“ By the way, i wasn’t one of those Bums Klein wanted to send back, lol !”

likestonehomes, Ralphbucks $$$. Those were the days. 🤠😉

eta I truly hope you’re not freezing in the dark.

roxsolid, dry as a bone here as well!! Our "wetness" is usually overstated :-)) And nope, would not need to stir my stumps for mail. I have a post office box and sometimes it is a couple of weeks between visits. It's mostly junk mail anyway.

@roxsolid Its going to be a cold one with snow too. Good skating on the canal, at least for now. Last year, it was closed earlier than usual, due to temps. Same holds true for skiing, including high mountains

Here in southern Ohio, our weather extremes seem to come with many years of calm between. But when it's a doozy, it's a doozy and this will be. One thing that gives me a much better attitude about it is not having to go to work!!! It makes all the difference in the world. Not having a dog would be easier but she is sitting on my lap, being very cute so I will accept the minimal shoving I will have to do with pleasure. Also having the best neighbors ever with their snowblower is priceless. Finally being elderly has some perks.

I acknowledge that we here in the PNW have what’s considered enormous amounts of rainfall by those who don’t live here. But, the point to make is that even if it’s ”…half of the days each year…” the point must be made that those days are usually consecutive and are broken up by long periods of dry. Our current weather situation is not our usual. In my corner of the state, we’ve gone over 2 weeks without rain - not normal for winter. See what I pulled up about current rain levels for my zip code under a search from Precip.

Rainfall Totals & Soil Conditions

• Most recent precipitation event: 1.76" (15 days ago)
• Last 24 hour rainfall: 0"
• Past 7 days rainfall: 0"
• Year to date rainfall: 3.67"
• YTD vs 30-Year Average: 92.4% below average
• Current muddiness: Frozen (No Mud Risk)
• Current soil temperature: 31°F

None of this is any comfort to those who couldn’t live with the rainfall we get. I personally have a comparison to make to remind myself that it could be worse. That comparison is that I lived my teen years on the island of Revillagigedo where Ketchikan, AK is located. The claim to rain fame there is that it receives an average of 13’ annually. Yes, thirteen feet! I compare that to my area’s claim to @ 41” annually.

gardengal, I make sure that I spend at least a couple of hours outside, every day, year round.

My dear husband makes walking trails for us over a few acres. My dog loves it, as he can romp freely.

This is leading from our house into an old horse pasture.^^^

Frank romping

rox, I think your Frank was a Husky in his former life!

When I lived in Mississippi-the last place I lived- I went through an ice storm there. It was eerie and terrifying. Just at freezing and drizzling. The sound of trees breaking and falling lasted all day and the destruction was amazing. I really feel for people in the path of this.

Elmer, you must have been stationed at Ft Lewis.

Rainfall in the PNW is local depending on geography. We get 35 to 40 inches. Up valley they can get 80 inches. Out on the coast it can be measured in feet in some areas. Seattle gets around 40 inches which is less than Atlanta Ga. They do have more gray days though.

" Elmer, you must have been stationed at Ft Lewis "

Yes.

The thing that gets overlooked by random visitors to the area is that Puget Sound area precipitation tends not be 'serious' rain. Rarely is it a downpour with a significant accumulation but rather a misty, light drizzle that residents tend to ignore. This - and its extreme seasonality - is why our precipitation totals are so low compared to many other areas of the country. Yes, we can be gray and damp but not really wet, as many nonresidents assume.

And it's getting drier. Annual precipitation totals have been declining in recent years.

“not be ’serious’ rain.” - GG - and I’m sure you agree with me that’s the reason so few of us have or use umbrellas!!

Cold and snowy in southern colorado but nothing like what others are enduring.

I am in the Upstate of SC, and really worried about a long lasting power outage in this cold. We do have a generator and got some gas to hopefully keep my husband’s aquariums alive. But thats about it. Made some bread today, we still have enough Christmas cookies to keep us alive for a while. Our foster dog has really short fur. She does have coats (she doesn’t like). She will just have to huddle up under the blankets with us :)

Dry with blue skies, in Oregon. It's freezing at night, so I bring in the hummer feeder but that's all here. I'm wishing you all in the storms path the best, with little troubles outside of the usual winter stuff. Take care.

Very cold here with about half-foot of snow, several more inches on the way but nothing like what's hammering other areas. Thankfully no ice. We tend to get the ice storms in the latter part of winter into early April.

Latest from the guy I find most accurate is 10" +/- 2". Other sites are saying higher than that. The problem is the timing. It's supposed to snowing most heavily when we'd normally do our half-way clean out just to keep it from getting too heavy. We may just wait until Monday and do it then...however deep it is.

They are saying 8-10" here, starting later today or tonight. I looked on the radar and it doesn't look as expansive as I have seen them predicting. I hope that holds. I will need to shovel a path to and into the backyard for the dog but my neighbors have a snowblower and will most likely do my driveway too. Keeping my fingers crossed. Making a batch of chili today!

I've only received about 1/2" of snow so far. They are saying we'll have 3 'waves' of snow between now and Sunday morning. 4-8" total. I'll shovel off what has come down by this afternoon and get the rest shoveled off tomorrow or Monday. I have no need to get out and about until the end of next week.

I grilled steaks and shrimp last night for a last hurrah until the thaw. Got some ham and beans out of the freezer for tonight and I'll make some cornbread to go along with it.

We have nothing here. The north part of Madison county AL may be worse, but here is just cold and cloudy.

-30c, deceptively cold, given the blue sky.

The experts are saying 8-14 around here - obviously I'm hoping for 8. The part that is really worrying me ( and it doesn't take much to get me worrying) is that they say after the first maybe 6 inches, we will be getting ice. and then snow again. With the temps which are expected to be a high of about 28 over the next week or so, I don't know how we deal with ice all over. The only good news is that it's supposed to be over by mid day Monday.

I have 2 dr appointments on Wednesday and I am pretty sure it won't be an issue by then, but the fact that the snow and ice will stay around and not be melting anytime soon is really not fun.

Ice is not fun salonva. I hope you stay all snow.

Just be glad you don't live in an area where the snow that falls in December doesn't melt until April.

A huge blowing, lightning, thundering rain passed through beginning at approx 5:40am. Settled after several hours to an occasional drizzle. Outdoor high (since 12:00am) was 63°F, currently (1:15pm) is 42°F.

They downgraded our snow accumulation and upgraded our ice accumulation. Whomp whomp. I was supposed to work today at the grocery store from 3:30 to 10. I told my boss yesterday that I wouldn't drive on ice, and she said as long as you'll try.

Last year we didn't close during a snow storm and I thought it was dumb. This year, they heeded advice and they said they're going to close at 4, but would I come in earlier? I tried. I made it to the make it or break it point, slid, despite being utterly careful, turned around and went home.

I think this is going to be a very icy for a couple of days, and I hope it doesn't bring down our power lines. Our electric providers are out keeping an eye on the lines, so I will take that as a good indication of being taken care of.

P.S. if anyone remembers the discussion I had about being able to make it to work easily last year, there was a suggestion made that brine is the reason why. It didn't pass muster today, so I'm sure it wasn't the brine. Whatever conditions were different last year, I was grateful for them! Not so lucky this year.

I hope everyone has been safe with the storm passage and can deal with the aftermath of cold temps. And that those lacking electricity will have it restored ASAP.

A delayed return to this comment from above:

" The thing that gets overlooked by random visitors to the area is that Puget Sound area precipitation tends not be 'serious' rain. Rarely is it a downpour with a significant accumulation but rather a misty, light drizzle that residents tend to ignore. This - and its extreme seasonality.

This is an invalid rationalization. The thing is not only absolute rainfall but the significant number of days that are gray and gloomy. And, often, damp. It can be misty/drizzly all day, produce no measurable rainfall, but still it's a wet and miserable day. That was what I've encountered on my sojourn and later multiple visits to the area. When it's clear, the vistas are spectacular. But it's rarely clear.

Here's data claimed to come from NOAA stats, with more in the link below. The source doesn't matter, the story is familiar to any who have lived or visited there and are not trying to deceptively rationalize facts. Similar info can be obtained from a variety of sources.

Averaging data from Seattle and Olympia that are similar, there are 227 cloudy days a year and 83 partly cloudy days. That's 300 days a year. My visits suggest that the "seasonality" assessment is valid because it's often only in summer months that one can expect to string several sunny days in a row together. It's like the old joke "It's often sunny and bright, and the other 10 months of the year we call winter."

Link to Gloomiest Cities In The US

By comparison to the Puget Sound area where over 60% of the days are cloudy and another 20% are partly cloudy, many live in cities where the number of sunny days is nearly the same percentage. Even Allentown PA is sunny 72% of the time, other expected places are in the 80s. On the sunshine list, Seattle is ranked #145 on a list of 155.

Link to - Sunniest Cities in America

Edit to add:

gardengal and or others decided to complain about my comment that was well within Terms of Use rules. How sad. Let's try again. I said this, in a post just above Parriciae's:

NOAA data (or any other unbiased, factual data) will always trump personal opinion. Especially opinions trying to rationalize something that's widely known to be other than what the opinions allege.

It's wonderful you've had 2 weeks of sunshine. No year is ever average but statistically, that leaves you about 5 weeks of sunshine for the rest of the year.

Short question -

Why is Seattle #145 of 155 on a list of cities with the most sunshine? And in the Top 5 of Gloomiest Cities?

A. Comparing Seattle weather to Olympia weather is invalid as they are quite different due to different geographical locations.

B. We have just experienced at least 2 weeks - 14 days - of clear, crisp, cold sunny weather so by no means is good, clear weather limited to the summer months only.

But then a couple of sporadic visits and reading an article or two online by Elmer puts him in a much better position to evaluate Puget Sound area weather than someone who has lived here all their life. Funny how that works.....

Maybe too much reliance on second and third hand information.

But where I live in that same PNW is much dryer with many more sunny days and partly cloudy does not mean no sun. We have clouds and sun all at the same time. We can go two or three months in summer with maybe one day of rain every couple of weeks. When I lived up valley I had no idea how much less it rained here. That was only about 45 minutes away where it could rain for six weeks without let up.

We can get as low as 10 degrees but in all the time I have lived here off and on we had only one ice storm. If it has been very wet and we get sudden serious cold for us alder trees can shatter. That is from the inside. The small trees. We also get black ice-hence the dominance of Subarus as a vehicle choice. Every place has its thing.

“…so by no means is good, clear weather limited to the summer months only.”

The weather for yesterday’s Rams/Hawks game looked pretty darn nice!

People! please stop trying to convince others that it’s not gray and rainy here all the time. There are too many people moving here already Please make it sound as bad as possible!!

Chloebud, the first half of the Patriots and Broncos game was beautiful but the second half was a whiteout and for sure affected the game. Unreal.

?????

I'm holding my breath because they've been saying this weekend it's looking like it could be a repeat or at least similar to last weekend. The latest I heard is that it's looking like we won't be hammered too bad . We were supposed to meet family 2 weekends ago when we had that snow, and since it was pretty raw and ugly we rescheduled for this Sunday. We are meeting "halfway" so each will drive a tad over an hour. I'm hoping it works out. Otherwise I guess we'll see them at a family wedding in May.

Please no more snow for a while. There's sooooooomuch snow I don't know where it can fit.

Looks like this new storm (should) dump just 1-3" of snow here, no ice is nice. Our street is still an ice rink but thankfully we stocked up well beforehand and are staying put. Just extremely happy that our power stayed on, feel so sorry for the folks on TV who are shivering in their homes as their frozen water pipes start to thaw out to cause them even more misery and expense. A terribly sad situation.

Yippie! That snow will pass to our south with zero accumulation expected here. Still below freezing for 2 more daze but temps will rise to around 40F Mon-Wed which should finally melt our streets. Still no mail delivery since last Sat. I guess that neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night will stop them, just ice.

" That snow will pass to our south with zero accumulation expected here. "

Interesting, you're in Virginia and snow is passing to the south? I know nothing about it but wouldn't have guessed that could happen. Is it common?

I believe vgkg is in the Richmond area. Looks like it is snowing very close to his area right now.

Elmer - there is a big storm churning off the NC coast and clobbering the coast with snow. No, it's not common for the coasts to get snow that far south, especially with the amounts they are expecting.

Not a matter of coasts vs inland - he said snow was passing him to the south, which is the opposite direction I would have expected might have been the case for a snow storm to pass. But, I know nothing about it.

Been to Richmond? The capitol is stunning. Designed by architect (and polymath) T Jefferson.

From WCVB Boston

There is a 72 ft fishing boat missing out of Gloucester, MA So sad. Doesn’t look good and now more wind and chop. It can be very dangerous work.

That's right LoneJack , Richmond, and Elmer by "passing us to the south" I mean that the developing low pressure system is moving from west to east through the Carolinas and out to sea. Very unusual for Va Beach and the OBX to get a lot of snow much less the blizzard like conditions they expect tonight. I'm very happy this system did not track up the coast like a Nor'easter as that would have clobbered us too. There are a few flurries here off and on but no accumulation is expected. Temp reached a high of 22F today and is falling now thanks to the strong arctic high pressure to our north which is keeping the snow pushed to our south.

That's what our weather guy said...thank the Arctic cold system for keeping us from getting another snowstorm, which they had predicted.

Here's a pic from early this morning, no snow here but the thick ice from last week is still haunting us. The light bulb in our well house reflects off of the ice so you can see just how glacial-like it is out there. Hard as a rock and slippery as oil, thankfully I don't have a need to go out there, it's a real butt buster fer sure. Our roads are just as icy too, but a salt & sand truck did drive through to spread some around the streets late last night.

That looks like our scenery this morning but with fresh snow on top of some ice left from last weekend storm. Our street won’t be cleared any time soon. Too cold for me to go out to see how much snow but it appears 3” at least, a lot higher in some places with snow drifts. Today temps remain below freezing so I’ll wait until tomorrow to run the snow blower.

My niece lives on Oak Island, NC.Last night she sent me pictures from outside. It was a blizzard! Howling winds, accumulating snow and extremely cold temps. I believe they had to get plows from other areas to clear the bridges so island residents can get to the mainland. They are not prepared for this. They are more accustomed to hurricanes.

My sister-in-law in Florida is getting night time temps of 20º. Not good news for all the plants she has outside around her pool. She will probably lose some of them. She has them covered with sheets but that may not be good enough.

I am so sorry for those of you battling ice. That really is the worst. We just got about 12" of snow but it is so cold it won't be leaving us for another week or two. At least the roads are clear but you can't walk anywhere else.

We are suppose to get to 20º today so I will walk the dog. She has been going stir crazy having to stay on the driveway. We won't go far but she will be happy.

Elmer, on the East Coast, we have Nor'easters, which move northward or northeastward.

I've long heard the term but know little else. What triggered my comment was hearing that someone in a relatively southerly place (Virginia) expected to be spared extreme consequences of a winter storm because it was passing TO THE SOUTH of where he is.

I know the premise of what I'm about to say is false, the weather and its factors (air and frontal patterns and ocean temperatures) are so completely different in the Central and Eastern parts of the US, but, put yourself back in the Monterey Bay area. Imagine hearing that an approaching snow storm (Yeah, I know, that doesn't happen) was veering to the south and would be passing over LA or SLO instead? Seems like a mistake.

Only at Wawa..... 16 degrees, but sunny, and wind chill feels lower... went to get lunch hoagies, saw a guy in shorts and tank top.

(Wawa is a local convenience store with made to order hoagies, etc.)

I've been to Wawa stores in the city. It's found the right formula to draw customers. They have surprisingly decent (and fresh) coffee and a good variety of decent food. I've never seen anything comparable elsewhere. In the city, in the locations I've been to, there are often lines of people waiting to be served at the food counter.

Elmer, here in Ohio most weather comes from the west and goes east but sometimes it does go the other way. It doesn't happen often but it can come from the east heading west. Of course wind can come from every direction.

Shenandoah Valley VA. we had a horrible snow here in VA. DH and I were in Bethlehem PA for a concert. They had the same storm! So we were snowed in at the Airbnb in PA and unable to come home to…. more snow which is STILL frozen solid. And the idiots who drive the ” fake ” snowplows covered pretty much every sidewalk in town and blocked every driveway and the city said ” make sure you get those sidewalks cleared. Yeah sure.

First 2 pics PA….

2nd two pics our side walk here in VA and cars partially cleared . It still looks like this and likely the Grands will be playing in it in June when they visit 😳❄️