O, the weather outside is...

[Kraken]

Winter 2022-23 is no longer coming. Should we have an open-ended weather thread? Let's find out.

[Max Peck]

We had April showers today in the form of freezing rain, which caused significant power outages across much of the area. I lucked out and didn't lose power, although the Ottawa Hydro outage page shows my neighborhood as affected by an outage. I guess I got lucky and ended up on the not-dark side of the street for a change.

[jztemple2]

Count me in. Our Central Florida weather continues with above normal temps, in Orlando they are getting close to or breaking records each day. We could really use some rain.

[Blackhawk]

Today the last of high risk weather passed uneventful. For the first time in five days I can relax when I go to sleep.

[Kurth]

Frightful. We returned from our Spring Break cruise to Mexico (sunny, mid-70s to low-80s) only to be greeted by the Portland murk and gloom. High-30s to high-40s, rain and even a little snow and hail for good measure. So done with this.

[dbt1949]

I turn on my air conditioning yesterday. Tonight it's supposed to get to 38.
I'll just put on another blanket.

[Rumpy]

We've had two big winter storms since Spring started. The first one this weekend gave us about 3 ft of heavy wet snow, and it was the biggest snowfall this year. Then last night we had thunder and lighting and ice pellets. That's about a foot of snow.

[dbt1949]

Without my heater on it got to 58 inside the house. My shaved Yorkie was not happy so I turned the heat back on.

[Daehawk]

Without my heater on it got to 58 inside the house. My shaved Yorkie was not happy so I turned the heat back on.

Plz dbt lets keeps personal hygiene out of this.

[Pyperkub]

All of 2023 has seemed like one big winter storm out here in Northern California - either rain or gale force winds or both.

The other annoying bit is that, while there has been a ton of snow in Tahoe, the storms have made it almost impossible to get there (especially for a weekend), and if by some lucky chance you could get there, either everthing is closed due to the winds, or there's so much snow they can't get the lifts open!

On the good news side, the "storm" rolling in tonight looks like just a few sprinkles, so maybe March *is* finally going out like a lamb...

[Unagi]

We (and I've never witnessed this before) have had a thunderstorm every month of the year so far. Actual thunderstorms in January and February are more-or-less unheard of.

[jztemple2]

...and two more months till the start of the rainy season.

[gilraen]

On Tuesday it snowed all day and set a record low of 11 degrees. It's 50 and sunny today, supposed to climb to 80 next Tuesday and then drop back into the 50s with a snow/rain mix by the end of next week.

[Holman]

On Sunday I went for a bike ride and had to turn back to get gloves. Today (Thursday) Philly hit 83.

Something ain't right.

[Kraken]

We're having a pretty average globally-warmed spring; the first three months of this year are already the third-warmest on record. Wide temperature swings are just part of springtime in New England, and we've had a few. If anything is remarkable, it's how dry it is during our rainy season. If April showers bring May flowers, this May is going to be pretty drab. I just hope we aren't heading for another long hot summer drought.

Last year's veggie garden was my worst-ever, and I might not plant anything this year.

[jztemple2]

Not strictly weather, but if NOAA is talking about it...

NOAA raises concerns over the excessive spread of seaweed

Researchers at the University of South Florida say "major beaching events" are "inevitable" around the Caribbean and parts of Florida resulting from the five-thousand-mile belt of seaweed in the Atlantic Ocean. The blanket of seaweed is so large that it can be seen from space and is being tracked by satellites. Rick Lumpkin, the director of the Physical Oceanography Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory at the NOAA, says pieces of it have already made their way to Florida.

"We've seen about mid-to-late February the kind of the leading edges of it started reaching Florida and passing Florida," Lumpkin told Spectrum News.

The species of seaweed referred to as sargassum originates in the Sargasso Sea, located in the Atlantic Ocean off the Eastern United States. Lumpkin says large beach inundations started occurring in 2011. According to a recent outlook from the University of South Florida Optical Oceanography Lab, "there is already a sign that this year's Sargassum bloom will likely be the largest ever recorded, with major impacts throughout the next few months." The report says the peak month could be June or July.

Lumpkin says what we can expect along Florida beaches depends on winds and tides, but the west coast of Florida does not look particularly threatened. "This particular batch, blob, that's been making the news so much recently, is really going to affect mostly along the path of kind of between Cuba and the Keys and then between Miami and Bahamas and then all along the U.S. east coast, all the way up to Wilmington, North Carolina," said Lumpkin.

As of March 23 Lumpkin said there had been "no requests from the state of Florida or federal agencies requesting information from NOAA about potential impacts." Lumpkin says large amounts of seaweed can damage reefs and seagrass, and it smells when it rots.

"It's very unpleasant," said Lumpkin. "It releases hydrogen sulfide, and there have been published studies that argue that there can be negative health impacts to humans under conditions like that." Lumpkin noted that in small amounts, the seaweed is beneficial to a number of species, like baby turtles and juvenile fish.

[Scuzz]

Played golf with a guy today from Philadelphia and he said they hadn’t seen any snow yet this year. He is a a Red Cross volunteer and is here for two weeks.

[dbt1949]

I bet he was still glad to be visiting California.

[jztemple2]

Not specifically weather, but indeed climate related is this article from Yale Climate Connections, Bubble trouble: Climate change is creating a huge and growing U.S. real estate bubble

Homes constructed in flood plains, storm surge zones, regions with declining water availability, and the wildfire-prone West are overvalued by hundreds of billions of dollars, recent studies suggest, creating a housing bubble that puts the U.S. financial system at risk.

The problem will get worse as sea level rises and storms dump heavier rains and if unwise building practices continue. But increased awareness of climate risks, more realistic flood insurance pricing, and reform of government disaster policy could reduce this overvaluation — and the risk of an economically disastrous bubble burst.

Climate futurist Alex Steffen has described the climate change–worsened real estate bubble this way: “As awareness of risk grows, the financial value of risky places drops. Where meeting that risk is more expensive than decision-makers think a place is worth, it simply won’t be defended. It will be unofficially abandoned. That will then create more problems. Bonds for big projects, loans and mortgages, business investment, insurance, talented workers — all will grow more scarce. Then, value will crash, a phenomenon I call the Brittleness Bubble.” Something that is brittle is prone to a sudden, catastrophic failure, and cannot easily be repaired once broken.


Figure 1. County-level overvaluation of property from flood risk. Florida had the highest property overvaluation — about $50 billion. In 2021, Florida’s real estate industry accounted for $294 billion, or 24% of the gross state product, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors. (Image credit: Gourevitch et al., 2023, Unpriced climate risk and the potential consequences of overvaluation in U.S. housing markets, Nature Climate Change volume 13, pages 250–257)


Figure 2. Local government vulnerability to revenue loss from unpriced flood risk. Orange hues indicate the proportion of municipal revenue derived from property taxes; purple hues indicate property overvaluation as a proportion of total property value (color breaks every 10%). Counties in black and outlined in red indicate municipalities that are both heavily reliant on property tax revenue and have high overvaluation. (Image credit: Gourevitch et al., 2023, Unpriced climate risk and the potential consequences of overvaluation in US housing markets, Nature Climate Change volume 13, pages 250–257)

[coopasonic]

300 miles inland and 500 feet above sea level and Dallas is over valued due to flood risk? I won't argue about the overvalued part, but flood risk?

Does Dallas (County) have risk? There are 12,723 properties in Dallas that have greater than a 26% chance of being severely affected by flooding over the next 30 years. This represents 7% of all properties in Dallas.

Dallas, Texas Flood Factor® Report

Risk Factor
https://riskfactor.com › city › dallas-tx › 4819000_fsid

I stand corrected.

[Blackhawk]

I was similarly thrown off by Washoe County (the blotch in Nevada.) It's ~4500 feet and a desert. Then I realized that the (vast) majority of the people in that county live in Reno, and the Truckee River goes right through the middle of town. And the Truckee River, has indeed been known to flood.

And since they're doing it by county, the tiny area that is actually at risk makes the entire county orange.

[jztemple2]

I guess I'm moving to Nebraska... wait, they have tornadoes there!

Meanwhile, on the local weather front, we are experiencing the third day of high winds blowing in from the Atlantic, causing more beach erosion and pushing all that seaweed ashore:

[jztemple2]

Oh yeah, and using your link (thanks coop!), my home area of Port St John, FL:

There are 1,641 properties in Port St. John that have greater than a 26% chance of being severely affected by flooding over the next 30 years. This represents 24% of all properties in Port St. John.

Weirdly, there is only little blue dot on my street. It is on our side, and comparing this image with Google Maps it would appear to be my next-door neighbor. And sure enough, during Hurricane Ian, his side and back yard flooded. My side yard next to his yard flooded as well, but not as bad. Seems even each little blue dot is well researched as indeed his was the only yard on the street that flooded.

[Jeff V]

Weather is delightful here. Low 80's today. Will be cold and rainy this weekend, with temps back to the 30's, so no summer yet.

[Kraken]

Similar here. We're expecting record heat on Friday followed by seasonable cooling. My only complaint is the absence of April showers...which just means too many nice days.

I finally put the snowblower away and uncovered my grill today. That included two hours cleaning the garage for the first time in several years, so it's a bigger deal than it sounds like.

[Madmarcus]

It's unseasonably warm here so I've been sanding the deck. Fired up the (new to us) grill last night also.

[jztemple2]

Expecting a slight chance of severe weather this afternoon and evening

[jztemple2]

Heavy rains flood Fort Lauderdale, force airport to close

What You Need To Know
• Heavy rains caused widespread flooding in South Florida
• About 2 feet of rain has fallen in the area this week
• The flooding forced the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to close
• Fort Lauderdale City Hall and some schools also had to be closed

[TheMix]

That's quite a bit of water there...

[Hrothgar]

You just had to post that drought map didn't you.

[jztemple2]

You just had to post that drought map didn't you.

Funny you should mention it... that area of Florida has been completely evading the drought

[LawBeefaroni]

Weather is delightful here. Low 80's today. Will be cold and rainy this weekend, with temps back to the 30's, so no summer yet.

81 today, snow Monday.

I have like 6 jackets out.

[Max Peck]

We hit a high of 29.6C this afternoon. The previous record high on this day was 27.8C, set in 1968, and the average high is 10.4C.

[jztemple2]

We hit a high of 29.6C this afternoon. The previous record high on this day was 27.8C, set in 1968, and the average high is 10.4C.

What's that in furlongs per fortnight? ah, I just used Google.. 85F? Sheesh!

We didn't get that warm today, but we finally got some substantial rain. And now my driveway is covered with earthworms . I tried using a paper plate to get them back into the yard, but my back won't take that much abuse so I'm afraid the rest of them will either end up as food for the birdies or get toasted to a crisp.

[Unagi]

Weather is delightful here. Low 80's today. Will be cold and rainy this weekend, with temps back to the 30's, so no summer yet.

81 today, snow Monday.

I have like 6 jackets out.

But that snow forecasted on Monday is check-back-again bait.
There is simply no way it will snow. Perhaps atmospherically, but it won’t even hit the ground as snow. Let alone last a split second on the ground.
IMO

[Sudy]

We live in a smallish 400 sq. ft apartment. Got a great window AC unit in a far corner that takes care of the open living room/dining area and small kitchen. (Moving it to a more central position isn't really possible.) But the bedroom's always been a sweatbox. In past years the cool AC air seemed to eventually work it's way across the room and around the corner to the bedroom and at least make it livable, but during the early warm-up we're having this year, it's already too hot to sleep comfortably in. Its about 25c/77f outside, and in the bedroom it's 29/84. (I've already installed the living room AC.)

I think I've done everything practical to reduce heat in the room. The problem is there's just no air circulation. There's just a tiny window that doesn't usually receive a breeze. I've moved a second fan in, but creating a cross-breeze isn't really possible due to layout. I question at what temp/humidity I want to close the window. But it's almost moot because it's behind a curtain that really needs to be there, as otherwise it can be too bright to sleep. Adding a room AC unit isn't practical due to the window size, room layout, and cost.

Are small evaporative/swamp coolers worthwhile? At a glance there are no-name units on Amazon that claim to be good for rooms starting around 80 CAD/60 USD. But with an average summer humidity of 80%+ (it's only 40% currently!), would they do much on the more humid days? A superficial googling suggests they're not practical in that situation unless you can cycle the air, and I really can't.

[dbt1949]

I find that putting the fan outside the door pointing towards the bedroom helps me. Ceiling fan might help too.

[Sudy]

That's a really good idea, haven't tried that before... seems like that might push some of the living room air in.

[Madmarcus]

That sucks Sudy. We've had a similar situation and it is no fun. The only thing I can think of is the most powerful fan that will fit in the bedroom window blowing out to try to force some air movement from the cooler rooms into the bedroom.

[jztemple2]

How tiny is your tiny window? I have a back utility room which gets hot so we got a little AC unit for it. The unit is 16in wide and 13in high (I just measured) and works like gangbusters in that tiny room.