Snowpocalypse 2014

[revanne]

Scary pictures - glad you made it home Evie. And loved the picture of the coffee notice. The Weather is certainly doing weird things - my elder DD who is a climate change ecologist would have things to say. She makes the four last things of Advent (heaven, hell, death and judgement to refresh your memories) sound positively cheerful.

Like Annie said our problem is floods - not too bad where I am in Birkenhead (near Liverpool) but the south is bad; one village has been cut off for over a month and they can only get in and out by boat.

Anyone up to speed on weather working...

[Evie]

DH has gone to retrieve the car,  so all you weather workers can start working your road thawing mojo.

Acts of kindness during times like these,  such as the free coffee,  folks with four wheelers offering people rides,  and that Facebook emergency page,  are the normal response that folks in these parts tend to have at times like this,  which is one reason I love living here. There is a strong sense of community and caring for one's neighbor in times of need, even if that neighbor is a stranger. Granted, there are some exceptions,  and also a shining few whose efforts on other's behalf are exceptionally noteworthy.  But for the most part,  people here tend to pull together as much as they are able at times like this. After a major tornado or wind storm (which is what the average person is better equipped to handle here), you really see this.  We're like worker bees rebuilding a damaged hive.  It's to the point that we can counton the different area churches to provide  different and complementary aspects of disaster relief.  For example,  the Baptists provide training in chain saw safety and soup kitchens,  Methodists provide first responder training,  the Catholic and Presbyterian churches tend to provide shelters and food/clothing,  etc. , with the various efforts coordinating to ensure as much as possible that needs are being met.

Just got a text from DH; he and DD got to the car with no problem and they are on their way to check on his mom's house before coming back home. 

[Elkhound]

Kalamazoo?  Were you at Kalamazoo College or Western Michigan University?  I was born in Kalamazoo.

[Aerlys]

Kalamazoo?  Were you at Kalamazoo College or Western Michigan University?  I was born in Kalamazoo.

WMU  in good ol' K-zoo

Evie, I'm glad you are so blessed with such a wonderful community, and that things will be thawing out soon. Stay warm and safe!

[AnnieUK]

Should I be worried about why the Baptists have chain saws? 

And it obviously all happens in Kalamazoo. A good friend of mine was born there, too, and gave the name to one of her cats, although it was usually known as Kally.

[Evie]

Should I be worried about why the Baptists have chain saws? 

ROFL!  Yeah, that does sound ominous, doesn't it?  Don't worry, it's not like they're gearing up for the Baptist Chain Saw Massacre. 

No, the simple answer is that "disaster relief" in the South usually means cleaning up in the aftermath of a tornado or some other major windstorm, which means a lot of fallen trees and/or debris from shingles or even whole roofs getting blown off houses and the like.  So the chain saws are necessary to help clear the roads of branches or whole trees that have toppled over onto them (or to get said fallen trees out of someone's living room), blocking emergency vehicles from getting through (or preventing roof repairs).  And the "first responder" training that the Methodist church offers via UMCOR is actually more disaster relief training than the standard Red Cross first aid sort of training.  It deals with things from basic chain saw safety, to how to handle and clear debris safely, how to clean up after a flood, what can be salvaged and what needs to be trashed, how to patch up a hole in a roof with a tarp until it can be fixed permanently, and even how to provide effective first responder services from a mental health standpoint until the professionals can get there, etc.  I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw.  I'll gladly ladle soup, though.   

[Aerlys]

I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw.

Yes, you already have enough spare limbs and heads around your house as it is. 

[Evie]

I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw.

Yes, you already have enough spare limbs and heads around your house as it is. 

[Laurna]

Quote from: Aerlys on Today at 12:03:34 pm

    Quote from: Evie on Today at 10:20:04 am

        I've been through UMCOR training, but trust me, no one wants to see me handling a chain saw.


    Yes, you already have enough spare limbs and heads around your house as it is. 

ROFL

And Please Evie! Take note;  solving your own shoulder pain Can Not be remedied by finding a new compatible replacement part.
Please, Please, Please,  leave the chain saw handling to someone else.

(Sending mental thoughts of warmer weather and healing powers your direction.)

[Shiral]

We all know how to deal with  the conditions we can predict in our area.  (Alas, there's no warning alarm invented for earthquakes--that would be helpful!).But our architecture  on newer buildings is designed to cause the minimal damage possible because we've studied Seismological motion. A similar earthquake to Loma Prieta in Chicago would be devastating.  But this was a weird, far reaching storm bringing snow where we wouldn't think it normally fell. Atlanta? Alabama? NOLA? It's the Snowpocalypse, Charlie Brown!

We did finally get a little rain over in Cali this week. Not enough, but at least it washed away some dust and smog. Hoping there's more where it came from, though. We sure need it.
Melissa

[Evie]

I was pretty shocked at the thought of snow in New Orleans myself!  What's next, equatorial glaciers?     Snow here in Birmingham isn't quite so unusual--we do see the occasional snowfall here, though more often we just get brief flurries or the occasional languid snowflake drifting lazily through the air looking lost and alone--but what made this storm so devastating was that we not only got more snow and ice (especially ICE) than we normally do, but it also hit in the middle of the workday, after schools and businesses had opted to remain open because the weather prediction was for the snow and ice to pass south of our area.  We were only supposed to get a light dusting with no accumulation.  So when the snow started to fall shortly after the workday started, no one was particularly worried.  It was only after an hour had passed and we started to realize that this stuff was coming down much more heavily than predicted, and that it was sticking, that we started to realize there was a potential problem.  And by the time decisions were made to shut down schools and businesses, the roads were already fairly close to impassible.  I have seen quite a few icy days here, but I have never seen ice form on roads that quickly during daylight hours.  Normally it's at night and early morning hours that we have major ice problems, and especially when we know ahead of time to expect that, everyone is quite sensibly at home during those hours, not in the middle of their workday routine.

Small earthquakes don't particularly bother me, probably since I spent parts of my early childhood living near the San Andreas and New Madrid faults, but I'm glad I've never had to experience a large one!  We have reportedly had a couple of earthquakes in nearby states in the past couple of decades that could be felt as far south as Birmingham, but they were middle of the night occurrences, and I slept through both.   We get the occasional hurricane, but they nearly always get downgraded to tropical storm status by the time they get this far inland, and even when they don't, the damage isn't all that different from what we get with a severe thunderstorm or tornado weather.  The main difference is that during a hurricane our hotels are full of evacuees from the coastal areas who couldn't find any vacancies closer to home.  And again, if we know a hurricane is going to make a direct hit on our coastline, we go ahead and close schools and businesses for that day, even though we're six hours inland, just because Birmingham becomes the Land of Falling Trees anytime there's soggy ground and a high wind.

[revanne]

We did finally get a little rain over in Cali this week. Not enough, but at least it washed away some dust and smog. Hoping there's more where it came from, though. We sure need it.
Melissa

If someone can persuade the jet stream to go the other way we've got lots and lots of rain which the folk in the south west of the UK would only be too glad to share. Am not clever enough to send links but there are some fairly dramatic pictures of the main railway line to Cornwall being swept away by a storm surge at a place called Dawlish.

[Elkhound]

We're getting snow too, but fortunately not enough to accumulate much.

[AnnieUK]

This is what parts of Somerset look like. If I was the driver of that train, I'd be pretty worried.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26083171

Some pretty impressive waves in Cornwall (the bit that sticks out at the far South-West)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26070143

[Evie]

Wow, scary looking pictures there, Annie!