[ghporter]

Here, we’ve had “less than 100F highs” as the exception rather than the rule for several weeks. Nicely clear skies combine with the temperature to try to smite mere mortals who try to do anything outdoors once it’s above 95. I hates it. I hates it forever.

[Thorzdad]

Current conditions...
Sunny.
Temp:90
Heat index:100

[subego]

I decided not to go out today, so I didn’t look, but even in the dark right now it’s 87°/96°.

[andi*pandi]

Finally rain. Thunderstorms.

Still humid as heck.

[Thorzdad]

It’s looking like the next week will be about as perfect weather as you can get in Indiana. Highs in the low-to-mid 70s, and lows at night in the 60s. This is keep-the-windows-open-24/7 weather

[andi*pandi]

nice. It has cooled off a bit here also, but there is still a drought, the grass is crunchy to walk on.

[ghporter]

We had water falling from the sky yesterday. What the heck is that stuff?

Yeah, the system that had been parked over much of Texas moved off and a tropical system brought in rain. Quite a bit of it, though not enough to end the drought.

Temperatures are no longer super hot, which is a great relief too.

[Thorzdad]

Low 90s yesterday. Mid-to-high 60s today.

[andi*pandi]

There's something comforting about being inside warm and cozy when it's thundering and lightning outside.

But then there's a dog who needs to go out!

[subego]

Not supposed to break 70 here for the next week.

[Thorzdad]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

There's something comforting about being inside warm and cozy when it's thundering and lightning outside.

But then there's a dog who needs to go out!

Yeah. I seriously love thunder and lightning storms. Somehow, they’re comforting. Like nature making sure you know she’s still there. I especially like them at night. Good sleeping weather.

[subego]

I like them too. If it’s a serious one without crazy wind, I like popping open the garage and experiencing it that way.

I’d do it more, but honestly I don’t like feeling obligated to provide shelter for randos.

[subego]

Halloween weather is relatively decent. I feel the last time it wasn’t crummy in some fashion was a decade ago.

[Thorzdad]

Raining and windy here for trick-or-treating tonight.
Was in Chicago Thursday thru Saturday. Amazingly good weather.

[Waragainstsleep]

Its warm here (nearly 11pm and its still 13C) but it has rained a lot. Still a few brave trick-or-treaters were out in it though.

[subego]

Originally Posted by Thorzdad 

Was in Chicago Thursday thru Saturday. Amazingly good weather.

Excellent!




Looks like a whole week of unseasonably warm.

[ghporter]

Here in San Antonio, we’re getting the “see-saw downward” trend in temperatures. This happens for a while, then temps get higher for a while, then trend down again. This week’s highs are in the low 80s with lows in the 60s. But starting Friday, the high is 75 with a low of 49, then highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s. At least that’s the official guess so far.

[subego]

It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and…

IT’S A QUARTER-TO-FUCKING-FIVE.

[andi*pandi]

75 yesterday.

45 today.

New England, amirite?

[Thorzdad]

Got our first snow of the season yesterday. Surprisingly heavy, too. Cold and windy. Bah.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

75 yesterday.

45 today.

New England, amirite?

Last Thursday it was 66 degrees at 6:30 am when I was leaving for work. By bedtime it was below freezing.



Got our first light flurries on Saturday and they're predicting a couple inches of snow overnight. Got the wife's snow tires installed yesterday.

[subego]

Last year my cutoff for shorts and flip-flops was around 40°, but this year I’m aggressively pushing it into the 30s. Have what I wear until about 15-20° up top. I probably look like a dork, but I hate pants that much.

Ironically, when I did it today (about 35°/29° windchill) my ungloved hands got colder than my legs and feet.

[Thorzdad]

I managed to grab a nasty head/chest cold a couple of days ago. Ugh. My colds tend to linger a long, long time, and bounce between my head and chest. Gonna be a lovely week.

[Thorzdad]

Current temp: 14F Wind chill: 3F

[ghporter]

This past week has seen highs in the low 50s, gradually falling to highs in the low 40s. But it’s been wet, too, so it’s felt a lot cooler. The overcast and generally yuck sky has also made it feel worse.

[subego]

Today is very overcast, and it feels about three hours later than it is.

Solstice can’t come fast enough.

[subego]

Current prediction is starting Thursday morning we get 2 days of snow, and then two days of -15 windchill.

[Laminar]

Supposed to hit us starting Wednesday. Unlikely the schools will be open Thursday, kids might get an early Christmas break.

[Thorzdad]

Looking pretty bleak here, too, starting Thursday. Our son and daughter-in-law are supposed to come down xmas eve from northern Indiana, but that’s looking more and more like a dicey drive, especially given he prefers to drive the state roads, and not the interstate.

[Thorzdad]

Ugh. Just looked at the forecast. Friday: Windy and cold, highs around 2F. Winds 25-30mph, gusting to 50mph. Wind chills as low as -30F. This is after sleet and snow all day Thursday.

I’m too old for this bullshit.

[Laminar]

Gassed up the truck today, told the wife to do the same with her car. Pretty sure I have the gas can for the generator and snow blower filled up, but I'll check to be sure.

[subego]

I have the essentials now for a few days. Cigarettes, soda, coffee, and snacks, but I’m a little low when it comes to actual food.

I won’t die or anything, but I’m usually better prepared for these types of things.

[Thorzdad]

This time next week is supposed to be back up in the 40s.

[ghporter]

Our weather "predictions" for this week and the next have been freaky-odd. We will have sub-freezing temperatures (typically not seen in December in South Central Texas) for several days, with less chilly temps starting either Saturday or Sunday (or other, because they really don't know).

One thing I've observed about weather forecasts here is that, despite HUGE amounts of data showing that paved-over metro areas like San Antonio act as "heat islands" and cause weather systems to divert around them, they never plug that into their models. "This front will barrel through San Antonio from northwest to southeast...", but it hits the outer suburbs at that end of the metro area and either splits and goes around the heat island, or fizzles. Every. Damn. Time. And this isn't new.

When we lived in Austin in the 1980s, weather would come from the north and essentially stop at Waco. Either (spoiler: I said this above) split around Waco or fizzle out. Waco wasn't that overly paved, but the geology from Waco through the northern end of the Austin enhanced the paving effect - a lot. And we (as in commercial/TV weather people) just don't figure on that.

[subego]

You can see this kind of diversion happening right now in Chicago, South Bend, and Indy.

[subego]

Just started… giant, half-inch, compound flakes.

[Laminar]

We only got 2-3 inches, but it's cooooooooold. I was wearing my wintertime motorcycling/snomobiling gloves to snowblow the driveway, and after only 15ish minutes I had almost completely lost feeling. Very painful coming inside and letting them warm up.

And a good section of the interstate this morning was pure ice.

[subego]

Originally Posted by subego 

You can see this kind of diversion happening right now in Chicago, South Bend, and Indy.

Or, like, maybe the map has green as a color for rural areas.

[subego]

Right in the middle of the temperature drop now. Almost in single digits.

I’m worried about saying it, but I can’t see how there will be any real accumulation when it’s this cold. So far we’ve gotten maybe an inch-and-a-half.

[Thorzdad]

Yeah, they’ve been scaling-back the snow accumulation numbers here in Indy. This morning it was 6+ inches. As of right now, I doubt we have over an inch and the snow has stopped. But, the roads are slick as hell, and jackknifed semis seem to be the thing on the ring interstate around Indy.

The last forecast I saw indicated the truly hellish windchills (-50) aren’t going to happen, but we’ll still see chills in the -20s.

We made the executive decision to postpone xmas with our kids until next weekend, when it’ll be in the 40s and far safer to drive from up north.

[Laminar]

I saw -10 on the car's indicated outdoor temperature, which doesn't include the windchill. Up to -9 this morning. Supposed to do Christmas tonight but will probably be postponed. The roads aren't half bad, but if something went wrong, getting caught out in this weather would be deadly quickly.

[Thorzdad]

Currently, -10 with a -32 windchill.

One of my wife’s coworkers gave her a homemade loaf of brioche, so there was yummy french toast this nasty morning.

[subego]

[ghporter]

The prediction for this morning was 18F. It was actually 16F…

It got up to 33F between 4 and 5 PM, then started falling off, now 29F at 7PM, with a (The Weather Channel) predicted low of 21F. The National Weather Service says our low will be 18F, and I kinda think they’re closer to correct.

[subego]

Chicago got lucky with this one. Wednesday: above 30°, so shorts. Thursday: below zero windchill. Friday: above 30°, so shorts.

[ghporter]

Lately it’s been 30s to 40s here in San Antonio. Overnight, it was in the upper 40s, and now (about 0930 CST) it’s nearly 60. The forecast is for a high in the mid 70s, and a low of about 60 tonight. The rest of the week looks like yo-yo highs and lows - 60s or 70s highs, and 30s to 60s lows.

But the bigger point here is the frequent morning fogs. Not just a little, but pretty dense fogs. San Antonio is on the less-dry edge of the Chihuahuan Desert, but also on the edge of the Hill Country, so we often have damper mornings and drier afternoons. But this has been out of the ordinary. Kinda like the last several years’ weather has been out of the ordinary.

[andi*pandi]

That sounds pleasant. People in austin are without power from a freeze.

Around here the weather rollercoaster goes on. Unseasonably warm, then a few days of -40, now warm again. Pipes were bursting around town and grocery store freezers broke.

[ghporter]

We were without power on Wednesday morning too. Mostly because of ice on tree limbs breaking them off and damaging power lines. That's what's going on in Austin, but it was more widespread and severe there because they're farther north, and because Austin has preserved more trees than San Antonio has.

There's a big, painful story behind the tree thing, but TLDR: the San Antonio city department in charge of that routinely approved tree removal waivers without actual review, and now we have clear-cut "developments" all over the place. Plus zoning was approved for these places without infrastructure improvements beforehand. So yeah, it's goobered up.

Unlike previous weather events, where the freezing rain/ice/snow petered out south of some line, this one was a patchwork, particularly in San Antonio. We had a little ice on some trees nearby, while other parts of town had awful tree damage from ice.

And the crazy thing was what got closed and what stayed open. Our (Army) clinic and pharmacy were shuttered on Wednesday and Thursday, despite extremely minimal issues with rain or temperatures. So was the Air Force mega-clinic at Lackland, except for their emergency room, with essentially the same minimal weather impacts. So were just about all the schools.

But Visionworks, grocery stores (here, not north of here), and a lot of other places were open as usual. I'm 100% behind closing the high school behind our house...the kids that drive there, and their parents, are not particularly safe in great weather. But I don't think there were any actual guidelines for the military facilities' closures - what factors to take into consideration, (BIGGIE) who counted as essential personnel, etc.

[Laminar]

Anyone else in the Midwest buckling down?

[subego]

Chicago is in the “enhanced” band, which is below “high” and “moderate” risk. Tall buildings generally disrupt tornadoes, so I’m not too worried about that.

I’m predicting lots of downed branches.

My car’s outside right now, which could suck if we get hail. I pretty much don’t care about dents, but would prefer not having my windshield shattered.


Here’s the risk profile map:

https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html