Weather

[filkertom]

Another huge squeegee of nasty, from Minnesota through Chicago down to Memphis and on past Dallas to the Gulf. If you're in the way, hunker down. And sound off in the morning so we know you're okay.

Some scientists are saying that this year's extreme weather is an example of the new normal. If that's the case, what do you plan to do about it? I'm not sure how much I can do myself, without somehow getting a non-manufactured house.

Comments

Well...

[ysabetwordsmith]

The weather has been shifting for decades. This is not new. I noticed the first changes before I even reached adolescence. Now? My home in central Illinois has shifted from USDA Zone 5b to 6a.

What I'm doing: Planting things that have a warmward buffer as well as a coolward buffer. That is, I try not to plant stuff that's Zone 5 or 6 at the coldest or warmest. I want those zones in the middle, just in case the weather shifts freakily farther. I'm trying to build a serious ecosystem here, however small, and I'll make it as bulletproof as I can.

This also means I need to aim for planting the most storm-resistant trees possible. A lot of the big old trees here are hackberries and mulberries: brittle, alas, and they're coming down. Why? The consistency of the wind is changing. It used to power up slowly. Now when a storm hits, there's usually this very tight WALL of wind at the front, slam! The trees can't take the sudden force, and they snap. It rips parts of roofs off too. That's not a tornado; it's across the whole front of the storm. So I'm aiming for things like sycamores or sweetgum that are tougher.

There are also magical things I do, but the storms are increasingly less willing to listen to reason. Can't say I blame them. I'm wroth with humanity too. I just think that it'd be nice for Gaia to refrain from mangling people on Her side.

[virtualvirtue.livejournal.com]

"huge squeegee of nasty" is the best description of this mess that I have heard. I will have to share that. We've been going between sunny as all get out and rainy thundery nastiness all day. Dog is NOT amused.

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

We're expecting thunderboomers here later tonight, but everything should be fine. (We're not in the path of the Mighty Squeegee of Nastiness.)

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

We had a big giant hailstorm that reduced visibility to less than 30'. That was a trip. Yes, I was out at the time. A couple hours before that there were lots of lightning bolts. Kinda strange coming out of a blue sky.
Now it's sunny and calm. Very nice outside. I wish I could get some of that nice air to penetrate farther into my apartment. It's still 81f in here and the wall ac does not work. Stupid stupid landlord.

[tarsa.livejournal.com]

Last night was interesting, but we seem to be just to the west of the fun slated for this evening (Kansas City, KS). However, I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for tornado sirens, so I don't plan on sleeping much.

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

GLOBAL WARMING doesn't exist. I heard it from Rush LIMBAUGH. And it doesn't exist!!!!! Al Gore something something. Whine.

There's a snowstorm in Utah, and that means that global warming is a LIE!

*headdesk*

[tarsa.livejournal.com]

::***SQUEEEES*** over icon::

May I borrow/swipe/adopt if I promise to love it forever???

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

Take and spread the word (http://www.itsoktobetakei.com/Default.asp)!

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I'm in the squeegee path
We have a tornado watch out until 10 PM

One of the places I drive is getting hit. But most of this is going north of us.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

"Another huge squeegee of nasty, from Minnesota"
I thought Michelle Bachmann(sp) was in DC at the moment. *he scores*
Do you mean the same sex marriage ban? That's next year. *Oh another one!*
Oh you mean the weather. Yeah it's been wacky on this side of the lake too. We greeted 2011 with weather in the 50s, then we got the 3rd worst blizzard a month later, forcing my company to shut down for a day for the first time since 9/11, and the snow from that melted away in 10 days. The temperature has been bouncing up and down.

I think we caught the tail end of that storm, but I didn't notice. Actually I think it missed me. The good news is that it's passing under the lake so it won't be so bad when it hits you. The bad news is that there's a second line going NE but I think it will pass over you. It will hit someone though.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

Did you see the two comments to the news story. *headdesk*

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

Because meteorology and science is all just sprinkling salt into water bowls and guessing nowadays. No one knows what's really going on.

The human race scares me.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

It looks like the squeegee of nastiness has about 750 miles to go to get to my area, and I expect it will be tired by then.

What I plan to do about the weather is plant trees to shade the west side of my house. It ain't much, but hey--it's weather, what can you do? We planted one tree spring before last and two more trees this spring. With a little luck they will stunt the grass too and we won't have to mow so much.

As a bonus, they are a peach, a cherry, and a plum. I'm pulling for apple next.

[pmrabble.livejournal.com]

The 2nd warning here in the Cities was close. I went out and realized we were in a bad spot; I was looking UP the east side of a clearly severe cell. I was blocked by trees; supposedly one spotter had a funnel about a mile due west of here.

[smoooom.livejournal.com]

Doing something about it? There is nothing that we can DO about the weather. We just get to deal with it. We're not dealing well with some aspects in this house. The barometric pressure changes that come with all this "new normal" are no fun. Migraines are becoming more normal for Mike and Vicky. I'm ok, but Botox works miracles for me.

[alverant.livejournal.com]

We got a tornado warning in this area half an hour ago. It's getting darker here, but the sun is also setting.

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Looking at the tree-ring and ice-core records, it looks like what we have now is more like the "long-term" normal for Earth.

The last 250 years has been characterized as being particularly gentle in weather and the last 6000 as particularly disaster-free. It was that gentleness and lack of destructive power that allowed us first to develop agriculture and then an industrialized population in the billions.

Even so, there were some glitches and predecessors that should have given us a clue. After a period in the early Middle Ages where Greenland was colonizable (at least five degrees F warmer than now), the temperature plunged from 1600-1850. It got so cold early in the 17th Century that the Zeider Zee froze over. The cold combined with the new bacteria brought over from Europe and all but wiped out the American natives continent-wide.

Forcast for the next couple centuries? Continued warming as we come out of the last Ice Age (not more than 8000 years ago, there was a mile of ice in Central Illinois just north of where I am sitting). Interesting and much more deadly storms across North America as the Central Pacific cools from icecap melt. Localized highs and lows of rainfall due to shifts in cloud cover (dependent on cosmic rays hitting stratosphere which is dependent on solar activity raising or lowering the ionisphere).

All-in-all, should bring an end to population increase and start the long-term stabilization of planetary population at around six billion.

Tom Trumpinski

[stormgren.livejournal.com]

If that's the case, what do you plan to do about it?

Same disaster preparedness stuff I've always done.

And: Don't Panic!

Too much chicken-little-ing every time there's a weather event these days for my taste.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

nice kayak, by the way.

[kirylyn.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

Well, you can't do things to change the weather (aside from reducing CO2 emissions, I suppose) but you can do things like, dig a storm cellar, put more insulation in your house, get storm windows (or shutters, if the storms are getting really violent), get a weather radio for tornado alerts, stuff like that. Stuff to reduce the bad effects of the weather on you and your family. I think that's what Tom is talking about.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Every time the earth shakes in San Francisco, the Jesus-blowers are happy to blame our gay-toleratin', feminist radical communist socialistic pro-KenyanMuslimsintheWhiteHouse lifestyle for incurring God's wrath.

Now the wrath of nature is headed straight for Tea Country. Again.

Got anything to say now, you hateful old white male pigs? Franklin Graham? Buchanan? Robertson? Newt? Falwell? (Oh wait, one down.)

[jannyblue.livejournal.com]

Here's a bigger Doppler map... with animation: http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php

Seems there's a big dollop of rain headed towards DC that should hit right before we get to play with the squeegee.

My plan? To set the alarm on my phone in case the power goes out tonight.

As for the longer-term? I dunno. I already knit hats and scarves faster than I can use them, so I'm good on the keeping warm thing.

But maybe I'll buy a raincoat. Do they still make those? I've been using umbrellas exclusively for at least a decade... but I seem to recall raincoats work better. (plus they're a LOT harder to turn inside out.)

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

Looks like central MO got some fun today, but KCMO and KCK were spared.

[popefelix.livejournal.com]

What's the Zeider Zee?

bad link

[alverant.livejournal.com]

It's
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zuiderzee

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

You might just have somebody replace it, make a copy of the bill, and take it out of your rent payment for repairs. They'll go ballistic, of course, but there may be local law precedent for doing this.
And good luck to all on that squeegee of nasty!

[realinterrobang.livejournal.com]

ginmar reports three? tornadoes touching down in north Minneapolis, one person killed and many homes destroyed.

So far, it's a lovely night here halfway between Toronto and Detroit, for which I am suddenly even more thankful (as if going for a walk in the dusk and being greeted with a profusion of gorgeous smells weren't enough).

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Somehow they always seem to blame that on the gay-toleratin' folks too. (Nice epithets there, BTW!)
Perhaps they think God just has lousy aim?

[jasperjones22.livejournal.com]

It's maybe almost about to perhaps hit me in an hour (weather has been off from 4am today till 1 am tomorrow when it hits so...) but might miss me by the power of the weird Carbondale Weather Anomaly.

[fionn320.livejournal.com]

We had our squeegee blow through here a week ago. The way things have been going lately, you folks out East can get a week's warning by looking at storms in central California. We get a brief hail storm, and a week later you get a full day of tornados. It seems Mother Nature takes a look at us, says, 'That one's good. Dial it up to 11 and aim it toward the midwest.'

[smparadox.livejournal.com]

I've never been able to wear raincoats. They cause me to sweat so much I get wetter than if I just enjoy the rain. Or at least more unpleasantly wet...

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

The Minneapolis squeegee stopped about 5 miles from our home; we were in its path and very grateful it didn't get any farther. At the same time, my thoughts are with those who weren't so lucky.

[msminlr.livejournal.com]

Morris and I totally slept through it [central Arkansas].

There had been pop-up thunderstorms earlier in the day yesterday, but all had calmed down when we went to bed and the overnight batch hadn't brewed-up yet.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

If that's the new normal, then I'd suggest converted cargo containers embedded in a concrete&earth berm would make for a secure home. [and hey, it's probably cheaper too!]

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Hey. If I hit the lottery, this kinda thing (http://www.missilebases.com/properties) looks like a decent option. If I get the right one, I could even start a commune.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Actually, some of those are about what you pay for a decent sized home anyway... and hey, if you need an on-site tech-head/McGyver I'm willing to relocate! [*grins*]

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And if I ever do win the lotto, believe me, I'd consider it. Just looking at those pages gives me ideas as to what I'd install and who I'd invite.... Lordie, that site in Denver could hold an underground con, couldn't it?

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Pretty much...not cheap mind you. The one in KS would be more suitable as a home though [and hey, zombie proof already!]

Me, I'd buy this! You could hold something on the scale of Dragoncon there and have room to spare!

[tarsa.livejournal.com]

If you want an in~house hammer dulcimer player and a wool~spinner/weaver, let jmthane and me know! *grin*

Re: bad link

[lone-cat.livejournal.com]

Sorry. That's what I get for typing instead of doing a C&P.

[saganth.livejournal.com]

I'm safe and sound here in Lombard outside Chicago. There was a tornado warning for a few hours last night for my area, my first ever, but there was no siren and no tornado. I was prepared, however, to grab the cats, the computer cpu, the phone and my wallet and keys and get my ass into the basement.

[zellion.livejournal.com]

If it's the new normal... I expect my insurance premiums to skyrocket...

*sigh*

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Thanks. This is a brand-new unit, installed 4 weeks or so ago, which does not work. The compressor tries to kick in and doesn't. It is a very noisy, very inefficient fan.
Prices being what they are I cannot even do what you suggest, but I will likely try to stop payment on the rent check. I am so tired of this stupidity, and the very real health risk to me and my 2 cats.