Recent Albuquerque weather issues... (living in, air quality, money)

[AlisonL]

I know of some houses for sale in Maine. They set a new record low this winter...50 degrees below Zero. The old record was -48.

I know we need rain and/or snow, but this weather is heaven to me. If I was back in Maine, I would inside until May. After years of being housebound every single winter, I am going to enjoy every above normal temperature day that NM gives me. I actually can enjoy myself out here and its wonderful to be able to Breathe!

[lisdol]

How's the blowing dirt situation in RR?

When we first moved here, my dh's boss commended our choice of location b/c he bought out on the west side and said there was so much dirt blowing around.

Our biggest dirt issue is behind us there are 2 horses that eat every living piece of vegetation in their 1.5 acre corral.

[AlisonL]

Haven't seen any more blowing dirt out here than any other place in NM. We didn't get the dust storm here that ABQ got a couple of weekends ago.

I'll take blowing dirt over sub zero temps and mega feet of snow any day.

[Mike Horrell]

Originally Posted by AlisonL

Haven't seen any more blowing dirt out here than any other place in NM. We didn't get the dust storm here that ABQ got a couple of weekends ago.

I'll take blowing dirt over sub zero temps and mega feet of snow any day.

A couple miles down Unsser from you, we did get that dust storm and I STILL
am happy that I'm sitting here with the heater off and the windows open...

[AlisonL]

Originally Posted by Mike Horrell

A couple miles down Unsser from you, we did get that dust storm and I STILL
am happy that I'm sitting here with the heater off and the windows open...

I have the patio door open along with windows. Its so nice. Talked to my best friend back in Maine on Mon. and they got 26 inches of snow overnight. I'll stay right here with the dust.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by mortimer

ABQConvict predicted:

> ... you people positively glowing about it must realize that weather
> like this in February translates to the whole state becoming an
> inferno in about a month.

There is no guarantee of that this year or any other.

This is a random fluctuation about the average high of 57 this time of year.

Cathy4017 added fuel to the fire:

> It really is likely to be a horrible summer, and it's not going to be much fun.

Scaremongers.

You just wait and see, Mort.

[Tim Rankin]

Both Mortimer and ABQConvict have made good points, I think. Separate the seasonally high temps from the longer-term drought: The long-term drought has the consequences ABQConvict mentions - dry, tinder-box forests just waiting for a spark. On the other had, Mortimer is correct in asserting that a temporary spike to 70F means...nothing.

The good news [I hope] is that...remember a couple years ago when wildfires were breaking out everywhere across the west? For a good while NM was relatively unscathed. And although we eventually got it, it was not on the same scale as the rest of the west. Maybe it's because NM isn't quite as heavily wooded overall, or maybe we just don't have the critical mass of crazies who set fires, akin to CA and that place "down under."

[lisdol]

Originally Posted by AlisonL

Haven't seen any more blowing dirt out here than any other place in NM. We didn't get the dust storm here that ABQ got a couple of weekends ago.

OK I was wondering if RR had the same issues as the west side/west mesa had with dirt or if it were built up/vegetated enough that there was not as much of an issue.

I still hate dirt season. Summer of 2007, in June, we had a beautifully warm day with wind gusts in the 60s. It was pretty warm out, but I had to keep the windows closed and could not really go outside. That stunk.

[ABQConvict]

Well, I agree that a temperature spike is nothing to get worried about. I have experienced my share of 70 degree days in Albuquerque. In fact, it is kind of a cliché.

But the temperatures for February have been considerably above average (5-10+ degrees) for 13 out of the 26 days so far this month and we have had virtually no precipitation.

January had 18 days out of 31 of considerably above average temperatures with 9 days being 10 degrees or more above average. And again, virtually 0.00 precipitation in most parts of the city.

This is shaping up to be in the top of the list of driest winters on record. The unseasonal temperatures over the last two months has increased the amount of transpiration (water transfer from vegetation and earth to the atmosphere) thus creating fire-prone conditions. The warmer/earlier temps will also benefit the reproduction success of damaging insects and harm the production of protective sap in the trees leading to greater rates of forest die-off compounding the forest fire fuel issue.

So, I am predicting a bad fire season. It may not come to pass. We may have the rainiest March in 2,000 years and I'll start b*tching about the mold and my sagging, leaking roof. But I'm putting my money on the forest fires.

Oh, and there is one other downside to these weather patterns that I forgot to mention. These prolonged warm periods in the winter cause fruiting trees to put forth their fruiting structures early. When the inevitable late frost comes, those buds die and the trees produce a fraction of the fruit they would normally. This has already happened several times in the last decade and another winter like this may spell the end of Northern New Mexico's 200+ year apple industry.

I wouldn't call this scaremongering. Scaremongering is generally used to instigate some sort of action. I don't see much we can do about this. But it grates on me to here people cheering on weather-related ecological disasters so I feel compelled to describe the situation as I see it.


ABQConvict

[mortimer]

ABQConvict protested:

> I wouldn't call this scaremongering.

You said "inferno" which I thought was referring to the absolute temperatures.

Then Cathy4017 chimed in with the "likely to be a horrible summer" stuff and I just had to insert that word.

I HAD to. She's always baiting me. Always.

... driest winters on record. ..,. I am predicting a bad fire season. ....

That's probably a reasonable guess with high probability, but not a guarantee.

On the other hand, we could revert to the norm by averaging out the deviation from "normal" or "average" and have an extended period of time from Jul 20-Aug 10 where the temperatures are all ten degrees under the average.

That would be swell.