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neek
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 9:14 am 
All this salt is going to attract mountain goats by the thousands. Please keep your kids inside.

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gb
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 9:14 am 
I must admit I went to the grocery store also to stock up on food, and grocery check-out lines were about 10 minutes. Stock was depleted. But the panic is overdone as this first snowstorm now looks to be very ordinary as it snows from about 3pm to 10PM-12AM in Seattle. The next heralded storm now stays well south of Puget Sound. But later in the week we could still get hammered again. The cold looks to continue.

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Joey
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 9:20 am 
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puzzlr
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 3:11 pm 
The Washington State Climatologist wrote an article in the February 2019 newsletter about a cold snap in Feb 1989. We were first time home owners for only three years at that point and weren't fully up on protecting our pipes from freezing -- we definitely got an education.
Quote:
What a Blast: The Arctic-Air Outbreak of February 1989 This edition of the OWSC newsletter more or less coincides with the 30th anniversary of the severe cold snap of early February 1989. Last month we reviewed the record warm anomalies that occurred in January 1953; perhaps it makes some sense to take a look at the other side of the coin. Moreover, the record cold experienced in the Midwestern US during the last week of January made those of us that are fond of cold weather reminiscence about colder than normal weather in our neck of the woods. The stage was set for our event in Alaska during late January 1989. Bitterly cold air masses are no stranger in the interior of the 49th state, but this one was a doozy. For example, every single day during the last two weeks of the month included temperatures at least 40 degrees below normal in Tanana, AK with the temperature bottoming out at -76°F on 27 January. ... We close with musings about the prospects for a future arctic blast of comparable ferocity. It is definitely possible, but perhaps it would be a stretch to call it probable. As reviewed in this space in the monthly newsletter for January 2018, the incidence of monthly circulation patterns favoring extremely cold temperatures in WA has really dropped off in recent decades. In fact, February 1989 represents the last occurrence of either of the two coldest circulation patterns found in analysis of the period of 1948 through 2017. A repeat of the weather we enjoyed 30 years ago would require both the precursor build-up of exceptionally cold air, followed by evolution in the flow over western North America to deliver it to our backyards. With that said, I don’t think any of us at OWSC would have guessed a year ago that the Midwest would experience a record cold event of the magnitude of the one that just occurred, so we’re not discounting surprises in our own backyards. From a more local perspective, not that long ago there was little indication that there would be snow in the Puget Sound lowlands, with more apparently on the way!

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gb
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 3:49 pm 
I seriously doubt that the Arctic can get as cold as it did 30 years ago, especially over a fairly large area. But frequent jet stream loops could still bring yet very cold air masses to locations they did not go previously (except minimally). Hence, my guess would be that there could still be record low temperatures, but not in high latitudes. Perhaps at some point LA or San Diego for examples? This current airmass, though, would probably not reach temperatures in the Seattle Metro area below perhaps 14F. But, we will see. The time of year makes that degree of cold even less likely.

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moonspots
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 6:06 pm 
treeswarper wrote:
I do not know how this house was plumbed so I've been doing the drippy faucet thing.
Oh, no! Don't do that! I did that once, cost me a trip from the plumber to crawl under the mobile home with a torpedo heater. shakehead.gif

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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Chief Joseph
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 6:22 pm 
moonspots wrote:
Well, for Chief Joseph's benefit, I'll relay that my phone app reports -26F this morning as I get into my first cup of coffee.... Wife said the morning weather map on the news said it's -32F. Well, one of 'em might be correct, but either way, it's quite chilly! Western border (ND/Montana) reports -36F.
Lol...like I have said before 20 below with no wind was a "Bluebird Day" during a ND winter.

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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treeswarper
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 8:57 pm 
I have used the drippy faucet method for years, in a travel trailer, mobile home and regular house.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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Chief Joseph
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 9:55 pm 
treeswarper wrote:
I have used the drippy faucet method for years, in a travel trailer, mobile home and regular house.
I heard it works as well and have used that method at my property in Verlot with outdoor plumbing. Quick Google Search... "Letting a faucet drip during extreme cold weather can prevent a pipe from bursting. It's not that a small flow of water prevents freezing; this helps, but water can freeze even with a slow flow. ... If there is no excessive water pressure, there is no burst pipe, even if the water inside the pipe freezes.".

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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moonspots
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 11:42 pm 
Chief Joseph wrote:
treeswarper wrote:
I have used the drippy faucet method for years, in a travel trailer, mobile home and regular house.
I heard it work as well and have used that method at my property in Verlot with outdoor plumbing. Quick Google Search... "Letting a faucet drip during extreme cold weather can prevent a pipe from bursting. It's not that a small flow of water prevents freezing; this helps, but water can freeze even with a slow flow. ... If there is no excessive water pressure, there is no burst pipe, even if the water inside the pipe freezes.".
Ok, I'll just relate my experience with this (which is why I advised against leaving the water drip slowly), and that was the drippy water method *may* have prevented the water supply pipe from freezing one time, I don't know. But the small water flow down the drain froze and blocked the entire drain to the mobile home. eek.gif It was costly to get a guy out with torpedo heater to climb under the house and warm everything up. ND, mid-winter, maybe 1976, or '77? Probably colder than what you've dealt with, so maybe that's the difference. I've also had the water pipe supplying outside faucet burst in the basement celling when I forgot to remove the hose before freeze-up, and the faucet had been left "on", but the hose sprayer was "off"... Grrrr. However, the neat thing about this event was that the ceiling paint expanded into a bubble about the size of a tennis ball as the water seeped down through the sheetrock. When I poked it with a pin to drain it, the paint went back to normal by morning and to this day, I cannot see where that occurred. Anyway, that's all I know about that. Carryon....

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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moonspots
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moonspots
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PostFri Feb 08, 2019 11:44 pm 
Chief Joseph wrote:
Lol...like I have said before 20 below with no wind was a "Bluebird Day" during a ND winter.
Yes, that's true enough. agree.gif

"Out, OUT you demons of Stupidity"! - St Dogbert, patron Saint of Technology
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gb
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PostSun Feb 10, 2019 8:40 am 
This was the coldest night with Boeing Field hitting a 14F minimum, but numerous single digit lows in the north half of Western Washington and 3F at Echo Lake and Arlington airport. Jasper is -39C and Kamloops hit a low of -16.1 C with a daily record low of -17.5C and weather records dating to 1951. Tonight's forecast Kamloops low is -18C so it is right around a record low temperature. (from Environment Canada). As a teenager I really learned to ski powder snow at Todd Mountain - now Sun Mountain - back in the late 60's. We took family vacations there over Xmas and also in late winter. There was a thermometer of I think the Stockman Hotel in Kamloops and I would look at it as we passed through. We were there over Xmas and at that time in a very cold winter likely 67-68 or 68-69 and the coldest temperatures were right around 0 to -5F. At the end of the Arctic outbreak we drove into a snowstorm heading home in the Fraser River Canyon where warm Pacific air was meeting the Arctic air. It was snowing like I had and have never seen it snow. On Highway 1 north of Boston Bar loose snow avalanches were coming down and we reached a point where one had blocked the highway about 4' deep and there was an old light blue 50's car nose-in to the avalanche past the driver's door. My dad had from his work a huge 4 door International with 4WD and a winch and we pulled the car out of the slide and then my dad rammed his way through the avalanche. At Boston Bar we stopped for dinner and were told the highway to the south was impassable due to a large avalanche. After dinner and in about one hour I walked out to look at the vehicle and there was about 14" of new snow on the hood and roof. We tried to sleep at the Hotel but all was booked and we crashed on the stairway among other stranded travelers. Perhaps an hour or so later we were led to the fire station where we bunked for the night. Overnight there was about 36" of new snow that fell but eventually it warmed up from the teens and the highway was reopened after the snow had stopped and turned to rain. We did make it home that day.

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treeswarper
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treeswarper
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PostSun Feb 10, 2019 9:51 am 
This just seems odd. This is the time of year when a chinook wind often starts up and spring break up starts along with weight limits on roads. Instead, it is 11 degrees here, has not warmed up at all this morning. It is clear and the wind is still howling. We have mini drifts.

What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities
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iron
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PostSun Feb 10, 2019 11:16 am 
BITD when i was 14 years old, i had a paper route that was converted from afternoon delivery to morning delivery (back when milwaukee had two newspapers). one morning, when i biked to the newspaper station to pick up my load of 120 papers, i passed the bank which read -25F. it was about 3am. no phones. no spare tires. no lights. my route was about 5 miles on, what seemed like at the time, big hills. there was a field i would cut through to connect two dead end roads. that day of -25F, i had to push the bike about 300 yards through thigh deep snow. i think the bike fell over a time or two. it sucked to pick up newspapers as they came out of the basket. but, i didn't think anything of it at the time. just seemed normal.

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Chief Joseph
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PostSun Feb 10, 2019 12:09 pm 
And that ^^^ is the reason you are the hardworking, upstanding young man that you are today, like me! Is this the route you took to school Iron?

Go placidly amid the noise and waste, and remember what comfort there may be in owning a piece thereof.
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