weather
 

We are under a tornado watch until 4:00 pm. The torcan value is a 9. :eek: When did they start having torcan values?

What is a torcan value? :confused:

Chances of getting hit by a tornado -- according to the weather channel. 10 is the highest. Or it is an index developed just to freak people like me out.:rolleyes:

We're having warm and drizzly weather here today. I think it's in the 60's. There is bad weather to the north and west of us but we're not supposed to get any severe weather. Ohio and Illinois look like they're right in the middle of it. Ya'll stay safe!

So far, in my neck of the Ohio woods, is just drizzly, and a little breezy.
Hope it doesn't get worse..:eek:

Stay safe all:grouphug:

It has been lightly raining and 60 degrees in the Greater Pittsburgh, PA area. haven't heard any news so don't know what is up tonight.

ANN

I just saw on the news that there were two tornadoes in southern IL. I hope everyone is okay. I think the town they mentioned was Washington. Where is DebbieD from in IL?

Naperville -- outside of Chicago. Lots of damage northwest and south of here. We were lucky.

Again the weather missed us. Some day we are going to be like the little boy who cried wolf to many times. It hit all around us but not here. The pictures are terrible.

I'm so glad that it missed your area Doydie.

Even with the news reports and videos on the internet news, the impact that the storms have had on people and their lives is hard to fathom.
What a tragedy.

Prayers for all those affected, their families and their friends.

With love, Erika

Amen, Erika!!!:grouphug:

Sandy is also in Illinois, and they live south of me which is a bad area for tornados. Southern and northern DeKalb County always seem to get it worst. We are central and haven't had much damage in our town, but now that our trees are getting big, who knows?

When I was a kid, we had a tree split and crushed the roof of our house and landed on the other side in our driveway. Two minutes before it happened I was upstairs in my bedroom watching the tornado from my window. :eek::rolleyes:

Washington IL got hit very badly. We had emergency cell site techs come into our store yesterday to get supplies to take and help people get phone service.
When there's a storm or disaster, Verizon sends out emergency generators and cell sites to keep communication open. That's one of the things I love about my company. They also have free calling and texting to the Philippines.

I was thinking about and comparing both situations and at least we can get help to our disasters here quickly, compared to how it is for the typhoon victims.

I feel so bad for those areas in IL and IN who now have to deal with the horrible cold weather due...:hug:

Here in Texas where I am, we have been in the 20's the last three days. Currently it is snowing.

YIKES!
Just saw some news videos on the Internet about the storms going on in Atlantic and southern USA.

Stay safe everyone...especially if you plan to travel over your upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

May the storms blow over quickly, without further damage or injuries.

With love, Erika

This extreme weather the planet is experiencing is so scary….

Snow on the roof this morning. Cold, but not terribly. The usual Ohio
winter carp.:D This planet has always had extreme weather happenings,
Debbie. It's just that we hear so much more about it now and our dear
weather peeps love to scare the **** out of us..:D:rolleyes:!!

I remember, in the early 50s, in a November, having a Blizzard, with
heavy snow and lightening. The snow was so deep, there was no driving
anywhere and because it all froze, the schools were closed for two weeks.:eek:

I remember being in Ft Lauderdale, in Feb of 1961, when a Tidal Wave
rushed in and flooded the first floor of our Hotel, across the street from
the beach. All of the cars parked along the beach were buried in sand.:eek:

In 1974, the year that I had my first symptoms of MS, a Tornado whipped
right over my house and touched down in a nearby little town of Xenia, OH,
and wiped it off of the map.:eek:

Those were just a few personal old weather happenings, so can you imagine
what was happening, at those times, elsewhere?:eek:

I think it seems worse now because of the media coverage. Everything is presented in the most dramatic fashion. Even if something is bad all by itself the media has to embellish on it to make it seem worse. :rolleyes: Years ago we didn't have all this coverage. The news came on at 6 PM and you either saw it or you didn't. Now, we've got it in our face 24/7.

Exactly....:mad:

I pretty much stopped watching TV when they turned tragedies into entertainment and the entertainment on a lot of channels became tragic.

With love, Erika

Weather forecasters call them "Clippers" - fast moving low pressure systems that track along the arctic front - typically flowing across and from the Western Canadian Provinces and East across Canada and the Northern US.

My area, which is a high plateau nestled between two mountain ranges is in the midst of one since last night. The temperature dropped from 30 to 8 Fahrenheit and the the wind is blowing the snow horizontally at 15 miles/hr.

Its not fit for humans or beasts out there and it is supposed to continue for the next day or so before the wind and snow die down here. By then it will be crossing the rocky mountains to the east and will cross Alberta and probably the northern USA.

Heads up for people who live in those area...based on its beginnings here, this one's a humdinger; lots of snow and its blowing in and through really fast. Best to take your local forecast seriously and to get any supplies you may need before it comes your way.

The one last week missed my area but dumped nearly 2 feet of the white stuff onto Alberta in a 24 hour period, picked up from there, met another storm in the east and dumped over 3 feet in some areas of Quebec, again within 24 hours.

With love, Erika

We stlli are under an ice/snow storm warning, throughout the day
and night. All the area schools have been closed, in anticipation.
We did have some freezing rain overnight, but it's just begun to
snow heavy and steady in the last 1/2HR.

I guess we will wait to see what happens??:eek::eek:
Hoping and praying for no deaths, injuries nor power outages.

Stay safe..:grouphug:

Amen Sally,

Snugggle up and stay warm. Will someone be checking on you?

We're in a deep feeze here. Temp at -20 and blowing, but at least the snow stopped for now.

With love, Erika

Stay warm Erika and northerers
 

Just the sound of the cold and your description of conditions gave me a chill.
Wish I could transport all of you this way for relief. Have the best of holidays. Stay warm. There are days like that I actually do miss, when you are stuck inside with your family. Good times.....ginnie:grouphug:

Last couple of days we have been in the teens. One day it was raining sleet.

"There are days like that I actually do miss, when you are stuck inside with your family. Good times.....ginnie"

Good times for sure, Ginnie.
Especially when 'your family' consists of a large, cuddly dog and a playful kitty that has formed an obsession with paper grocery bags. :D.
It makes having to limit outdoor time just fine.

I have an air exchanger...its called the front door. That gets opened a few times each day for a few minutes to freshen the air inside. It is so cold here that within a minute of doing that, the hardwood flooring of the living room pops and cracks from the cold air hitting it. Sort of like the house undergoes a series of chiropractic adjustments. Its an old house.

Willy the dog growls at the noise from his nest on my bed, unwilling to get up and check to see if the noise is an intruder entering the house.
As we laid there together this morning after I opened the door and returned to bed, I told him that brochure said "Guard Dog", but his expression in return, as he snuggled in deeper, seemed to say, "Ummm..No, it said "Bed Hog".

Meanwhile, Ziggy the cat provides entertainment and the incentive to get up and move around. There is food to get, plates to wash, a litter box to clean, ears to scratch and toys to toss.

Yesterday I thought that there was something wrong with the furnace because although I could here it come on, there just didn't seem to be much heat coming into the bedroom. The rest of the house was warm, but my bedroom was distinctly colder...even chilly.

I soon discovered the problem. Ziggy had taken to sneaking into the room and laying on top of the floor vent that is the narrow space between the wall and the bed when ever he heard the furnace come on, effectively blocking it. For him, it was the ideal cozy spot because only his little body fits in there and the blankets had hung over the bed to form a "heating tunnel" for him to snuggle up and hide in.

A cardboard box over one of the floor vents that is under a table in the living room has since replaced his bedroom snuggle tunnel, and so far he seems more content with that.

Dogs have owners...cats have staff :winky:.

With love, Erika

Erica- My Lily likes to be on the heat duct in the dining room. Her brother likes a corner of the rug under the dining room table that just happens to be directly over the furnace.:)

We had an ice storm last night- pellets of ice accumulating on the skylights but when I woke up- it was all gone and it's now 42?? That's good for me- I am not quite ready for the winter that deep January brings.

Keep snug- all,
ANN

Snow just started here (840am) in east central Iowa. We're expecting 2-4". Temps have been from the single digits to the upper 20's for several days. Even the weatherman says this snow will be "fluffy". I've been keeping track this season - so far we've had 1.55".

My sister in Dallas is still without power; 2 days now.

It wasn't as bad here, as expected. Bad enough, but no power outages
in my back yard...thank you Lord...:hug:. Colder than a mama fugie though.:eek:

Had good sunshine today, enough for some melting in the streets and the snow plows to do some good work. Of course the side streets are still a sheet of ice now. I get so upset about my husband. He really enjoys using my handicap placard in parking lot so that he can have a wider space. I told him tonight that I didn't need one at all when we went out. But he says as long as I am in the car he is not disobeying the law. Technically he is not but he is abusing my privelege. Some of these parking lots only have a couple of handicap spaces and I hate to see HIM taking them just to protect his car. He won't use it at those parking lots. There have been times when he has parked in one and I have walked around the store before going in, yes, just to make him mad.

I hate to say it, but we're in the midst of another clipper up here...and it appears to be heading along the same track as the one that came through last week, that is dumping snow and cold on the upper USA now.
Bundle up people...this one's a windy, cold one too.
Sheesh...what a winter this is turning out to be!

Doydie,

It is sometimes hard to get people to understand the importance of leaving the handicapped parking spaces available for those who really need them; and I admire you for trying. It really isn't so much about whether or not one is breaking the law, but whether one respects the need for the law to be there in the first place.

We have a designated handicapped parking space at the office, but we still have the occasional visitor that will park there. Most will move their vehicle if asked, but the excuse for not moving "I'll only be a few minutes, as I'm just picking someone up", gets me.

To that excuse, I have a come back.
"In the few minutes that you are parked there, someone who may need that spot can drive around the block...several times...see that the spot is taken, give up, leave and miss their appointment. You wouldn't want to be in their place, so please don't park in their space."

I used that on someone a few months back, and they moved.

With love, Erika

Lots of area schools are canceled around here due to icy rain. We had freezing drizzle most of yesterday after a few inches of snow. Lots of cars sliding off the roads or into each other too.

We have a cold rain here in Georgia. It's about 45 degrees right now. I'm tired of all this rain but just thankful it's not ice or snow.

We also had/have the freezing drizzle here today. The Schools are
on a 2 hour delay, so nothing worse expected, I guess? It's COLD!!

It's a mix here. Snow on the grass (my first this year) and slush in the drive and on the street. It's raining now and 38 degrees so it should all be slush (she says hoping) soon.

Erika - I so enjoy your tales of stocking up for the winter and hunkering down. A friend brings you a "hunk of venison" to dehydrate for Willy. BTW, you haven't mentioned Willy for days. <sigh> The gardening, canning and the freezing- I love it all- at a distance. You should be tired my now and ready for a sleepy winter.;)

ANN

Ah yes, Willy is doing just fine...at being a bed hog, that is. He becomes a major snuggler on cold winter days, but then as he gets comfy, he stretches out and takes up a lot of the bed.

I can see it now in the headlines of the local paper: "Disabled woman injured after being ejected from bed in freak accident by large dog" :D.
We just got back from a short walk around the block, as I'm not up to driving today.

It isn't as cold as it has been in the past few days, but the wind makes it feel colder. We're supposed to start getting more snow this afternoon and for the next few days.

Putting up all that food from the garden sure pays of on days like today when I'm not up to food prep. Some dehydrated kale in a smoothie was breakfast and some dehydrated pumpkin soup is on the menu for lunch and dinner :).

With love, Erika

Erika my daughter who is divorced has 3 dogs. One just a mix but has some great dane in him, one a lab mix and the youngest is a full grown boxer. They all share her bed. She gets in first, the boxer spoons in behind her and then the other two find their places. I don't know what will happen if she ever decided to let another man in her life. She has 3 alpha males there already.

Darlene,
Definitely sending prayers for your family and for all others who may be facing weather related problems.
Hang in there people...this too shall pass.

A couple of tips from a seasoned Canadian Northerner:

- Keep the gas tank in your vehicle as full as possible in the winter. The added weight increases traction on snow and ice, and you might need the extra fuel to run the heater if you become stranded.
It can also be used to warm up for a bit if the power goes out in the house...just make sure that you move the vehicle out of enclosed spaces like the garage, to avoid the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Let someone know if you are heading out in your vehicle during storms/poor driving conditions, as to where you are going, the route that you will be taking, and when you are due back.
If possible, stay with your vehicle and call for, or send for help if you get stuck or run into problems.
Up here, people have gotten into trouble just blocks from their own house, when they have tried to walk home at sub zero temps after getting stuck or having their vehicle break down.

Store a blanket or two, along with some snacks in your vehicle.
Up here, in the winter, pretty much everyone has an emergency pack stored in their vehicle with a blanket, a change of clothes, extra boots and gloves, dry snacks and water (It can be defrosted on the dashboard by the defogger or on manifold of the running car engine if it gets frozen.).
Even if you don't get stranded in your vehicle, you may need it if you have to stay with someone, or at a shelter in the event of extended power outages.

- Have at least 5 gallons of drinking water for every 1 or 2 people stored in the house in case your pipes freeze, especially when a cold snap is headed your way.
Extra water can be stored in a bath tub if need be...you may need it to flush the toilet...and only flush if you have a solid reason if your pipes are frozen.
Keep a bucket handy.

When your heat is out, run the water through all indoor taps every few hours to keep your pipes from freezing...especially the kitchen ones, which tend to have pipes near an exterior wall.
Stuff a towel against the back wall of the cabinet and keep the cabinet door open under the kitchen sink to keep the kitchen pipes warmer.

For emergencies/during power failures, it is a good idea to have an older style phone that plugs directly into the land line outlet (that doesn't use a charger or base station, is not wireless), as these still work during power outages. If the power goes out, the wireless, battery operated ones don't work and you may not be able to charge a cell phone.

Keep snug and warm everyone.

With love, Erika

Thank for the tips Erika. It snowed about 4 inches, in my back yard,
thru the night.:eek: Schools closed again. It's only in the teens today,
so not venturing out...brrrrrr... Staying inside, wrapped in blankey.:D

Think warm thoughts, All.:grouphug: