The First Winter Storm of 2022

[Big Frank]

I know a lot of you have already been hit by the big blizzard or are about to be, but how bad wais it or is it expected to be? It's snowing here in my part of Michigan where the storm waning went into effect at 7:00 pm. There was some rain or drizzle first, then snow on top, so it will be like driving on grease now. The storm should be over by 4:00 am Saturday with only 3-6 inches of accumulation according to the latest forecast. That's a little better than before, but snow is like sex. You never know how much you're going to get, or how long it's going to last. The winds gusting to 55 mph, and 15 below zero wind chills are going to be good reasons to stay indoors and try to keep warm. I don't need to go anywhere so I'll spend most of my time under an electric blanket. Sooner or later I have to put the plow on my ATV. I really should have done it sooner so I don't have to drag my 5'x8' utility trailer through the snow to get it out of the way to plow.

It will be a bad time to go fishing in Saginaw Bay too, with waves 6-8 feet high. And there's an abnormally low water warring too. 2 feet BELOW the LOW WATER datum. Winds up to 30 knots and gusts up to 53 knots (45-60) mph out of the west must be blowing the water out into Lake Huron. I was a mile out in the bay in a 15' boat once when the water started to get choppy. A storm blew in out of nowhere and the waves were bad by the time we got back to shore, but not 8' high! Waves half the length of the boat go beyond bad news. It would be even worse in the 12' boat.

[crusader rabbit]

Here in Western North Carolina, I woke up to 9 degree weather this morning.  Wind chill takes it down to a comfortable -12.

Crusader Rabbit

[alfsauve]

Michael has been posting on FB the rather harsh conditions at the bunker.  And Kevin is rubbing it in with his 50s in SW FL.

Nothing like yousguys north of the 34 parallel, but Here in ATL OTP we woke up to 13degrees with a high this pm of probably around 18.  Harsh for ATL.  Winds gusting pretty high so wind chill is pretty low. 

We did our grocery shopping yesterday so we’re all good for the next week, except last night Miss Kitty informs me she needs 3 LR44 batteries for one of the grand’s Christmas present!  Who keeps LR44s in stock at home?  AA, AAA, C,D, 9V, 2032, 2016, sure, but not LR44.  I’ll wait till tomorrow when it will get into the 20s.









OTP = Outside The Perimeter.
To go ITP you need a visa, shot records and extra magazines.

[Pathfinder]

Savannah was 52 degrees this AM, and has dropped by noon to 47, with a low tonight of 21 expected. We are not used to these temps, even though when I lived in ND, -25 was "normal" during the hard winter months of January of February. I pulled a neighbor's truck off I-29 back to our town west of Fargo in -28 temps with about 30mph winds. If you live there, you are ready for it.

I'm expecting some of the plants here to die with the temp in the 20s, but other than that, I'm not too worried - all of the water pipes come up through in the slab (not in the walls), although the underground supply pipes might start having problems if the sub-freezing cold lasts a week or so.

[Rastus]

We got up to 9  where I am in Arkansas.  We were down to -5 or less.  Tonight -7.  All actual temps, no wind chill factors.

A lot of wind and a dusting of snow along with the cold is what we got.  I'm glad in a way that we didn't have snow because it's easy to drive but it's also colder.

[Sponsor]

[TAB]

I have a friend in Wyoming... it was -52 last night... nope, nope and hell nope.

[Big Frank]

I have a friend in Wyoming... it was -52 last night... nope, nope and hell nope.

OH H*** NO! It's been getting too cold in the south. It's funny sometimes when a guy in Texas tells me how cold it is there when it's warmer here. He might be freezing and I'm comfortable. Then in summer the temps get up to something stupid like 120 where he is. No thanks. When you're too cold you can put more clothes on to stay warm, but when you're too hot you run out of things to take off and you're still too hot. With my cold-blooded 96 degree body temperature* I have a low tolerance for heat and could never live down south.

*Measured at one of my doctor's office Wednesday to make sure I'm not infected with COVID-19.

[Rastus]

I have a friend in Wyoming... it was -52 last night... nope, nope and hell nope.

Yeah, that's terrible.  I was on a well performing a frac in Wyoming when it got to -23 or so.  I can't imagine colder. 

I did learn what a blizzard really is though.

[alfsauve]

I have a friend in Wyoming... it was -52 last night... nope, nope and hell nope.

Thanks to USAF I trained/worked at -30f but only for a week.  Then a few years later I spent a day in an environmental chamber at -26f.  That’s it.  None of the stuff we’re seeing this year is for me.  If it weren’t for all the grand kids that are here,I’d be joining Kevin in SWFL.  When I got out of the AF Miss Kitty and I made a pact not to live above the 34th parallel.  I’d like to move below the 30th now

[Big Frank]

The west side of Michigan gets a lot of lake effect snow every winter, from the air picking up moisture as it blows across Lake Michigan. It dumps on them even when there's barely a flurry here. But this weekend there was lake effect snow down the I-69 corridor. I-69 runs right through the middle of Flint and we were getting lake effect snow HERE, 130 miles due east of the lake-shore! I've lived here 61 years and don't recall them ever saying we got lake effect snow before. We've had a lot of storms come out of Canada, hit Minnesota and Wisconsin on the way here, and were still going strong. And they always dumped the lake effect snow near the coast to the best of my knowledge. It might not be unusual for it to cover 30 miles, but 130?