And Now . . . Winter!

by wjw on September 9, 2020

The big storm struck as predicted, and the temperature dropped nearly 50 degrees overnight, complete with hours of heavy freezing rain.  We didn’t get any snow, but Colorado got quite a bit.

Yesterday the high was in the 90s and the air conditioner was going all day.  Today I had to light the boiler so we could stay warm.

By next week we’ll be back in summer with the AC on again.

Autumn is usually my favorite time of year, but so far it’s not working out for me.

Etaoin Shrdlu September 9, 2020 at 9:46 pm

It’s Global Cooling. Not even joking. You’re old enough to remember the 1970s and “Ice 1999: The Coming Ice Age” and all the rest. Well, it’s a little late but it’s here.

Go look at the latest predicted sunspot cycle. It’s not the completely dead Grand Solar Minimum that some solar physicists were thinking could hit us, but last cycle was lower than even the lows predicted, and this cycle is already predicted to be lower than the last. Less solar wind, more cosmic rays, more clouds, less heat reaching the surface, colder temperatures, bad harvests.

Chicago had record cold and even snow in late April. Just before I left in mid-August we had a few days when the temperatures were in the low 60s in the mornings. That NEVER happened before, even during the late 1970s when we were getting massive blizzards during the winters.

Niven and Pournelle were prophets, dude. Hope you got some firewood stacked. Canned goods and shotguns are not a bad idea either. I just hope Ice Cream Sundae doesn’t fall on a Tuesdae this year.

Reno September 10, 2020 at 1:43 am

Pictures or didn’t happen 😉

Chris Heinz September 10, 2020 at 4:35 am

Tomorrow I go home to Lexington KY after my longest sojourn in our Naples Fl home. I’ve mostly been here since Dec 2019. 1st x I summered here. Wow, can’t believe my wife & I made it to Guadeloupe (France) the last week of February, just before the shutdown began.
Summer here is mostly high 91-94, high humidity, daily thunderstorms & rain: The Rainy Season.
8am, no clouds. 10am, clouding up. 2-6 pm, dark clouds, lightning, thunder, heavy rain. The Rainy Season. But, temp may drop from 90+ to mid-70s during the storm, very refreshing. Usually I was back from walking or biking before 11 am, totally soaked in sweat, but, clean up, hang indoors until the storm comes, not too bad.

wjw September 10, 2020 at 6:07 pm

Reno, I guess I could take a picture of a soggy lawn.

Etaoin, I don’t see how the sunspot cycle can cool off all of North America in 24 hours. Up till Tuesday, we were having record highs. Next week we’ll be back to typical September weather.

There was enough energy in the jet stream to drag south an enormous quantity of Arctic air. It was the Arctic Conveyor, only earlier than we’ve ever seen it.

pixlaw September 10, 2020 at 6:08 pm

Just another sign of the (various) End Times; a mirror to the blood-red photos from California. What’s the old ditty? “Red skies at morning, sailors take warning; red skies at night, sailors’ delight; red skies at both, call on Yog-Sothoth”

Etaoin Shrdlu September 11, 2020 at 12:44 am

@Reno if you mean me, here:

https://wgntv.com/weather/record-april-snowfall-on-the-way/

It even has a picture for you.

@WJW it’s not a question of “24 hours”, it is long term cumulative. This winter will be chillier, so will next summer, and so will the rest of this cycle. In eleven years we’ll get to see if the following cycle goes back to “normal” or if we finally get hit with the Grand Solar Minimum.

@pixlaw They’re finding that those fires were being started by all the “peaceful protesters” who tried to peacefully burn down Portland, Kenosha, and other cities nationwide. They’ve caught several already, including one “peaceful protester” in Washington state who has been “peacefully rioting” (sorry, Freudian slip there) at various riots since 2014. There’s even some good satellite imagery of a whole slew of fires breaking out right along the I-5 corridor, amazing how storms nowadays follow the expressways huh.

pixlaw September 11, 2020 at 8:23 am

Etaoin –

I’m not gonna bother arguing with you. But, for the reading of others on this thread, here’s three widely different news sources noting the amount of widespread rumors, denounced by police and other responsible parties as completely untrue, making claims such as you’re making:

https://distincttoday.net/2020/09/10/false-rumors-that-activists-set-wildfires-exasperate-officials/

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/sep/10/rumors-of-blazes-started-by-antifa-spreading-as-fa/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/10/oregon-fires-cause-rumors-activists-social-media

Selah.

wjw September 11, 2020 at 5:53 pm

And here’s another.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/11/us/fires-oregon-antifa-rumors.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Etaoin, please stop spreading this bullshit. You’re going to get people killed.

Etaoin Shrdlu September 11, 2020 at 9:22 pm

Telling people to stock up on firewood is going to get them killed? Ok.

wjw September 11, 2020 at 10:36 pm

Well no. You’re telling people that strangers are coming to burn down their neighborhood. Already people are threatening passers-by with guns, claiming that they’re Antifa maniacs come to loot their homes.

Why would Antifa want to burn down the Northwest? That makes no sense at all, and Antifa isn’t organized enough to do it even they wanted to.

mearsk September 14, 2020 at 9:36 am

I live in Eastern Washington. The fire that blew up in Oregon was burning for a couple weeks when we had wind from the storm on Labor Day that gave Walter the freezing rain. It came out of the NE which is very unusual for around here. The winds were a constant 20-30mph with gusts, some reaching upwards of 80mph. It caused that fire in OR to blow towards the populated areas around Portland. We had one fire in WA that went 60 miles on Labor Day. Sixty miles! These fires were caused by high winds and low humidity and drought conditions we’ve had all year.

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post:

Contact Us | Terms of User | Trademarks | Privacy Statement

Copyright © 2010 WJW. All Rights Reserved.