It's an interesting day in the North East

[jimmydeanno]

Yesterday morning it began to rain in my neck of New Hampshire.  It rained about 2-3 inches during daylight hours.  Our squadron meeting was canceled because when darkness hit the temperature dropped below freezing and the roads turned into a giant icesheet. 

It kept raining.  By 2000 my truck had 1/2 inch of solid ice over the entire thing.  At 2300 we lost power. 

I got up at 0400 to assess damage and road conditions.  Still no power. 

Acrss my driveway there were 6 trees down, blocking access to my road, with one of them sitting in the bed of my pickup (about 8 inches around - pine)  There was a nice 12 inch oak and a few white birch.  To top it all off, there is about an inch of ice covering every single exposed surface.

I drove to work at 0600 after clearing the driveway of trees.  Better than staying at home; we have a cafeteria, showers, power, etc.

I'm honestly wondering why we haven't been "activated" for CAP to help somewhere.  Well, actually I know why - our wing doesn't have the relationship it needs to with the DES (not environmental services ).  I'd like to help, but it looks like later I'll just be clearing some trees for the neighbors.

The state of NH currently has Hundreds of thousands without power, trees down everywhere, flooding in the seacoast area, multiple feet of snow in the northern area and...it's still raining - below freezing.  It's going to be a fun day 

EDIT: Here's some news: http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20081212-NEWS-81212001

[notaNCO forever]

 In Connecticut we probably had a good four inches of rain yesterday luckily it staid above freezing. Today it is supposed to rain just as much and drop bellow freezing near the end of the day.

[swamprat86]

I'm dreaming...of a white....Christmas. (in the voice of Bing Crosby)

Good luck and be safe.  We only have rain in South Jersey.

[Climbnsink]

Just over the border in VT we got a couple of inches of snow and a couple of inches of rain.  It is strange how the snow is holding so much water.  Snowthrower looked like a fire truck.   Supposed to get real cold tonight and that is going to screw everything up good.

[Tubacap]

I just dug out five driveways.  We got 8.5 inches here in Mansfield PA!  I love it!!! :clap:

[JoeTomasone]

What is this "snow" thing you all are talking about?   


My boss (near Boston) has no power and a tree down on his house, apparently.   

[Cecil DP]

76 degrees in Jacksonville, with a cold front approaching which will bring down to the mid 50's over the weekend.

[Grumpy]

68 and clear here in San Diego.  Supposed to get rain this week-end though. 

[NIN]

I'm not far from JimmyDeano there, and we're limping along on generator power. I accidentally killed the whole company earlier this afternoon when I plugged a PC into one of the generator circuits and took the load over the generator's capacity (they expanded the building 2 years ago. Didn't expand the generator capacity.. most of the "new" building is not on generator, including the coffeemaker in the breakroom). 

So we're on the genny, and our phones keep going on and off, and occasionally the UPSs start beeping as the generator loads up and then browns out the building a little...

In the middle of this, we have web developers in Chicago who are trying to push an upgrade of the site (hosted elsewhere) and all the stuff we have here that communicates to the site.  And the developers from our ERP's VAR are complaining "I keep getting kicked out of our remote connection."  Well, no kidding, dork.  We keep losing our phones and Internet, so my guess is, you are losing your connection due to that and the inch of ice on everything....

Its getting cold in the building. I want to go home.

[Trung Si Ma]

KLAW 122153Z 15012KT 10SM CLR 14/M03 A3014

Lawton, OK 
12 Dec 08
3:53PM
Winds 12 knots out of the southeast
Sky conditions are SEVERE CLEAR
Temerature is 58 degrees
Dewpoint is 27 degrees

Oklahoma in December.  Supposed to be 67 tomorrow  , 70 on Sunday  , and then 31 for the rest of the week  .

[PaulR]

Portland Maine,

We were coated with 3/4 of an inch of ice... I think that our neighborhood is the only one with electricity in the Portland area! 

[Rob Sherlin]

  It hasn't been getting that bad here in Niagara Falls yet. There has been the problem with the snow melting or rain during the day, then it freezes up at night to make things nice and slick (you take one step and slide 5 (if you don't fall))....VERY DANGEROUS!!!!

   Yeah! You guys in the southern tier just keep rubbing it in. I never have gotten use to winters here. That's one of the reasons I'm moving to Florida (besides family and jobs).

[PHall]

I'm not far from JimmyDeano there, and we're limping along on generator power. I accidentally killed the whole company earlier this afternoon when I plugged a PC into one of the generator circuits and took the load over the generator's capacity (they expanded the building 2 years ago. Didn't expand the generator capacity.. most of the "new" building is not on generator, including the coffeemaker in the breakroom). 

So we're on the genny, and our phones keep going on and off, and occasionally the UPSs start beeping as the generator loads up and then browns out the building a little...

In the middle of this, we have web developers in Chicago who are trying to push an upgrade of the site (hosted elsewhere) and all the stuff we have here that communicates to the site.  And the developers from our ERP's VAR are complaining "I keep getting kicked out of our remote connection."  Well, no kidding, dork.  We keep losing our phones and Internet, so my guess is, you are losing your connection due to that and the inch of ice on everything....

Its getting cold in the building. I want to go home.

Now you know why we "phone guys" tell people who have phone systems to go get a cheap regular corded telephone to use as a back-up.

The telephone system runs on battery power all the time, which is why when the commercial power fails the regular phones still work. As long as you have dial tone, it will work.

Usually the phone jack that serves a fax machine has regular dial tone, i.e. it's not going through your now dead phone system, plug in your cheap phone and you have a working phone!

[MIKE]

It's pretty bad where I am... Probably noticed I haven't been on since Thursday.

Hang'n out at my brothers for some electricy, running water and some Internets.

Gov. Patrick had said Monday before things are up and running again... but my cable for my TV, Internet and phone got taken out by a limb and is lying in the driveway. 

Edit: NIN, I thought generators and UPSs was bad juju? 

[PHall]

but my cable for my TV, Internet and phone got taken out by a limb and is lying in the driveway. 

Serves you right for getting your phone from the Cable Company!

You can probably get some kind of service going again by simply twisting the center conductor of the coax together.
It may not be perfect, but you'll at least have something, maybe...

If you're feeling really sporty, throw a pair of connectors on the damaged cable and connect them with a cord.
The cord that goes between the settop box and your TV should work. You might need a female to female connector too, but it's better then waiting for the cable company to get out there.

[Stonewall]

It was pretty chilly here today.  I'm playing Mr. Mom all weekend since the wife is playing Airman Sergeant with the Air Guard.  Took the kids on a walk and wore shorts.

[PHall]

It's in the 50's here in SoCal with the snow level down to about 3000 feet.
So the boarders and the skiers should be happy!

[MIKE]

but my cable for my TV, Internet and phone got taken out by a limb and is lying in the driveway. 

Serves you right for getting your phone from the Cable Company!

You can probably get some kind of service going again by simply twisting the center conductor of the coax together.
It may not be perfect, but you'll at least have something, maybe...

They have to fix the rest of the lines first.  It's not just my house... The whole street is out and so is the one that mine is off of.

[Gunner C]

It was pretty chilly here today.  I'm playing Mr. Mom all weekend since the wife is playing Airman Sergeant with the Air Guard.  Took the kids on a walk and wore shorts.

Flogging comes to mind . . . 

[JoeTomasone]

Spoke to a co-worker in NH -- usual story -- no power, etc. 


Then he mentions that some towns near him may not get power until Christmas.   YIKES.


I'll take hurricanes, thank you very much.   I don't miss the snow/ice/slush in NY one bit.


Everyone affected -- stay safe and warm, as much as you can.