski rope, along the roadways and across a highway. There are, fortunately, better skiing locations other than San Antonio. :)

[Gillianren]

A friend of mine who's originally from Minnesota came out here for college. According to my best friend, who was her roommate at the time, she actually literally fell of a couch laughing once at the plight of Washingtonians trying to drive in half an inch of snow!

As to the change in climate thing, yeah. I freak out my friends back home when I'm down there for Christmas and wear shorts the whole time. I liked cold better when I was living there, and I've only gotten more so since I moved.

[Big Brother Dunk]

The snow finally came today. It started just after midnight and continued to about 4pm. I'm not sure how much fell, but it was somewhere between 5 and 10 cms.

Yesterday there was no snow at all, and now this:

http://members.shaw.ca/dkm.pod/IMG_2652_1_1.JPG

[George]

That's perrrty.

[Big Brother Dunk]

That's perrrty.
It ain't pretty, it just looks that way.

It sure loses its appeal when you have to shovel it off your driveway.

[Gillianren]

It ain't pretty, it just looks that way.

It sure loses it's appeal when you have to shovel it off your driveway.

Ha! I don't have a driveway; it can look like that here all it wants!

[Damien Evans]

hehe, last time we had snow at my place was about 13 years ago, it snowed for about 5 minutes, that was an unusual day...

OTOH, when i went up to Falls Creek ski resort 2 years ago we had 3 metres of snow on the ground, thats a bumper year down here

I feel sorry for anyone who has to shovel snow of their driveway, but you did choose to live there

[NEOWatcher]

...I feel sorry for anyone who has to shovel snow of their driveway, but you did choose to live there
Not everyone... My parents chose to live here, I didn't have that choice for 18 years. By that time I got used to it.

Shovels? We got machinery for that. [Tim Allen]Ahr, Arh, Arh[/Tim Allen]

[Lurking Nerd]

Shovels? We got machinery for that. [Tim Allen]Ahr, Arh, Arh[/Tim Allen]

Amen to that. I have a quote I found in some article a while back. I'm sure others can apply it to their locale.

"Facing a Montana winter armed with a snow shovel is like taking a calculus exam armed with an abacus."

[jlhredshift]

Amen to that. I have a quote I found in some article a while back. I'm sure others can apply it to their locale.

"Facing a Montana winter armed with a snow shovel is like taking a calculus exam armed with an abacus."

John Deere 42 inch snow thrower, 20 hp tractor.

But it never fails that on the way to the street or back, the winds blows in just the right direction to find its way inside my coveralls.

[danscope]

John Deere 42 inch snow thrower, 20 hp tractor.

But it never fails that on the way to the street or back, the winds blows in just the right direction to find its way inside my coveralls.

Hi, There are......"Worse Things " . Last year one of the local newspapers decided to have a secret free promotion, and threw an unknown newspaper
into the snowbank in front of my driveway, nicely pumped up by the town plows
where it mixed with the semifrozen snow and salt, and then froze SOLID, and
laying there inside the snow was " Discovered" By my 8 HP snowthrower, which mangled the turbine pretty badly. That runs into money.
Pray you never run into such misery.
Best regards, Dan

[TriangleMan]

No snow here yet, I'll be sure to let you all know when it happens! :p

[closetgeek]

I don't see snow anymore because we moved to Florida. I have to agree that it looks really beautiful when the snow blankets everything. Then the plows come down the road mixing dirt and what ever else in the huge mounds that are now blocking your driveway. Soon the reality sets in, you spend 40 minutes bundling up so you can dig your car out before hypothermia sets in. Inevidably, the kids want to play in it, so you spend an hour and a gallon of sweat getting snowsuits, snowboots, hats, scarfs, and lastly gloves on seemingly rubber fingers. Without fail, the youngest, after her first step in this mystical substance, got snow in her boot and wants to go in. Do I take the two year old in and leave the three yr old and five yr old outside alone, or stay and leave the two year old inside to her own demise? Neither being an actual option, select option three, keep the two yr old entertained long enough for the five yr old to loose a glove and you have a legitimate reason for everyone to go inside. It is not that long of a wait, this whole process spans over a mere 15 minute period. Sorry but sunblock takes way less time.
i love the snow.
i love how the sky looks in the winter...it looks different. it may just be me.

[jlhredshift]

I don't see snow anymore because we moved to Florida. I have to agree that it looks really beautiful when the snow blankets everything. Then the plows come down the road mixing dirt and what ever else in the huge mounds that are now blocking your driveway. Soon the reality sets in, you spend 40 minutes bundling up so you can dig your car out before hypothermia sets in. Inevidably, the kids want to play in it, so you spend an hour and a gallon of sweat getting snowsuits, snowboots, hats, scarfs, and lastly gloves on seemingly rubber fingers. Without fail, the youngest, after her first step in this mystical substance, got snow in her boot and wants to go in. Do I take the two year old in and leave the three yr old and five yr old outside alone, or stay and leave the two year old inside to her own demise? Neither being an actual option, select option three, keep the two yr old entertained long enough for the five yr old to loose a glove and you have a legitimate reason for everyone to go inside. It is not that long of a wait, this whole process spans over a mere 15 minute period. Sorry but sunblock takes way less time.



Having lived in Florida for 13 years I have one piece of advice: buy a pressure washer to remove the MOLD MONSTER from the shaded parts of your house.

[farmerjumperdon]

Shoveling snow is good for the body and soul. (Stay within your limits of course).

Got another dusting last night, just enough to freak out the new puppy. We had to have a little talk about the fact that he doesn't get to go potty in the house just because it is cold and white outside.

BTW, a couple of the local slopes opened the weekend of the 4th with machine snow. We'll wait for the real thing.

[jlhredshift]

Shoveling snow is good for the body and soul. (Stay within your limits of course).

Got another dusting last night, just enough to freak out the new puppy. We had to have a little talk about the fact that he doesn't get to go potty in the house just because it is cold and white outside.

BTW, a couple of the local slopes opened the weekend of the 4th with machine snow. We'll wait for the real thing.

We have a golden retriever and a husky mix and they love the snow. Besides watching them make their versions of snow angels the funniest thing to watch is them running in the snow and sticking their nose into it as they run making grooves.

[farmerjumperdon]

We have a golden retriever and a husky mix and they love the snow. Besides watching them make their versions of snow angels the funniest thing to watch is them running in the snow and sticking their nose into it as they run making grooves.

I imagine our beagle will be doing that. Nose to the ground seems to be her default mode. She was a stray, and her approximate age makes it a close call as to whether or not she has experienced snow. Can't tell from her first reactions because she is such a wimp about tempreature (they are not very cold hardy).

[jlhredshift]

I imagine our beagle will be doing that. Nose to the ground seems to be her default mode. She was a stray, and her approximate age makes it a close call as to whether or not she has experienced snow. Can't tell from her first reactions because she is such a wimp about tempreature (they are not very cold hardy).

Our golden is a wimp when it comes to thunder, but the husky gets this look on her face that says "I don't know what her(the goldens) problem is" and just stands her ground watching the storm.

[Gillianren]

There was a rumble of thunder yesterday morning here--and I do mean here; by all accounts, it was practically across the street--and while it did wake up both me and the cat, we both went to sleep fairly quickly.

Our ski season is opening this week. The snow level fell far enough that, combined with the days and days of storm, they're ready to go.

[Damien Evans]

We had some pretty bad storms here the other day, abd enough that up at the ski resorts in the Snowy Mountains it actually snowed, yes snowed in Australia in the middle of November

[jlhredshift]

Got Snow?

[Argos]

I don't see snow anymore because we moved to Florida.

I´d expect some unusual snow episode in Florida, and I found out it has actually happened (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/climate/2004-12-21-florida-snow_x.htm), at least one time [not sure about the accuracy of the info, though]. :)

[Argos]

Well, here in Houston, the temperatures dipped into the single digit Centigrade for the first time this season.

Never lose hope. (http://nsidc.org/snow/faq.html)

So snow can fall when surface temperatures are above freezing as long as atmospheric temperatures are below freezing and the air contains a minimum moisture level (the exact level varies according to temperature).. :)

[Jim]

I don't see snow anymore because we moved to Florida. ...

Our son and his wife and daugther usually spend Thanksgiving travelling among relatives... Fort Worth to Waco to Houston and back to Lewisville. This year they decided to skip that and travel to Disney World in Orlando, FL.

Our family (sans his) gathered in FW. Often enough, the weather turns cold; FW has had snow on several T'day weekends.

This year, FW was sunny and in the 70s. But, Orlando had snow flurries!

Next year they're thinking of going to NYC for the Macy's parade.

[Gillianren]

Got Snow?

[happy sigh] Yeah. I'd post a picture or three, but I can't figure out how to reduce the file size--or what their real dimensions are; I don't read pixel count.

Actually, right now, there's snow on the ground for the third day in a row, but a lot of it froze last night, and our parking lot is like glass in places.

[jlhredshift]

[happy sigh] Yeah. I'd post a picture or three, but I can't figure out how to reduce the file size--or what their real dimensions are; I don't read pixel count.

Actually, right now, there's snow on the ground for the third day in a row, but a lot of it froze last night, and our parking lot is like glass in places.

You know, and this is off topic, I'll admit to not being enough of a techno-geek to reduce my file sizes either. 5 mega pixels makes for nice prints, but reducing the file size is beyond me.

Happy snow,
JLH

[Torsten]

Snow arrived a month ago. And stayed.

-34C this morning.

Feels like it's going to be long one. . . .

[Trebuchet]

[happy sigh] Yeah. I'd post a picture or three, but I can't figure out how to reduce the file size--or what their real dimensions are; I don't read pixel count.

Actually, right now, there's snow on the ground for the third day in a row, but a lot of it froze last night, and our parking lot is like glass in places.

I take back all that bad stuff I said about the rain!

It's interesting to me, having grown up in Montana, the impact that snow has around here. (Seattle/Puget Sound area) Apparently many people didn't make it home from the Seahawks game last night. ALL the schools are shut down. If they'd done that where I grew up, I'd never have gotten any education at all. Where I went to college, we pretty much had snow from November through April.

November 2006 has got to go down as the worst month of weather ever around here. More than three weeks of continuous rain and wind and now this.

[teddyv]

Snow arrived a month ago. And stayed.

-34C this morning.

Feels like it's going to be long one. . . .

Whereabouts are you?

The cold weather may actually help make a small dent in the pine beetle infestations since it came fairly early this year. Here's hoping anyways.

[Lurking Nerd]

It's interesting to me, having grown up in Montana, the impact that snow has around here. (Seattle/Puget Sound area) Apparently many people didn't make it home from the Seahawks game last night. ALL the schools are shut down. If they'd done that where I grew up, I'd never have gotten any education at all. Where I went to college, we pretty much had snow from November through April.


Where abouts in Montana? Here in Bozeman, we always get several accidents when it first snows. I always wonder what percentage are people that should know better and just drive stupid and what percentage are University students that haven't encountered snow/ice before.

You've reminded me of when my uncle moved to Oregon from Glendive in eastern Montana when I was a kid. We heard the weather dipped to freezing or so and when he showed up for work, he was informed that they don't work when it gets that cold. Our thought was that we would have to shut down the state for most of the year if we did that.

[Jim]

To all you folks in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas area - or with winter knowledge of them - a request for information and advice.

My son and his girlfriend are planning a trip from LA to Chicago by the route outlined above in late December. Is this idea as crazy as his mother thinks?

[Torsten]

Whereabouts are you?

The cold weather may actually help make a small dent in the pine beetle infestations since it came fairly early this year. Here's hoping anyways.

I'm in Vanderhoof. I hear driving is exciting in the Fraser Valley today. . .

teddyv is referring to The Mountain Pine Beetle (http://mpb.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/biology/index_e.html)

If we'd had these temperatures in the third week of October, that would have decimated the populations of those remaining infestations in our area. However, by the end of October the larvae can easily withstand these temperatures (if they have enough body mass - the ones that were from late flights are more susceptible to cold). At this time of year we need colder than -40 for several weeks to kill them. Also, because the snow was early, any of the bugs that are low enough in the stem to be insulated by snow have a better chance of surviving.

I say "remaining" infestations because in my district just about all of the mature pine trees are long dead, and the beetles are now into the plantations where the diameters are large enough. I've seen trees with diameters of ~12 cm killed. The local valley (Nechako) was overrun in the summer of 2005. I was able to scoop up handfulls of dead beetles from the ground at the base of small trees. There were simply too many for them all to get into the trees, and they died where they landed.

For the last 7 years more than 80% of my business has been related to the activity of this insect, though I was dealing with it as far back as 1994. We've gone from pioneering major road systems into the far corners of the district and trails into individual trees to mop-up mode and blocks in the thousand ha range. It's been quite the ride.

[Jim]

... Apparently many people didn't make it home from the Seahawks game last night. ALL the schools are shut down. ...

One winter while I was attending college in Austin, TX, it started snowing during the night. It was still snowing the next morning as I got ready for class. The radio said the University was open, so I climbed in my car and drove up I35, over the Town Lake bridge, to campus.

Lots of snow on the roads, very few cars. The snow let up on the drive in.

After three hours of class, I started the drive home. As I was crossing the bridge the radio announced that the University was shutting down due to travel conditions.

[SeanF]

To all you folks in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas area - or with winter knowledge of them - a request for information and advice.

My son and his girlfriend are planning a trip from LA to Chicago by the route outlined above in late December. Is this idea as crazy as his mother thinks?
It could be. There're no mountains up here (South Dakota), so the wind just blows that snow across the road. Even the interstate gets shut down occasionally.

This isn't something that happens every year, so the odds are that they'll get through just fine. But before they leave LA they ought not to plan on being able to drive all day and night every day. They could get stuck in some little rinky-dink town for a day or two.

If they go through Sioux Falls, though, (I'm assuming they'll be taking I-90?) tell 'em to stop by and say hello! ;)

EDIT: For what it's worth, the wife and I drove from Sioux Falls to Chicago last January. But that's only a ten-hour drive, and so we were prepared to just call it off as late as that morning if the weather was bad.

[Trebuchet]

Where abouts in Montana? Here in Bozeman, we always get several accidents when it first snows. I always wonder what percentage are people that should know better and just drive stupid and what percentage are University students that haven't encountered snow/ice before.

You've reminded me of when my uncle moved to Oregon from Glendive in eastern Montana when I was a kid. We heard the weather dipped to freezing or so and when he showed up for work, he was informed that they don't work when it gets that cold. Our thought was that we would have to shut down the state for most of the year if we did that.

Grew up in Billings, went to MSU in Bozeman. A long time ago.

One of my fond memories of when it first got cold is that when I used the heater on the Corvair for the first time in the year, it had to burn off all the oil spilled by clumsy gas station attendants and I had to breath the fumes. Now that was a good spell ago!

[Frantic Freddie]

Looks like we might get some snow tomorrow night,but not much.They're sayin' it'll really hit us in Jan & Feb,which'll be good,we had the driest winter on record last year (New Mexico).

[LayMan]

Don't want to start a discussion on global warming, but over here in Belgium, we're having the warmest november ever measured! The 16th of november shattered all previous records (since 1820) with a cosy 17,2° Celsius, more then double the normal value for mid november (around 8° C)... Forecasts for next saturday (2 december!) speak of temperatures up to and over 16° C!

This is no doubt going to be the warmest autumn ever for Belgium (but you won't hear me complaining, I don't really like those cold, rainy days...). Shame about our chances of having a white X-mas, though... Not that that happens very frequently here, but I especially like the scenery during that period.

[Lurking Nerd]

To all you folks in Oregon, Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas area - or with winter knowledge of them - a request for information and advice.

My son and his girlfriend are planning a trip from LA to Chicago by the route outlined above in late December. Is this idea as crazy as his mother thinks?

As SeanF said, could be. Depends on what the weather does. If it's snowing, things can be quite a mess. If there's wind, you get drifting snow and limited visibility, especially in the plains. Personally, I would recommend staying on I-90 and skip North Dakota in the winter. At least that is my usual plan when traveling to north eastern South Dakota for Christmas. I-94 across eastern Montana and North Dakota is in the middle of the prairie and can get a lot of blowing snow. Plus, the scenery just isn't as interesting. Other than the snow, the roads should be fine if it hasn't snowed much close to when they would pass through. There is enough traffic that the interstate usually clears up. If they want to take some 2 lane road to an out of the way spot, all bets are off. Best thing then would probably be to ask locally to see what the road conditions are like.

[SeanF]

I would recommend staying on I-90 and skip North Dakota in the winter. At least that is my usual plan when traveling to north eastern South Dakota for Christmas. I-94 across eastern Montana and North Dakota is in the middle of the prairie and can get a lot of blowing snow. Plus, the scenery just isn't as interesting.
Wait...the scenery on I-94 is less interesting than the scenery on I-90?! :eek:

;)

[Gillianren]

Okay, let's see if this works. For the record, there seems to be some sort of distortion to my camera lens.

[Frantic Freddie]

We got our 1st snow,I took this earlier today from my door:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/franticfreddie/DSCN0704.jpg

[Big Brother Dunk]

Good pictures Gillian and Freddie.

We just got our second major dumping of snow over the past day or two. After our first big snowfall, I took my snowblower into the small engine repair shop for a bit of a tune-up. Now they've lost it. They can't find the work order, or the snowblower. They do know that they had it in their shop, but now it's gone, just in time for the second snowfall.

[Frantic Freddie]

Thanks BigBro,we ended up with about 6 inches:

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a221/franticfreddie/DSCN0722.jpg

[Lurking Nerd]

Wait...the scenery on I-94 is less interesting than the scenery on I-90?! :eek:

;)

Well, definetly at first. I-94 splits from I-90 at Billings, MT and heads east through flat prarie. Sticking on I-90 keeps you in some interesting terrain until you get out of the badlands in South Dakota. I should clarify that I've only taken I-94 as far east as Jamestown, ND but I don't imagine eastern North Dakota is any better than western. I've just found the trip more interesting in South Dakota, but that could just be me.

Plus you'd miss all the Wall Drug signs and Wall itself by taking I-94.:D

[Jim]

Well, they want to see Rushmore, so I guess that means I90.

Thanks for the info, folks.

[LayMan]

For the record, there seems to be some sort of distortion to my camera lens.

Just how fast were you traveling when you took that picture? Sorry, couldn't resist... :D

[Big Brother Dunk]

This November saw the most snowfall for the month in 60 years.


My yard usually looks like this in early January, not late November.

http://members.shaw.ca/dkm.pod/snowfall2.JPG

[jlhredshift]

This November saw the most snowfall for the month in 60 years.


My yard usually looks like this in early January, not late November.

Gosh your house looks just like the ones we have here in America.:whistle: :D

[Tobin Dax]

Well, they want to see Rushmore, so I guess that means I90.

Thanks for the info, folks.

I'm kind of curious as to where they plan to travel in Oregon and Idaho, since it seems to be a bit of a trip to go from I-84 to I-90. I-84 goes into Boise (IIRC), and they'd have to head north into Montana to get to I-90. I-84 goes through the Columbia Gorge, though, and that can get as bad as the plains states seem to in similar conditions. That region of the state also get more snow than west of the Cascades (i.e. where Gillian is).

[Jim]

I'm kind of curious as to where they plan to travel in Oregon and Idaho...

They have friends in the Portland area. From there, she's always wanted to see Rushmore, on to friends in Chicago, then New York and her family for Christmas. At least for the trip back they plan a southern route.

[Big Brother Dunk]

Gosh your house looks just like the ones we have here in America.:whistle: :D
Probably got it at the same store.;)

[jlhredshift]

You can always tell when it is cold out.

[Tobin Dax]

They have friends in the Portland area. From there, she's always wanted to see Rushmore, on to friends in Chicago, then New York and her family for Christmas. At least for the trip back they plan a southern route.

I'll just point out that there's a reason I fly home to Oregon for Christmas every year. Of course, in your son's case, there are two of them. It sounds like a fun trip, and one that I do want to make someday.

[collegeguy]

You can always tell when it is cold out.

well, it will be really cold this week

[jlhredshift]

Now its snowing and cold.

[NEOWatcher]

Now its snowing and cold.
That's what you get for being in the snow belt...:naughty:

For those of you not familiar with lake effect...I am currently about 30 mi SW of jlhredshift and there is no snow on the ground, or in the air, and it is sunny.

[Argos]

We´re under a snowstorm down here too(*). And judging by the size of the raindrops it must be Huge!

(*) At 30,000 ft high, that is. :p :)

[Torsten]

Hmmmm, resurrecting an old thread here, but I just felt it needed a proper conclusion. . .

The last of the snow in my back yard will melt within the hour, 177 days after it arrived.