mandler1 (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 5:00 pm
I guess nowadays smoke counts as weather. I just stepped out on my11th floor balcony in Toronto and immediately started coughing. Was hoping the smoke was just going to last for a couple of days, but now it seems it will be with us awhile. So much so that we are starting to wear masks outdoors. Had a lot of thunderstorms lately, but I think we are below average rainfall.
Eastern people are such wimps. People on the west side of the continent have been putting up with this kind of thing during the summer, for decades.
Here in Southern California, the worst fires are in the fall when the dry Santa Ana winds start blowing over from the desert. The relative humidity will drop to 10%, turning grasses and undergrowth into tinder. I grew up in an area that just avoided being burned in the late-Sept 1970 Laguna Fire, and had friends that lost their house in the Oct 2003 Cedar Fire. The worst fire seasons seem to be after a rainy winter causes lots of undergrowth to flourish. With our unusually wet winter this year, I am particularly worried about what we will see this coming fall.
Losethem (imported) wrote: Sat Jul 01, 2023 5:48 pm
Eastern people are such wimps. People on the west side of the continent have been putting up with this kind of thing during the summer, for decades.
I take exception to that!! Just because you have become accustom to living with the smoke! Ernie of Maine
The Maintaner (imported) wrote: Tue Jul 04, 2023 9:00 pm I take exception to that!! Just because you have become accustom to living with the smoke! Ernie of Maine
I live on the east side.
My point is I can remember growing up out in the west, and we'd have this happen sometimes, usually around the beginning of September, that the smoke would be so thick we couldn't see the road in front of our house. The smoke back here in the east this year has been nowhere near that bad, yet it's getting round the clock coverage in the US national news. This is once again proving the New York bias in national news reporting in the US.
Our area was hit by a line of severe storms four days in a row.
The first one came through on Thursday afternoon, around 6PM or so. Maybe later, I was home from work. It hit hard and fast. It was literally like a solar eclipse happening, it got dark so fast. It went from sunny to dark overcast to night in a matter of minutes. Then the wind hit. Our local news estimated the wind was in excess of 80 mph. Then the rain hit. I'd call it a "rain bomb", to use the new term. The thunder and lightning were spectacular. It snapped trees like matchsticks, to be cliche. And not just small ones. Huge trees that were likely more than 100 years old. Of course, the power went out with the first blast of wind. Cell phone service failed in most areas, as I discussed with Jesus later on.
Our cellular towers here do not have independent backups, it seems. The few that were working were instantly overwhelmed. Our landline phones are now VOIP, carried on fiber in most areas, so without power, they don't work, either.
The second storm hit on Friday, around the same time, I think it was. The estimated the winds in excess of 65 mph.
More damage.
I'd spent Friday afternoon picking up debris from my yard. I was lucky, as the geography and the trees around here, combined with the west neighbors' house and Morton barn, deflected the wind from me. Still, I have a 20' or area around the back of the property that looks like someone fired a gigantic shotgun through the trees. I had the yard all cleaned up when the second storm hit. Of course, the power was still out. 3 trees in the property line I share with the southeast neighbor fell and snapped his lines, as he is about .1 mile back from me, with a parallel driveway. The lines were hanging, with the ones between me and the east neighbor randomly sparking about 20' from my driveway.
Of course, after each storm, it got hot. Heat indexes near 100F.
I cleaned up the yard again. The neighbors cut up the trees blocking SE Neighbors' drive, as they're old, and my limb saw is electric. Naturally...
The third storm hit Saturday afternoon, nearly the same time.
More carnage.
I am about 5 miles from town. On Friday, some of downtown had power. I went, and it was a zoo. Many roads were blocked. Crews had been out all of Thursday night cutting trees. Limbs and trunk sections are piled up literally everywhere. So, I'd got a few things, some more gas for the generator, and went back home to wait it out.
Some long holiday weekend!
The fourth storm came through on Sunday afternoon. Same thing as #2&3. Each time, it was straight-line winds that did the damage.
Next door, east, a walnut tree that was at least 100 years old was uprooted. The tap root is as large as as most trees around here now. There were three of them in the old barnyard fence row. 3 fell, 2 was heavily damaged, and 1 not so much. That closed our road, which is 1 mile south of a major US highway. It's a very busy road, as many people use it to avoid the highway, which is a pain in the ass due to being rough, and being formerly 4 lane, now two lane, because someone thought it would be a good idea to put in a center turn lane and right turn lanes to avoid accidents. We call using the highway "Crater Cruisin'", as you have to dodge the pot holes, dips, and humps. I rejoiced that the road was closed.
After storm 4, and the tree fell, I went out back to pee. I heard tires screeching. Some speeder popped over the hill, and one cannot see the tree until one starts down the hill! They narrowly missed being killed. So, being the good citizen that I am, I set up shop out front in my driveway to stop cars. I called the local cop shop. I was told the county was out of barricades and ROAD CLOSED signs. I told them to send an officer, as someone was going to be killed by their lunatic driving. It's the usual, though. They won't patrol this road, and it's a real problem. I spent 4 hours stopping cars and turning them around. Some people got really shitty, too. Some didn't believe me and had to drive on and have a look. Fortunately, I didn't have to shoot at anyone. The NE Neighbor arrived home some hours later, and told me they'd finally put a sign.
Then came the sight-seers, coming down the road to see why it was closed.
I wanted to shoot them.
I really did.
Monday, there was no storm. But it was hot. I said "fuck it" on picking up the yard debris. Anything that doesn't look like it was going to break a mower blade, I left. Each day, I was washing up in the kitchen sink with filtered rain water with a touch of bleach. I had about a 100 gallons of it to use. Luckily, I had about 8 gallons of fresh water in the fridge to drink, and the stores were open, too. The generator ran through about $50 in gas. Kept the fridge on, so I lost no food, and laptop and small TV, so I had music and movies off the external hard drive.
Repair crews were not working around the clock, though. Monday night, there were trucks parked all over town in all the big lots, wherever they could find space. They knocked off at dark.
The power came back on Tuesday evening. Just in time for me to get cleaned up and go back to work today.
Another line of storms was headed this way this evening, not so strong, but they broke up over the IN/IL line and split around us. Thank God!
I'm not sure how many households were out of power, but it was most of the surrounding area. Most of Vigo, Clay, Parke, Putnam, and parts of Vermilion and Owen counties were out. My neighbor drives to Indianapolis to work, and the first night, he was nearly to Plainfield before he saw any areas along US 40 with power, he told me.
The most heartbreaking part was the damage to the enormous sugar maple on the hill point east of me. When I was a kid, the tree was already huge. About 50% of it is gone. It's the tree that inspired the one in The Boys of Blue Creek series. Maybe it'll survive. My favorite dog is buried under it.
The whole time, of course, the phone service was spotty and only good for text. I had to go in town to call Jesus A. I was lucky the call to the cop shop went through.
At least it's over, for now. In nearly 60 years, I've never seen anything like this!
At least fire wood will be cheap this winter, Paolo.
June looked like it would be another wet monsoon year like last year. Then July hit and someone opened the oven door. Not a drop. Even had to water the trees and plants when they started to stress. There was no hope for change when, 4 days ago Paolo's day 1 hit. Screaming wind and horizontal rain left water standng in the yard. Day 2 rain. Day 3 thunderstorm rain. Yesterday beautiful towering cumulus. Rain predicted for next 3 days.
Arab Nights (imported) wrote: Thu Jul 27, 2023 12:49 am
At least fire wood will be cheap this winter, Paolo.
June looked like it would be another wet monsoon year like last year. Then July hit and someone opened the oven door. Not a drop. Even had to water the trees and plants when they started to stress. There was no hope for change when, 4 days ago Paolo's day 1 hit. Screaming wind and horizontal rain left water standng in the yard. Day 2 rain. Day 3 thunderstorm rain. Yesterday beautiful towering cumulus. Rain predicted for next 3 days.
That's a lot out in the desert. I'm hoping when I get to 4-corners in a couple of weeks, that the weather cools a bit. Of course, I'll be higher in elevation, but still in the desert. Though as I type this, it's 68F/20C in one location I'm visiting on this trip, and the other spots I'm planning significant outdoor activity are to be around 90F/32C.
I hope my weather is no worse than that while I'm there.
We have 75% or so of rain tomorrow. I hope we get it. I just hope we don't get all the usual drama that comes with it. 6 days living as a pioneer last time was enough for me. That, and it's grocery time. I hate that.
I watered the garden tonight, and my cheap sprinkler exploded. My luck.
It cooled off enough to open the windows and shut down the central AC, and it smells like someone either hit a skunk on the road, or the neighbors' dog set one off.
I take exception to that!! Just because you have become accustom to living with the smoke!
Ernie of Maine