Talk-Polywell.org

Friday evening, based on reports that only 5-10 inches of snow were expected west of I-81, but 20 inches were expected in Manassas, we opted to head for the cabin in WVa. Conditions were horrible, but the Explorer made it ... in 6 hours instead of the usual 2.5. We were greeted with 4 inches of dry snow on the driveway which defied us to climb it. We hiked in the last 700 ft.

We awoke about 6 hours later to 26 inches of snow on the ground, and more coming down. We totaled 30 by the time it was all done. My tractor started, but the hydraulic system would not budge so the bucket was inoperative ... evidently I have some things to learn about keeping hydraulic oil in good shape for the winter. We were very concerned we would not be able to make it home, and I don't have a phone up there. I would have hated to miss "The Space Show" on Tuesday.

Fortunately, the homeowner's association includes a heavy equipment contractor (we don't bug him about the machines on his property, and he clears the roads). By Sunday about noon, he had the HOA roads cleared, a not insignificant job considering the size of the place. The main road itself is 1.5 miles, total probably close to 3. He has relatives on several of those side roads, so makes a point of getting them out. When he was done he was low on fuel, and the state had not yet plowed the entrance road they maintain, or the county road out thru Doll's Gap, so he threw in about 2-3 more miles of public road so he could get out.

By the time we were ready to leave, all the roads out were in excellent condition. Driving home we noticed most driveways were cleared. Most country homeowners have at least a 4WD ATV with a blade, or a pickup with a plow, or a tractor.

Coming back in to Manassas, the roads were in much worse shape than in WV. The snowfall had been about 27 inches, but fluffy. The US goverment in DC is closed, along with most businesses and institutions. The place is still digging out.

It is really neat to know that self-reliant individuals really can take care of themselves better than goverments can. I'm feeling better about eventually retiring there.

Is that 3-6x the expected snow, or 1.5? (I'm rather weak on American geography). Either way, that's a lot of snow.

It seems that Japan (Japan Sea coast) too is getting unusually heavy (and early?) snow. Places that had no snow at all this time last year have gotten over 2m in the last couple of days. I think (I still sometimes have problems catching Japanese) the ski field operators are complaining about too much snow: the snow seems to be causing transit problems.

Now, if only some of that snow would come over to the Tokyo side.

3-6x the expected snowfall at our cabin, and more like 1.5x the expected snowfall at my main home in Manassas, Virginia.

Virginia snowfalls are typically light, but about once a decade or so we get a huge dump such as this one, half a meter or more (in deference to units the rest of the world uses). These usually come up from the south, fed by water vapor from the Gulf of Mexico. They are notoriously difficult to predict accuratesly. I experienced one such snowfall in February 1979 that was predicted to be between a dusting and about 4 cm, but wound up at about 61 cm (24 inches).

After these snowfalls we grab our shovels and dig all day, grumbling, "What global warming?" under our breath.

I grew up in Southwest Virginia (Tazewell), our weatherman was notoriously bad at predicting the weather. You had better odds just flipping a coin or rolling some dice. He actually had Gilligan on from Gilligan's Island occasionally, and always had an entertaining show (floating heads on the green screen, etc), he probably did it to make up for his bad weather predicting! But you gotta admit that the weather guys predicted this storm pretty well.

When the weathermen here claim "it's going to blizzard in 2 hours" and there's no a cloud in the sky, I'm prone to believe them! This actually happened here (in Colorado) last year, and thousands of cars were stuck on the road because the storm just came in so quickly that it was unbelievable. Clear, blue skies one minute, a few hours later it's cloudy and no visibility.

Looking forward to your Space Show Chat, Tom.

I am relieved I will not have to carry the show all by myself. See you in 30 minutes.

I'm sitting by the phone now. The new Analog author in the family, Tocho, is here too. I think he may want his say as well.

Tom,

Contact the Space Show ASAP. Check your e-mail.

This is the Gore Effect gone global, karma for the political elites around the globe trying to put a snow job over on the rest of us in Copenhagen. It was snowing on the Riviera, all over the northern half of Italy, Greece, all over Germany, Spain. Note that the snow in Copenhagen was the first in 14 years, it was the first snow in more years to all points south of there at sea level.

Despite being in an El Nino phase, which is supposed to mean more droughts and heat for California, we've had three rain storms in LA since I moved here in August after two years of zero rain.

The US, lower 48 states, is 60% snow covered for the first time this early in many years.

Oddly enough the family manse in New Hampshire received zero snow, being too far north and inland for the most recent storm to provide. It already had abou 6" on the ground before this. Friends have spent their time eating popcorn and being entertained by the city slickers on TV who are unable to make their civilization function.

Beauty, caught the beginning of the show live for the first time ever...

Space Show direct download for 12/22 with Tom and Simon!: http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/ ... -12-22.mp3

(It's not available on the main site yet, but the naming convention is intuitive, just thought I'd give a heads up to anyone wanting to see it but not seeing the download link yet.)

Josh Cryer wrote:Space Show direct download for 12/22 with Tom and Simon!: http://archived.thespaceshow.com/shows/ ... -12-22.mp3

(It's not available on the main site yet, but the naming convention is intuitive, just thought I'd give a heads up to anyone wanting to see it but not seeing the download link yet.)

Thanks!

Listened to the program, good stuff. Mostly rehashing what we knew already (anyone browsing this site anyway), but it was nice to hear MSimon. He sounds very similar to Tom, though, so I was confused a couple of times.

Cute about the AGW Talk-Polywell OT comment though. Should've said one guy against many though! If I listened live I would have called in!