El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (Full Version)

All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid



Message

Vendaval -> El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/10/2009 1:06:33 PM)

Head's up folks, it's that season again.

EL NIÑO/SOUTHERN OSCILLATION (ENSO)
DIAGNOSTIC DISCUSSION

issued by

CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER/NCEP
9 July 2009

Synopsis: El Niño conditions will continue to develop and are expected to last through the Northern Hemisphere Winter 2009-2010.

"Expected El Niño impacts during July-September 2009 include enhanced precipitation over the central and west-central Pacific Ocean, along with the continuation of drier than average conditions over Indonesia. Temperature and precipitation impacts over the United States are typically weak during the Northern Hemisphere Summer and early Fall, and generally strengthen during the late Fall and Winter. El Niño can help to suppress Atlantic hurricane activity by increasing the vertical wind shear over the Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean. The NOAA Atlantic Seasonal Hurricane Outlook issued in May (will be updated on Aug. 6th) indicates the highest probabilities for a near-average season."

http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html



sub4hire -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 6:26:13 AM)

South Dakota just got 6 inches of rain in the past 4 days...well 5 days I was told that a day ago.
While we who live a mere 50 miles from the South Dakota border have gotten nothing.

It seems some areas aren't experiencing el nino affects.




LaTigresse -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 7:40:00 AM)

I have heard that is what is causing our cooler and more wet summer, which is fine with me. Unfortunately it is supposed to give us a nastier winter also.



ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 7:50:36 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

I have heard that is what is causing our cooler and more wet summer, which is fine with me. Unfortunately it is supposed to give us a nastier winter also.



Far out! Everyone else's idea of a nasty winter is my idea of a winter wonderland!

I'm stoked...



sub4hire -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 7:51:10 AM)

Yep that is what they said last year to.  I haven't been here long enough to know what nasty is.  You hear stories of how they plowed the street and the snow was 12 feet high so it was like you were driving through a tunnel.  Seems more than a bit hard to believe.

last year we only plowed 5-6 times..the winter before we plowed much more.  Not that its a good judge.




LaTigresse -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 7:53:06 AM)

There have been winters I remember where the snow got that deep. It makes for dangerous intersections. For some reason now we get less snow but much more ice. Lots of ice storms the last few years.



sub4hire -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 7:59:48 AM)

I hate the ice since moving here.  Well, I have always hated the ice.  I really hate it now that it never gets warm enough for it not to be on the street when you are driving.
Of course small towns...they don't even attempt to put salt or sand down.  It's just great...one of our neighbors took out my apple tree last year coming out of his driveway.  I went outside to plow...realized someone had done a spin out in the yard...two feet from my brand new car.  Tree down. 

Yep the year we moved here was the biggest ice storm that ever hit Nebraska...two months after we got here.  The closest it got to us was one small block away..and those people were without power for 12 month's.  We were very fortunate to say the least. 



ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 8:02:28 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

There have been winters I remember where the snow got that deep. It makes for dangerous intersections. For some reason now we get less snow but much more ice. Lots of ice storms the last few years.


I don't know how long you've been living up here, but I remember that when I was a kid, all the gas stations used to give away brightly-colored styrofoam balls, about the size of tennis balls, to stick on the end of your car antenna. The snowbanks were so high, it was often the only way you could tell there was another car coming at the intersections. It used to be like that every winter, but it's been many years since I've seen a winter that bad. I kind of miss it, but then I'm weird that way.



LaTigresse -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 8:02:43 AM)

Make sure you have a generator. If it gets too icy, I simply stay home. If the boss doesn't like it, he can fire me.



sub4hire -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 10:43:04 AM)


We have a small one.  Do we need a larger one?  The one I have I brought with me from the west coast...it could power a heater or something...a small heater.  Nothing major.
How large is the one you have?  It will at least give me something to go off of.  I've thought about the whole generator idea before as you can imagine. 



LaTigresse -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 11:14:06 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: sub4hire


We have a small one.  Do we need a larger one?  The one I have I brought with me from the west coast...it could power a heater or something...a small heater.  Nothing major.
How large is the one you have?  It will at least give me something to go off of.  I've thought about the whole generator idea before as you can imagine. 



I suck at remembering numbers. I could describe the thing but power output....meh.

So, I found a link to one just like it.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=153679-348-30435&lpage=none

It won't power the entire house but it will provide electricity to the fridge, some lights and the power supply for the pellet stove. Because we have the pellet stove we don't need a huge thing that would have to be hard wired into the house power supply system. It would also run some space heaters if needed. We use a pellet stove for the bulk of our heat so running the funace isn't an issue.

Just make sure you also have proper cords to get inside the house from the generator. We've got a little shed type thing for the generator right off the patio and a little flap door thing to run the main power cord into the house.

It isn't cheap but better than having a side of beef and a hog defrost and go bad, not to mention pipes freezing and breaking.

And Panda, I've lived here in Iowa most of my life (except for a few brief forays). More and more I hate winter. When the first ice storm hits I will expect you waiting, in my lane(which had better be plowed free of snow also), with heated car to drive me the 60 miles to work.......then back home again in the evening.



sub4hire -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 11:45:26 AM)

You have a Lowes?  I thought you were rural like us?  Hehe.

That one is a bit larger than the one I have.  Still though it isn't as pricey as I thought they would be.
Originally I thought it would be around ten grand. 

Living here without electricity is a scary thought...the entire house is electric and it has went off more in the 2 and a half
years we have been here than it had in my entire life in California.
We need electric for the well to work..let alone hot water.  Pipes.  I bought the amish heaters last year..never turned on the
heat pump once. 




LaTigresse -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 12:58:42 PM)

If you want a standby generator to power your whole house, something to hard wire in that will kick on when the power goes off, it will cost closer to the 10 grand.



DesFIP -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 3:50:16 PM)

That's on my wish list for if I win the lottery, propane powered that will automatically come one by itself and I can attach it to the propane tank.

In the meantime, I drag buckets of water from the water tank that comes from the well and from the oversized hot water tank to use in the toilets and for washing. The gas grill has one burner I can put a tea kettle on. We pull mattresses and sleeping bags around the wood stove. And if it goes more than a couple of days we beg our friends use of their shower. Oh and we eat out for dinner.

But we mainly lose power from flooding, not ice.



thornhappy -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 4:11:34 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

There have been winters I remember where the snow got that deep. It makes for dangerous intersections. For some reason now we get less snow but much more ice. Lots of ice storms the last few years.

...too warm for snow.

When I was a kid up north, every winter would have a few spells of -20F, the Maumee would be frozen most of the winter, and it would ice dam each spring.  Not so anymore.



sub4hire -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 4:42:17 PM)

We don't have a tank for our well.  Although I can hook up the generator to the pump if need be.  It wouldn't be something I would want to do...but I can do it.
I watched them drill the new well...it doesn't appear to be rocket science...just basic electricity.

I have never tried to hook up anything but a lamp to our generator yet.  Though it is larger than the old generator I had....maybe it is time to see how much it can power?



ThatDamnedPanda -> RE: El Niño conditions, winter 2009-2010 (7/15/2009 10:38:21 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse


And Panda, I've lived here in Iowa most of my life (except for a few brief forays). More and more I hate winter. When the first ice storm hits I will expect you waiting, in my lane(which had better be plowed free of snow also), with heated car to drive me the 60 miles to work.......then back home again in the evening.



But of course. If you would only be so kind as to e-mail me a list of the CDs you'd like available for the sound system (which of course will be adjusted to focus on the occupant of  the front passenger seat), what sort of coffee you'd like, and your preference in newspapers, I will endeavour to provide the best possible service. For one hour in the morning, and one hour in the evening, you can forget you're in Iowa, and imagine you're in Tigressalvania.



Page: [1]

Valid CSS!




Collarchat.com © 2025
Terms of Service Privacy Policy Spam Policy
0.03125