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Chatterbox Winter

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, January 31, 2015 10:28 PM

False alarm with the new granddaughter this afternoon.  Got a text saying they were headed for the hospital, then another later that it was for naught.  Baby is due today, so any time is a pretty good guess.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, January 31, 2015 1:33 PM

Murphy Siding

      Larry- How does the amount of ice or open water on the Great Lakes affect how much snow to expect?

Lake Effect 101 - The primary factor with lake effect (or "lake enhanced") snow is how much moisture it can pick up.  If you lay a ruler across a map of any of the great lakes, note the points at which the ruler covers the longest stretches of the lakes.  A wind blowing from that direction will have the longest "fetch" from which to pick up moisture from the lakes.  Lakes Michigan and Huron, being oriented more or less north and south, don't have the lengthy fetch that Erie, Ontario, and Superior do. 

We don't hear much about lake effect east of Lake Superior as that area doesn't include major population centers.

Your exercise with the ruler over Erie and Ontario should show the bullseye on Buffalo, as well as Pulaski, NY.

The lake effect belts do vary with wind direction, so in the case of Lake Ontario, Watertown and Syracuse both are often subject to the phenomenon.  Off Lake Erie, the areas south of Buffalo often take a beating.

Back to the "fetch."  The absorption of moisture from the lake requires open water.  In this video from Buffalo in November, 2014, you can see the moisture rising off the lake, and the narrowly defined boundry between no snow and complete whiteout.

Lake Erie is relatively shallow and freezes completely over almost every year.  It is over 90% right now.

Lake Ontario is the deepest of the Great Lakes (or so I'm told), and for that reason has frozen completely over only twice in recorded history (which would be, what, 350 years?).

For that reason, lake effect snows tend to taper off in Buffalo in late winter, while those east of Lake Ontario will tend to continue.

Another factor for part of the area east of Lake Ontario is the Tug Hill plateau, which effectively squeezes the moisture (ie, snow) out of the atmosphere, causing phenomenal snowfall accumulations.  Tug Hill is roughly bounded by Watertown and Carthage to the north, Rome and Camden to the south, Lowville and Boonville to the east, and I-81 on the west.   It's pretty obvious on a map as a large area bereft of much but woods.  In the winter, however, it's a snowmobilers paradise.

In the end, though, it all depends on wind direction.  a system that brings prolonged westerly winds will in turn bring extended periods of lake effect snows over the snow belt.

With Lakes Michigan and Huron, that would be more of a northerly wind, which does happen.  As can often be seen from radar and satellite images, however, the areas east of both lakes are not immune from lake effect.

 

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Murphy Siding on Saturday, January 31, 2015 11:37 AM

      Larry- How does the amount of ice or open water on the Great Lakes affect how much snow to expect?

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Posted by tree68 on Saturday, January 31, 2015 8:40 AM

Norm48327
Too far east to be affected by Lake Michigan.

Never say never.  I thought we were too far away from Georgian Bay to be bothered by lake effect from it, but I've seen it happen.  On average, though, you're right.

A balmy -20F this morning at 0730, before the sun kicked in.  Now (0930) up to a much nicer -5F.  After I check the mail and get milk, I think I'll just hunker down.  The snow is supposed to stay south of us.

NWS is showing Lake Michigan only 25% covered by ice right now.  Lake Erie, Buffalo's weather maker, is almost 100% ice covered, while Ontario is around 30%.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by JoeKoh on Saturday, January 31, 2015 7:59 AM

guessers can't decide how much snow we are going to get for sure.We are under a warning at 7pm.We are as ready as we are going to be.going to go check on Grandpa and wish nephew 40 happy's.We'll see if we can get out to our road for work by monday morning.

stay safe

Joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by Norm48327 on Saturday, January 31, 2015 7:42 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH

 

 
Norm48327
 
 

Yeah Joe, the weather guessers have us under the same watch. They're predicting 1 to 3.

 

 

Only 1 to 3??  Lake effect should have you buried alive.  Tom Skilling is predicting 8-10 inches for us.

 

Too far east to be affected by Lake Michigan.

Norm


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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Saturday, January 31, 2015 6:51 AM

Norm48327
 
 

Yeah Joe, the weather guessers have us under the same watch. They're predicting 1 to 3.

Only 1 to 3??  Lake effect should have you buried alive.  Tom Skilling is predicting 8-10 inches for us.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Norm48327 on Friday, January 30, 2015 6:42 PM

JoeKoh

Norm I like your saying.Ma nature has us under a winter storm watch for Sunday.Saw some csx while on errands after work.Ns had some empties uptown when I left.Chores are calling.

stay safe

Joe

 

Yeah Joe, the weather guessers have us under the same watch. They're predicting 1 to 3.

Norm


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Posted by JoeKoh on Friday, January 30, 2015 5:16 PM

Norm I like your saying.Ma nature has us under a winter storm watch for Sunday.Saw some csx while on errands after work.Ns had some empties uptown when I left.Chores are calling.

stay safe

Joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by Norm48327 on Friday, January 30, 2015 4:36 PM

It is a fairly simple matter to install a second hard drive in the computer. I did that, and also have a small RAID drive that I back up files on. Stuff I truly don't want to lose is also saved to CD's.

Norm


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Posted by tree68 on Friday, January 30, 2015 1:18 PM

Paul of Covington

   I found that a handy way to access old files is to get an adapter that converts your old hard drive into an external drive.   Plug it into a USB port and you can access all your old stuff.

I've done that as well.  The tough part was coming up with the power, which I could do with the old power supply left over when I upgraded as a result of installing a new graphics card that outstripped the capabilities of the original PS...

I actually repurposed one old hard drive as my "image library" so I could clear up space on the main drive.  At 6-8Mb per image, it doesn't take long to eat up a lot of disk space.  It is installed in my computer.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Paul of Covington on Friday, January 30, 2015 12:21 PM

   I found that a handy way to access old files is to get an adapter that converts your old hard drive into an external drive.   Plug it into a USB port and you can access all your old stuff.

_____________ 

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Posted by Mookie on Friday, January 30, 2015 7:22 AM

Very smart dog!

Tree - puter person going to move all of my "stuff" to new HD.  I really don't keep anything on my puter except things like a grocery list, etc.  I like it vanilla and simple.

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Friday, January 30, 2015 6:58 AM

We had a light (?) snow this past weekend that was more like slush because of temps around the freezing mark.  It froze up in a rough, crunchy layer that wasn't too hard to walk on.  Some warmer temps during the week caused some melting so part of our patio is bare and part is icy.  Our dog (a quiet Chihuahua) walks quite cautiously on the ice and avoids it when he can.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by tree68 on Thursday, January 29, 2015 10:39 PM

Ms Mook - if the old hard drive is OK, maybe you can get it installed in the new computer, unless your dealer will move all the files over for you.  Even if they do, adding an extra hard drive gives you more room for pictures, music, or whatever.

Light snow here - maybe 5 inches by the time we get done.  Then a wind chill advisory.  I'm glad the only things I have to do outside are feed the birds and clear the driveway...

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Mookie on Thursday, January 29, 2015 5:23 PM

Puter had fatal illness.  Laptop still ok.  New puter on order.  Next week sometime.

Using Driver's laptop - just think of the commercial for some flu meds - adult and mini furniture.  I don't know how real adults ever use one of these things.  And if you don't watch your finners - bad spelling is rampant!

I knew this was coming, but like the death of a pet - you really try to prolong it as long as possible. 

Blah!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

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Posted by JoeKoh on Thursday, January 29, 2015 3:09 PM

afternoon

Matt was closed today.lots of bent fenders and ditch finders today.Called and wished nephew a happy 40th.Need to get chores done.

stay safe

Joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, January 29, 2015 1:18 PM

The biggest 'damage' deer tend to cause trains is air hose separations as their body gets rolled under the train - with Amtrak the deer will sometimes damage the HEP cables.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by jeffhergert on Thursday, January 29, 2015 11:06 AM

Before the deer angel fades.

On the train I've often hit deer.  Other than leaving blood and guts, it normally doesn't do anything else to the locomotive.  I don't even recall having a ditch light broken out.

For those of you out there who might like to pace a train on an adjacent road.  Watch out, especially at night and on lesser used railroad lines.  Trains tend to scare out the little critters who dart across the road.  They can also scare up the larger ones, like deer.  

One night out in western Iowa where US 30 is right alongside the tracks, a deer was starting across the tracks ahead of us.  I blew the horn at it.  (I've been told by conductors that engineers who ride motorcycles don't do that.  They WANT to hit the deer with the train.)  Instead of getting off the tracks, it turns around and runs back towards the highway.  Right in front of a car that hit it. 

One other time, a young deer starts across the tracks.  I blow the horn and the deer stops, turns towards us, then starts running straight at us.  We hit it. 

Jeff 

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 9:14 PM

We'll probably see all snow from this next storm.

Lazy day today.  I didn't even go check the mail.  Doubt I missed anything...

LarryWhistling
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Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
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Posted by JoeKoh on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 7:06 PM

Be careful out there Randy.We are under a freezing rain advisory for tomorrow morning.More snow to come possibly Sunday.Matt's service project went great.Ns was clear when I left work.Saw more of the aok hoppers on CSX.Even saw an sp and a mkt hopper too.

stay safe

Joe

Deshler Ohio-crossroads of the B&O Matt eats your fries.YUM! Clinton st viaduct undefeated against too tall trucks!!!(voted to be called the "Clinton St. can opener").

 

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Posted by rvos1979 on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 6:37 PM
Speaking of vehicles hitting houses, about two weeks ago, a semi carrying bottled water left Interstate 71 and took out the southbound scale house near Wilmington, OH. Luckily, said scale house had been closed and vacant for the last two years. Last I heard, the driver was in the hospital, no word on the cause........

Was supposed to be home tonight, but that didn't happen. Oh well, I'll be home tomorrow........

Randy Vos

"Ever have one of those days where you couldn't hit the ground with your hat??" - Waylon Jennings

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Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 5:33 PM

There is the well-known recording of a woman calling into a talk show to complain about that very thing...

A couple of stories:

Several years ago, on a winter's evening, I was outside in front of the garage (a good 70 feet from the road) - might have been cleaning up a little snow, I don't recall.  Suddenly a car comes flying over the rise just east of the house.  It's enough to set him sliding out of control on the snow-covered road.  He skidded to a stop within a hair's breadth of my front porch, leaving the imprint of his right front tire in the bulb garden there.

Before I could get up to that spot, he managed to back out and take off.

He was already going too fast.  Had he been going any faster, he definitely would have hit the house.

Some years earlier, during the summer, a young lady who'd imbibed a bit came flying into town, cleared the road on a little hillock, took out a power pole in front of one house, just made it between the third house and its well casing, then hit a car parked at a fourth house, pushing it into the house.

Wish I'd seen it - had to be spectacular.  She wasn't hurt.

LarryWhistling
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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 5:01 PM

As to "deer crossing" and other such signs, I understand that there are people who wonder how deer are induced to cross at those places.

Another true story, concerning a hen pheasant and her chicks. One of my wife's favorite rooms at the Iron Blosam (sic), which is a timeshare building at Snowbird, which is a Ski and Summer Resort up Little Cottonwood Canyon (SE of Salt Lake City), is on the eighth floor, on the backside of the building and is not far above the highway that goes up to Alta (there, the highway is about even with the seventh floor). One afternoon, I was looking out, and saw a man trying to help a hen pheasant and her chicks cross the highway--and she was having none of it. I marveled at his ignorance of wildlife, and did not doubt she would have managed well enough on her own.

Johnny

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Posted by Norm48327 on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 3:53 PM

Paul,

Bow Bow Bow Thumbs Up

Norm


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Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 3:26 PM

Jeff (and others) - 

Re: Deer

Mischief Just wondering . . . Do the deer have a fan magazine called "Vehicles" and associated computer forum for it called "Vehicles.com".  There, reports of deer vs. car or truck encounters are posted, with the usual results.  The members bemoan and post numerous snarky comments and responses about how their kind don't obey the posted "Deer Crossing" signs because the cars and  trucks can't swerve, brake, or otherwise maneuver as nimbly as the deer can, and how the deer should be willing to wait until the car or truck passes, then look both ways before crossing the road, etc.  Also, how the deer shouldn't walk along the road, because it doesn't belong to them either - they should only be on it within those Deer Crossing signs, etc. . . . just saying, that's all.

Then again, a true story: In late May 2009, when we were visting Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park, one evening at about dusk we watched both a small herd of bison and a couple elk cross the North Entrance Road, headed southeasterly, at the crosswalk to the Grand Loop Road on the east side of the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel - protected by a Park Ranger in a high-visibility vest who was flagging traffic for them !!!  I might have a fair picture of that someplace . . . Laugh

- Paul North.    

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Posted by CShaveRR on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 12:25 PM

Well, Norris, if a light dusting of snow looks like an excuse to you to drive on their lawn, I don't blame 'em for yelling!

Not as funny as it should be--we went to the police about our neighbors, who believe that their parked-in cars should be driven out via the lawn, and their favorite route includes ours.

Carl

Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)

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Posted by mudchicken on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 12:12 PM

Wink

jeffhergert
 
tree68

 

And since people forget, they venture out when they shouldn't.

 

 

 

Anymore, there are too many drivers who shouldn't venture out after a light dusting of snow.  

Jeff

 

TRUTH

We could always break out the Black magic markers and circle templates and draw crosshairs on the driver's side windshield

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west
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Posted by Murphy Siding on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 11:53 AM

[

jeffhergert

 

 
tree68

 

And since people forget, they venture out when they shouldn't.

 

 

 

Anymore, there are too many drivers who shouldn't venture out after a light dusting of snow.  

Jeff

 

Or at all. Sigh  

I know, I know.  "You kids!  Get off my lawn!" Grumpy

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Posted by jeffhergert on Wednesday, January 28, 2015 10:34 AM

tree68

 

And since people forget, they venture out when they shouldn't.

 

Anymore, there are too many drivers who shouldn't venture out after a light dusting of snow.  

Jeff

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