A2K and The Possible Blizzard of 2005

Not a single car has passed by my front windows this morning. Small wonder. The street -- a side street running between the two major arteries of Arlington and Berkely Streets -- does not appear to have been plowed. At a guess, there's roughly 18 to 20 inches of snow on the ground now, blowing into drifts against parked cars. Three feet-plus expected before the snow abates. The Cape is getting it worse, so I hear. Expected wind gusts of up to 60 mph this p.m. Total accumulation axpected -- three feet-plus. Again, the Cape may get more. Subways are running late, but they're running. I don't think buses are. Radio announcer just said, "Roads are open but people are strongly advised not to go out." Notice, he said "roads are open" NOT "the roads are open." Very selective plowing, I trow. I somehow suspect that the schoolkids will have the day off tomorrow.

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Oooh! As long as everyone has enough food and is warm enough, ooh! Sounds great.

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anybody have Ovaltine?

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Never touch the stuff, Framerman. I'm having some black Kona coffee (freshly ground) right now, black, with just a spoonful of raw unrefined sugar.

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The governor declared Mass. a disaster area yesterday, even before it got really bad. I imagine that that will continue at least into tomorrow, but there's nothing official on it yet. We have blowing drifts here, 2 plus feet of 'em, with swirling snow coming down. And the weather channel adds the following:

Quote:

FINAL STORM TOTALS FOR MOST OF EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS WILL RANGE BETWEEN 28 AND 38 INCHES SETTING A NEW SINGLE STORM RECORD FOR BOSTON... SURPASSING THE AMOUNT FROM THE GREAT BLIZZARD OF 78 AND THE PRESIDENTS DAY STORM OF 2003.

EVEN IF THIS STORM COMES UP SLIGHTLY SHORT OF RECORD... IT IS A DANGEROUS STORM WITH THE WORST EXPECTED TO OCCUR DURING THE DAYLIGHT HOURS THIS MORNING AND EARLY THIS AFTERNOON AS WINDS STRENGTHEN AND TEMPERATURES FALL TO NEAR 10 ABOVE WITH SNOWFALL RATES OF 2 OR 3 INCHES PER HOUR.

NANTUCKET MAY END UP WITH ONLY 12 TO 22 INCHES... BUT NORTHERLY WINDS GUSTS OF AROUND 75 MPH ON BARNSTABLE AND NANTUCKET COUNTIES WILL ADD A SERIOUS LIFE THREATENING ASPECT TO FALLING AND SEVERE BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF THE NEWLY FALLEN SNOW.

SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES ARE EXPECTED THIS MORNING AS WINDS ALL ALONG THE COAST GUST BETWEEN 55 AND 65 MPH ON BOSTONS NORTH AND SOUTH SHORES.

POWER OUTAGES MAY BECOME WIDESPREAD THIS AFTERNOON ON THE CAPE AND NANTUCKET WHEN THE BRUNT OF WIND HITS THERE... BETWEEN 75 AND 80 MPH.

DRIFTS OF AT LEAST 6 FEET ARE EXPECTED IN PARTS OF COASTAL EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS.

OVER CAPE COD... NANTUCKET AND MARTHAS VINEYARD... THE SNOW HAS BEEN OF A WETTER CONSISTENCY EARLY TODAY AND THERE HAS BEEN SOME RAIN ON NANTUCKET. THIS RAISES THE ANTE FOR POWER OUTAGES IN EXTREME SOUTHEAST NEW ENGLAND WITH THE SNOW CLINGING TO WIRES AND BRANCHES.

ALL THE HEAVY SNOW WILL TAPER TO SNOW SHOWERS LATER THIS AFTERNOON OR EVENING... BUT CONSIDERABLE BLOWING AND DRIFTING WILL PERSIST INTO LATE THIS EVENING ACROSS EXPOSED AREAS.

THERE IS A CHANCE OF BLIZZARD CONDITIONS CONTINUING ON PARTS OF CAPE COD INTO EARLY TONIGHT AS HEAVY SNOW SQUALLS POUND PARTS OF THE CAPE. VULNERABLE LOCATIONS FOR NEARLY 40 INCH STORM TOTALS ARE ESSEX... MIDDLESEX... PLYMOUTH... NORFOLK AND BARNSTABLE COUNTIES IN MASSACHUSETTS.

littlek, I hope your folks are all right; the Cape is supposed to be really brutal.

We are in Suffolk county but I'm supposed to go to Middlesex county tomorrow, where there may be 40 inches. I'm thinking, hey, that's not going to be happening any time soon. The snow is now going sideways and my neighbor's house has huge, daggerlike projecting icicles hanging from the eaves. Our porch's roof is loaded with snow. There is snow that blew in between the storm window and the inner window, in the North side window of this room. Did I mention that this room is on the second floor??? I strongly suspect that we will not get a newspaper for a few days. Oh, and RP will tell you about the idjits we saw at 1:45 AM. Oy!

http://image.weather.com/images/maps/current/curwx_600x405.jpg

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I haven't heard of anyone losing electricity yet, but part of rt. 128 (a major route) is closed.

The tide is high, about three feet higher than normal.

I just spoke with a neighbor, her dog needs to relieve himself but they can't get him to go out, the snow is to high, so they had to shovel a path for him.

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6-foot drifts! Wow!

Have some pictures from a great storm in Madison where our car was totally buried. It was just this lump.

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I think the worst of the storm has left the Poconos, although the wind is starting to pick up. You city folks probably don't realize that the combination of wind and powdery snow magnetizes telephone poles. Then in the whiteout, the telephone poles reach out into the highways and byways to grab cars driven by Perfectly Innocent and Sappily Optimistic Motorists.

The bird feeders are busy: chickadees, tufted titmice, nuthatches, goldfinches, cardinals, juncos.

Dear little Iffy refused to brave the weather this morning until I swept a foot of snow off each of the top three steps. Then she managed to balance on the second step to empty her bladder. Once that was accomplished she dashed back inside and hit the bed like the Wabash Cannonball for a nice, restorative nap.

The Boston area looks interesting--as does NYC as seen through the headlines in the NYT's.

Hold your dominions.

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gotta dig out the bird feeders , we missed the big storm but got the wind. 8 inch snowfall can pile up to 6 feet on the north and west sides. Its formed great big whit barchan dunes . Glad Im not up in Eastport today.

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Uh...is it even necessary to mention that both Logan Airport (BOS) and Green Airport in Providence, RI are closed?

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Noddy or farmerman

Please explain about the birdfeeders.

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I'm not Noddy or farmerman, but two parts to that -- when there's that much snow cover, birds depend inordinately on birdfeeders since they can't get at the ground for their usual food. And farmerman's birdfeeders are covered by snow.

(You do know what birdfeeders, the objects, are? In case, they're some variation of a sort of small cage or receptacle for distributing birdseed.)

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Ah, I see. Thank you, Sozobe. No I didn't know what they were, in the context that Noddy & farmerman mentioned, anyway. (It doesn't snow here at all) I was wondering about birds & wild animals in regard to shelter & food gathering ... whether any actually perish in severe snow periods.

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Do you guys have birdfeeders, in general? We have ours up year-round -- typicallly you put 'em close to a window or someplace where you have a clear view, and that draws the birds and makes for great birdwatching. (Always so interesting to find out cultural commonalities and differences, especially when it's things you would never think of!)

Anyway, birdfeeders are not specific to snow, at all, just that even MORE of birds come when it's snowing since their other food sources are harder to get at.

I'm sure birds die in snowy periods, but the ones who are here when it snows are well adapted.

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Birds at a birdfeeder:

http://www.bsu.edu/web/audubon/images/birdfeeder%20large.jpg

Mourning dove on top, cardinal to the right, and a flicker (I think) to the left.

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Msolga--

Given the drought and all, you could probably attract birds with a birdbath.

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That's nice! Very Happy

It's not such a common practice here, Sozobe. At least not around the inner-city where I live.
Yes, Noddy, lots of people have bird baths for birds to drink from, though. I run around putting containers of water around the place in the really hot, dry weather.

A morning dove, a cardinal & a flicker! Very Happy

Just beautiful against the snow! & I love their little feeder/house! Very Happy

Wow!

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My father had three bird feeders at the old homestead in Connecticut. They attracted a vast variety of nuthatchs, cardinals and chickadees. They also brought out the squirrels, an dastardly enemy that the old man fought battles with as fraught with drama, plot, intrigue and invention as any found in truth or fiction.

He hung garbage can lids over the feeders, the squirrels found a way to tip them just right to provide access. He hung the feeders from fishing line, (Let's see them try to walk out on that!!), the squirrels learned that if one of them shook the line hard enough, seed would fall to the ground.
Returning to the more conventional clothesline with a complicated array of springs, baffles and other defenses that still remain secret, he managed to fatten a few birds and bring a lot of joy to us watchers of the scene.

Surely this is not just a phenomonem (obsession?) of New Englanders?

Joe (Is that a titmouse?) Nation

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soz-I think that photo is doctored. Doves usually dontt fly to a feeder, we feed them on the ground.
Msolga-I forgot about th southern hemi.
AHEM. We in tthe north, spnd a great deal of our annual wages in the purchasee of huge bags of "bird feed" This stuff is a mixture of crack corn, sunflower, millet,niger, and other seeds. We have feeders on 5 ft high poles. Thse feeders are large plastic dishes with teeny drain holes. they accept about a cubic ft of seed and we get to keep an eye on the wintering birds. The only problem is that, with the snow and wind last night, our dishes flew off their ring stands. So I had to hunt them in the snowdrifts (still missing one) I then drilled holes along the edges and wired them to the poles. Mrs F is out there filling them with new seed as I post this.

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Yes, the great squirrel battles! We have a cool birdfeeder that looks something like this (the image above isn't mine, nor is this one):

http://www.wild-bird-food.co.uk/animage/bird-feeder-peanuts.jpg

The "roof" is about twice as wide and the mesh is finer. The squirrels here seem to be less acrobatic than the ones in our old neighborhood -- those squirrels would grab on to the roof with their back toes, lean over, and then drape themselves diagonally, holding on to the mesh with their front toes, and chow down. Grrr.

My dad has waged epic battles for years, he swears by one that's a tall (like 12 or 15 feet) thin pole that you drive into the ground, birdfeeder on top.

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A2K and The Possible Blizzard of 2005

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