I've got bad feelings about the coming winter. We've had a few mild ones in a row here in Maryland, and we're about due for a big nasty winter ... I think we only had two or three snowstorms all of last winter (we even lucked out on the big one that hit the Northeast).
However, we've had a wet summer. Lots of thunderstorms -- three this week -- and it seems we've got at least one every week. Let me tell you, not the kind of weather we Jeep owners like ...
Anyway, I'm worried we're going to get hit by a really bad winter this year. My reasoning = lots of precipitation in the winter (and our rain patterns been going strong since spring pretty much, so I don't see why it would lighten up) means lots of snow.
Granted, our more northern minded posters here (the Canadians, JeffR, maybe Rob) would consider a "Bad Maryland Winter" as a "really mild snowstorm." However, this isn't New York, or northern Canada -- we don't get big snowstorms often enough to be adapted to them as our northern friends are.
Anyhoo, I'm going to stock up on soup, Chef Boyardee, and lots of hot meals. Let's just hope my heater works (it was broken at my old apartment for a few days in the winter last year .. ugh).
Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :
Am I the only one who thought this summer was boring as hell? Nothing happened...it wasn't very hot either!
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Darned global warming...
Posted by The Red Admiral (Member # 602) on :
I hope it snows big-time here. So much so that the roads are closed and I don't have to go to work. Whoo-hoo
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I've always liked Winter myself. Cold weather, shorter days, I don't know.. I just like it.
Posted by G.K Nimrod (Member # 205) on :
Well the swedish summer has been hot as hell. We started getting rain two weeks ago.
We've also had thunderstorms, two people were killed by lightning here in Stockholm, one of them a guy one year younger than me, walking with an umbrella. It happened two weeks ago, during the same thunderstorm I was walking with an umbrella to the kiosk. Also, there was hail the actual size and shape of thimbles. I've never seen anything quite like it, actually. I couldn't deflect all of them with the umbrella, it hurt.
So the winter might be interesting...
Posted by Stingray (Member # 621) on :
Oh god how I love Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Daytona Beach, Florida - sandles, shorts, and T-shirts all year round Posted by MeGotBeer (Member # 411) on :
I'm going to have to kill you now, Stingray.
Posted by The Red Admiral (Member # 602) on :
Well Stingray I lived in Florida for a while, near Tampa, and the heat and the humidity seemed unrelenting. A like a bit of cold weather now and again...
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Except for maybe you who live in Sweden, no winter is worse than the one we have here in Wisconsin. Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. Be lucky you don't live in the Dairy State. Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
Wisconsin just gets cold. Michigan and Buffalo/NYS get Lake effect snow. Once a bit snow storm rolls through, we get that snow... And then the lake effect from the great lakes. 2 snowfalls for the price of one!
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Same here. We get a lot of snow some years. Last year we got 20 inches in one or two nights...everything was closed. Then, we had an ice storm, that caused some accidents. All together that winter, we had 50 inches of snow, more or less. That's all together, not at once, mind you.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
Feh. Wimpy southerners shut down everything for an inch of white stuff. It has to be at least six inches deep up here before we even worry about it.
If you're really worried about it, I reccomend Blizzak tires. They're good for cold weather... but take 'em off quick when it warms up, or they'll melt to the road and you'll only get one year out of them.
However, local signs (you city boys wouldn't understand, so I won't bother explaining rings on caterpillars, spider habits and the way the grass grows) point to a mild but wet winter.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
The last winter storm we got in the Houston area was in February 1997. Major ice storm that shut down the entire area for about five days. We haven't had a bad winter since then. We're due for a major ice storm pretty soon as well.
On the other hand, I'm more worried about the Houston area's lack of a major hurricane hitting us. Sitting aside the devastating effects of the torrential rainfall from Tropical Storm Allison this past June, the last hurricane to hit us was Hurricane Alicia back in 1983. Since then, all we've had is a couple tropical storms (the aforementioned Allison that directly hit Houston and Frances back in 1998 that hit halfway between here and Corpus Christi). We are really on borrowed time for a hurricane here.
The past week has been nothing but thunderstorms here. Some areas have gotten as much or more rainfall from these storms than from Allison. Some of the homes flooded the first time around got flooded again from just these showers. ::shrug::
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
All winters are bleak, all summers are painful, all autumns are melancholy, and all springs are bitter.
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
quote:...all springs are bitter.
I'll agree with this for the simple fact that the most despised of holidays falls in the spring time. Yes, I am talking about that joke a ritual for love called Valentine's Day.
As I always say on February 14th, it's no coincidence that Valentine's Day and venereal disease share the same initials.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
quote: There is nothing in this world more bitter than love In all those long days of June Bring me the long, brown grass now that it's dry There is nothing in this world more bitter than Spring
"June" Camper Van Beethoven
For fun, contrast this song (and the almost oppressively dark album Key Lime Pie in General) with "Life Is Grand," the final song on Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart.
[ September 03, 2001: Message edited by: Sol System ]
Posted by G.K Nimrod (Member # 205) on :
I'd like to visit London by snowfall, I hear it doesn't happen often. You get an inch of the white stuff you fight it with a pint of the black stuff.
Of course, them one-sheet windows don't sound so hot, no pun intended.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
I hear it rains a lot in London...
Posted by MeGotBeer (Member # 411) on :
I hear you've got crazed lunatics running around the seedy sides of London hacking up prositutes with a knife in the fog and rain and one sheet windows. Oh, yes, and you drive on the wrong side of the road (and the car!) too.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Woo-boy! And all that torturing going on hundreds of years ago. Boy, were they trying to be civilized. Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
I can't stand winter. so damn cold, windy, all the white. that's why i'm going to take over Cuba, kick out Fidel, and set myself up as the new dictator. maybe i'll make it free for people who live in cold climates to stay in my country for a few weeks during winter. just cause i'm such a nice guy. Call it wishful thinking, or megalomaniac desires. but you'll see. I WILL RULE CUBA!!!!!! Posted by G.K Nimrod (Member # 205) on :
I love winter. No sweating in the hot nights, everything is white and quiet, I get to bring out my warm, blue skipper coat and heavy boots. There's no better time than winter to ramble around Stockholm.
My cat likes snow too, strangely. I have to rein him in when we go exploring. Also, I get to drink a lot of Gl�gg to keep warm. The full respect of the Gl�gg. -Is it right? -WELL IT'S NOT WRONG!!!
And then there's the food and many housemoose.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
The majestik møøse?
Posted by Mr. Christopher (Member # 71) on :
I don't know what to expect for winter this time around. Last Christmas was a heavy white one, with a lot of snow falling before December. The past 3 or so years before that didn't yield any long-lasting snow until January-ish. So, you never know what to expect around here.
Posted by Tahna Los (Member # 33) on :
1999: 150 cm of snow falls in a span of three days. Shuts down subway system. Major Traffic Jams. And our mayor has the nerve to call in THE ARMY for chrissakes.
2000: Big Budget spent on snow removal. End Result: Not Much snow. Major Snowstorms somehow manage to miss Toronto and smack Buffalo instead.
2001: Very cold in terms of Wind Chill, about -35 degrees celsius at times. But no snow. I'm standing still on my way to work waiting for the bus literally freezing to bits. We only had about (counts) two major snowfalls that year, all of them under 10 centimetres.
Posted by MeGotBeer (Member # 411) on :
I don't know if you folks have some sort of equivilant of the National Guard, Tahna, but I know whenever we have a bad snowstorm down here, the National Guard supplies a Humvee and driver to each police and fire station.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:Darned global warming...
You got that right. Middle of November, and we're getting high-sixty degree days with stunning regularity. I don't think I've had to use my heater once ... dammit, I want snow.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
Oh, so you're NOT just working your way backwards through the archives, you're jumping around, too?
It just rained here, and got cold. Not as cold as it normally is in mid-November, but cold enough to like wearing a jacket. Darn, but this weather is disturbing.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
It's always distrubing when appropriate wear just a few days before Thanksgiving is shorts and a t-shirt, yes.
So, either it'll be a mild winter ... or it'll get really cold come December and January. Joy.
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
1999: 150 cm of snow falls in a span of three days. Shuts down subway system. Major Traffic Jams. And our mayor has the nerve to call in THE ARMY for chrissakes.
Tahna Los, I live north of you in the Soo and when we heard that the army had moved in to clear the snow we laughed and laughed. We have had 150cm in one night and people were going to work the next day. But we have had 3 winters in a row where we have had less than 150cm all winter it has been great. Bring on Global warming, I hate shovelling.
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
I was right, I was ri-ight..
(Course, the last time I was wrong was when I told YHWH that bipedial primates looked like a good idea...)
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
You're half right. We've got bush-fires here in Md 'cuz we don't have enough water Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Grokca: How in the world could people go to work through five feet of snow?
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Sleds, obviously.
Posted by Tahna Los (Member # 33) on :
quote:Originally posted by Grokca: 1999: 150 cm of snow falls in a span of three days. Shuts down subway system. Major Traffic Jams. And our mayor has the nerve to call in THE ARMY for chrissakes.
Tahna Los, I live north of you in the Soo and when we heard that the army had moved in to clear the snow we laughed and laughed. We have had 150cm in one night and people were going to work the next day. But we have had 3 winters in a row where we have had less than 150cm all winter it has been great. Bring on Global warming, I hate shovelling.
Stop teasing us!!! *cringe*
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Yeah, brrr. Here in SF bay area, CA it can get a bit chilly if you go outside in short sleeves...
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
You mean "sledge", don't you Jeff?
And what about people who live downhill from where they work, eh? I suppose you have some kind of crazy horse-powered sledge, don't you? You make me sick.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
No, a sledge is a hammer.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
No, a mallet is a hammer.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Er, a sled is a thing you sled on. A sledge is ... uh ... well, I don't know. We've got sludge ... melting icky snow ... ?
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Hey... snow on mountains! Hurry up and descend! Down! Down snow! Cover! Goooood snow...
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Uh ... if you say so, my favorite verb you!
Posted by Grokca (Member # 722) on :
Grokca: How in the world could people go to work through five feet of snow? The major streets were plowed by morning, very efficient up here.
Posted by Jeff Raven (Member # 20) on :
According to the Farmer's Almanac, we won't have much snow this winter.
