Bombogenesis!

[BoSoxGal]

Kenan is walloping eastern Massachusetts - we have over a foot in our yard as of now although it is difficult to tell actual accumulation because the winds are so crazy the snow is drifting much higher in some spots and thinner in others.

It’s a beautiful blizzard if you’re snuggled inside watching out the window with power still intact as I am; I’m grateful the air is so dry and cold that the snow is much like the kind I so often encountered in Montana - dry and fluffy, easy to clear. Cousin's husband has been out a few times to clear the walk and parts of driveway I have no idea why he’s bothering because the wind puts the snow right back. When it’s all done we will all go out together and properly clear the spots that need it.

My southern rescue collie mix was none too pleased by the blizzard conditions - she couldn’t get over the drift at the edge of the driveway to her usual potty spot so just crouched and peed in the driveway and ran like lightning back to the door. In the two minutes she was out she got covered in snow, so very much enjoyed the toweling massage after reentry.

I’m glad my Saturday patient is well enough to endure without me for a day, so I could avoid driving in this mess. I can’t imagine how crap the driving conditions are on 495 and other highways, just from the wind and reduced visibility. I’ll be going out early tomorrow but it should all be clear and beautiful by then. I still love how the world looks freshly covered in snow, cold and crisp and clear blue skies.

How are others in Kenan’s path faring?

[Guinevere]

Another tide to go here on the beach, but the winds have shifted to the north and the barometric pressure is starting to creep up, so this thing should be spinning out of here in the next 12 hours. Really cold (low teens) with gusts 50mph+, and more than 2 feet of light snow that’s drifting like crazy. My house is encased in wind driven snow and ice, cannot see anything out of any window. But sun tomorrow, when we get to clear this all out.

Stay safe, y’all.

[TPFKA@W]

We have been the victims of a snowhole here and have gotten only a couple of dustings. Where was this before I retired? I would so love a good snow.

[Joe Guy]

What is snow?

[Gob]

Lovely sunny day today here. Photos will be up on BookFace for those inclined.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I'll put up some photos from Addo Elephant Park after tomorrow (Monday). We off for our 4th visit there, a stop-over for a couple of sunny days on our way to Bloemfontein for our quarterly visit to old friends.

I can probably guarantee no snow. We did have snow for about 4 nano-seconds three years ago but that was in winter. Almost had to change into long pants and put away the t-shirt.

[BoSoxGal]

Just spent the morning clearing our driveway then took a ride around to melt everything remaining off my car. No I’m not one of THOSE people who leaves piles of snow on the car, but the thin coating of ice/snow remaining after the big clear needed to melt off as it’s very cold today/tonight and I didn’t want to be frozen out tomorrow morning when I need to get to my TMS session and then swimming at the YMCA.

Roads are passable some very snowy still others more heavily trafficked are getting near to bare pavement in some spots. Grocery stores pharmacies McDonald and Dunkin type places are well cleared, I’m sure they’re all contracted with snow removal services for priority status. Lots of people just getting started digging out and what a lot of snow to remove! Some of the businesses I passed are entirely untouched plow guys will be working like crazy all day today and into tomorrow. It’s lovely bright blue sky and everything looks so pretty with white icing all over.

[Guinevere]

That could have been so much worse! Thankful for the speed of the storm, the accurate forecasts, and the beautiful sunny day today to clean up. Big drifts and scoured areas too. 2+ feet, my little front porch drifted so I could not open the front door without some pushing snow. But all plowed out and shoveled and retrieved my car from its safe space.

Photo is by a local drone photog, of our little seaside town in the fresh snow. That’s Boston across the harbor, on the horizon

60F83B39-3DB6-4B38-957E-3910313EFF71.jpeg (35.81 KiB) Viewed 1089 times

[Jarlaxle]

I'm still stuck...there's about a 6' snowbank from the DPW plow at the end of the driveway. Waiting on the plow guy to take it apart. I need to move to Texas.

Neighbor's dog is outside burrowed into a drift.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Lived in Buffalo NY for 25 years - lost count of the number of times I cleared the driveway only to find I was trapped by the snow plow leaving its bank of snow at the end, as it passed by. More than once I thought - I can get over that - only to end up rocking back and forth on the berm with all four wheels off the ground. Embarrassing, especially with all the neighbors laughing at me.

[Jarlaxle]

Plow guy came, with a snowblower. Snowbank dealt with, driveway clear, walkways clear.

Neighbor's dog is still in the drift.

[BoSoxGal]

Neighbor's dog is still in the drift.

Probably lovely cozy warm in there! Wolves and foxes and Inuit people can’t all be wrong - snow is a great insulator.

[Jarlaxle]

Neighbor's dog is still in the drift.

Probably lovely cozy warm in there! Wolves and foxes and Inuit people can’t all be wrong - snow is a great insulator.

And the fact that ~85lb Malamute is probably a 70lb dog...the rest is fur.

[Jarlaxle]

In other pet news...the new cat followed wife and self down to the door this morning. Grabbed the shovels out of the laundry room, open the door from there to the (unheated) garage, let Valas curl up in the laundry room...and discover there is a waist-high drift against the door going outside, so it won't open. And against the garage door...which also has been thoroughly draft-proofed for winter. So...we decided that, rather than have to shovel out the garage and re-seal the door, or go out the other side and have to either shovel our way around the house or wade through the snowdrifts, one of us would climb out the laundry room window, walk around the corner, and knock down enough of the drift to open the door.

A quick comparison of the window and my midesction meant that my wife was the one who would go out the window...she put her gloves on, grabbed the small shovel (big one won't fit through the window), into the laundry room, I opened the window and removed the screen. Cat sees this, jumps onto the shelf next to the window, then out the window to the pristine white surface about a foot below.

Of course...Valas promptly vanished into the about-2.5-foot-deep snow.

Now, my wife's initial plan-feet first, sit on the sill, drop to the ground-is done, she's afraid of landing on the cat. So, with absolutely zero prompting from me (I suggested leaning out the window and knocking snow clear) and no hesitation, my cold-hating wife climbed halfway out the window into 16-degree cold, reached into a snowdrift, and began...cat-fishing? She seemed to find something, because she pulled herself out a bit more...and fell into the snowdrift. (At this point, I'm really hoping she's OK, because I will NOT fit out that window unless I take my heavy coat off.) She seemed to sort of roll over, then stood up, covered with snow. In her hands is a skinny, cold tuxedo cat wearing about half his weight in snow, and clearly re-evaluating his recent life choices. She hands that bloody cat to me, and he's shivering, trying to climb into my hat. I get him off my face, and close the window, at which point my not-amused wife taps on it. She, of course, needs the shovel, so I open the window, carefully pass the shovel out...and Valas goes running out the window and jumps onto her, attempting to climb into the hood of her coat. (I wish I'd recorded it, except for the fact she'd have jammed a snow shovel somewhere unpleasant.) Valas climbs into her coat, into the hood, and sort of curls up behind her neck like a scarf. Rather than get him out, she signals to me to shut the window and starts shoveling.

About an hour later, we'd dug the cars out, went back in, we stopped in the laundry room to take off our coats so they'd dry...and Valas hadn't moved. He was sleeping soundly. My wife, OTOH, was wet and cold after her snowbank-dive.

[Bicycle Bill]

Snowpocalypse?  Snowmageddon?  Alberta Clippers and Saskatchewan Screamers?  Downbursts?  Microbursts?  Derechos?  Bomb cyclones?  And now, Bombogenesis?

I'm glad I was born and raised in Wisconsin, back in the days before weather experts competed with one another to come up with yet another fear-enhancing term for "strong winds" or "big snowstorm".  We took whatever came, and once it was done got out the shovels (no snowblowers in OUR household) and dealt with it ... although one time back in the early 1970s we got about two and a half feet in a day and a half, so we did do that one in shifts — shoveling down to bare sidewalk once or twice while it was still snowing so that when the storm finally stopped we didn't have to deal with a thigh-high expanse of white stuff.

And an aside to Jarl — don't you have a second exit to your residence, usually referred to as the back door, on a different side of the house?  I don't think I've ever seen a single snowstorm or storm system drift all four sides of a structure so deep that you couldn't force a door open, even part-way, so whatever side was opposite your laundry room door should have been reasonably clear.

-"BB"-

[Gob]

Western Isles Weather Stations Network



Wind speeds on the Western Isles this Sunday evening were among the highest seen in several years. What makes this occurrence even more unique is that many of the weather stations reported a spike in wind speeds very quickly, with some reporting wind speeds of 20mph and then quickly gusting to over 90mph in the space of just 20 minutes. The following is a list of stations that reported gusts of at least 70mph; some of them went offline after losing power.

Newmarket Stornoway 105mph at 6.19pm (another station in the area reported gusts of 91mph at 6.18pm, 6.24pm & 6.34pm)
Breasclete Pier 103mph at 6.00pm
Habost Isle of Lewis 95mph (shortly before 6.00pm)
Stornoway Met Office Site 92mph at 7.00pm
Aird Uig Isle of Lewis 92mph at 5.00pm (station went offline moments later)
Stornoway Port 91mph at 6.20pm
Isle of Scalpay 89mph at 6.00pm
Shawbost Isle of Lewis 87mph at 5.58pm
Stornoway Airport 86mph at 6.20pm
Breasclete Isle of Lewis 81mph at 6.05pm
South Uist Met Office Site 76mph at 5.00pm
Benbecula Airport 76mph at 4.50pm
Lochboisdale South Uist 75mph at 4.30pm
Castlebay Isle of Barra 74mph at 4.00pm
Bunavoneadar Harris 74mph at 5.19pm & 5.49pm
Marybank Stornoway 73mph at 7.13pm (station went offline shortly afterwards)
Enaclete Isle of Lewis 72mph at 5.49pm (station stopped reporting shortly after)
Gerinish South Uist 70mph at 4.44pm & 5.00pm

[Guinevere]

That’s a lot of wind!

Are those islands inhabited?

[Gob]

Yep!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_h-Eile ... stituency)

[Long Run]

I'm still stuck...there's about a 6' snowbank from the DPW plow at the end of the driveway. Waiting on the plow guy to take it apart.

They don't have the snow gate attachment on their plows?

[Jarlaxle]

Snowpocalypse?  Snowmageddon?  Alberta Clippers and Saskatchewan Screamers?  Downbursts?  Microbursts?  Derechos?  Bomb cyclones?  And now, Bombogenesis?

I'm glad I was born and raised in Wisconsin, back in the days before weather experts competed with one another to come up with yet another fear-enhancing term for "strong winds" or "big snowstorm".  We took whatever came, and once it was done got out the shovels (no snowblowers in OUR household) and dealt with it ... although one time back in the early 1970s we got about two and a half feet in a day and a half, so we did do that one in shifts — shoveling down to bare sidewalk once or twice while it was still snowing so that when the storm finally stopped we didn't have to deal with a thigh-high expanse of white stuff.

This really was a bad one. We had steady 30-40mph winds (stronger on the coast-I'm inland), and gusts matching a hurricane. (Peak gust on Cape Cod was over 90mph.)

And an aside to Jarl — don't you have a second exit to your residence, usually referred to as the back door, on a different side of the house?  I don't think I've ever seen a single snowstorm or storm system drift all four sides of a structure so deep that you couldn't force a door open, even part-way, so whatever side was opposite your laundry room door should have been reasonably clear.

-"BB"-

Maybe if you actually READ what I posted you could answer your own question!