Greeting from the ice machine (Albuquerque: condo, how much, home)

[GregW]

Greetings gang - Thank you for sending a couple of PMs asking about the last week or so. On Thursday the 11th we had a bit of an Ice Storm that did a royal number on the electric power distribution system in New England. When I went out on Friday morning the local road was nearly blocked with downed branches and debris. Our local mid voltage distribution line had one 11,000 volt wire on the ground. This wire stayed on the ground for the next 6 days. Unfortunately this connection fed the underground wiring for our half of the condo.

We eventually ran out of water and I had to bail water out of the local pond to provide sanitation. All I could think of was a simple loss of power sets civilization back to ancient Egypt and a bucket on a rope. We slept at home during the event. Even thought the inside temperature dropped to 39 deg one morning in the living room we did not risk freezing the plumbing. The place is insulated well enough that a two mantel Coleman propane lamp actually brought the temperature up a bit. Finding a Colman propane bottle on Saturday morning was impossible.

The Town set up a Red Cross shelter in the school gym. We did not use the shelter except for showers. If the kids that generally use these showers have to put up with, OK now I am griping, barely warm water then we have one tough bunch of kids. The shelter was quite full with mostly elderly and more than a few families. At least the place was warm because they have a big enough stand by generator to handle the lighting and furnace loads using natural gas as the fuel.

Eventually the power was restored about 2 AM on Wednesday morning the 17th. Anne was scheduled for surgery that afternoon in Boston. She was in the hospital until Friday morning. I brought her home before the weekend snow part 1. We spent the weekend at home with interesting things like heat, water, light and TV.

I am going to be on vacation until January 5th. I will try to continue our correspondence during that time. Thank all of you for your concern and have a happy holidays and a good year.

Greg W

[songinthewind7]

Hi ya Greg.
Sounds like you've had 'fun'.
Safe journey to you on your vacation.

[mike0421]

I think I'd have to move. I couldn't handle that kind of weather.

[GregW]

I think I'll have to move as well. Socoro is looking better & better.

BTW - Google maps now has Street View of much of New Mexico.

[songinthewind7]

Greg, do you have a date as to when you plan on moving here?

[AlisonL]

Greg,
Thanks for the reminder of why we left the frigid northeast. LOL

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by AlisonL

Greg,
Thanks for the reminder of why we left the frigid northeast. LOL

Tell me about it. This time of the year on the weather channel, they should just broadcast an aerial view of a witches tit and put a 15 second loop on it, and superimpose it onto the map from D.C. up to Maine. That about sums it up.

[AlisonL]

Just got off the phone with my mother. She got 20 ins of snow at her place in Maine. Told her to keep it there and not to send me any for Christmas or any other time.

[GregW]

Ya know this wouldn't have been so bad if we were in a remote location with a wood stove, artisian well, propane refrigeration and a heavy duty diesel generator. Oh, add a decent supply of rye whisky and no need to go anywhere else to work and I wouldn't care how much it snowed.

Unfortunately my reality does not contain any of the above. Yet.

[EnjoyEP]

Not to hijack GregW's thread, but more to add to it:

I am up here in Greendale, WI - a burb of Milwaukee - and Greg's place seems like Hawaii compared to the hellish winter we've endured up here (after last year's hellish winter consisting of 100 inches of snow - said with no exaggeration, we had 100 inches last year of total accumulation):

>>>>As I write this, it is currently 4 degrees outside at 2pm. That is a huge improvement over yesterday when the daytime temp hovered between -2 and -3 (yes, the DAYTIME temp) and wind blasts of 20 to 35 mph lowered the windchills to -20 to -35 degrees.

>>>>Milwaukee, just 60 miles north of Chicago and on the shores of Lake Michigan, is obviously notorious as a big city for having a distinct "upper Midwest" climate including some harsh, cold, snowy winters. Well, even with that reputation and history, we are already here - on DEC 22 - in the *2nd snowiest winter EVER in record-keeping history for Milwaukee*! Over 30 inches of snow have fallen this December, including a foot this past Friday (Fri., Dec. 19).

Read this:

With latest snow, this has been second-snowiest December - JSOnline

NOTE: In addition to the 30.1 inches thus far - in December (more fell in November) - we are under a Winter Storm Watch for not one, but TWO snow dumps over the next two days - Dec. 23 and 24. Current estimates pit:

-1 inch Monday evening (12.22)
-3 to 5 inches Tuesday (12.23)
-4 to 9 inches Wednesday (12.24)
---TOTAL POSSIBLE STORMS OUTLAY: 8 to 15 inches of likely new snowfall for Milwaukee (12.22 - 12.24).
-See here:
--------------------
Winter Storm Watch for Milwaukee County, WI

from 12 am CST, Wed., Dec. 24, 2008 until 6 pm CST, Wed., Dec. 24, 2008
Local Radar Map

Issued by The National Weather Service
Milwaukee/Sullivan, WI
11:58 am CST, Mon., Dec. 22, 2008

... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TUESDAY TO MIDNIGHT CST TUESDAY NIGHT... ... WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON... ... WIND CHILL ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT NOON CST TODAY...

THE WIND CHILL ADVISORY WILL EXPIRE AT NOON CST TODAY. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TUESDAY TO MIDNIGHT CST TUESDAY NIGHT. A WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.

DANGEROUS WIND CHILLS HAVE ENDED AS WIND SPEEDS DIMINISHED AND TEMPERATURES MODERATED TO AROUND ZERO.

SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED LATE TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING... AS WARMER AND MORE MOIST AIR PUSHES NORTHWARD INTO THE AREA AHEAD OF LOW PRESSURE. THE SNOW WILL AFFECT THE MORNING AND EVENING RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC ON TUESDAY.

THE LOW WILL MOVE NORTHEAST FROM THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY INTO LOWER MICHIGAN ON WEDNESDAY. THIS TRACK IS FAVORABLE FOR MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOWFALL ACROSS SOUTHERN WISCONSIN. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 9 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE. BRISK NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL ALSO BRING BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW... AND REDUCE VISIBILITIES. THE SNOW WILL AFFECT THE BUSY TRAVEL DAY ON WEDNESDAY.

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES... AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.
--------------------

>>>>But don't let all of the snow fool you (even though it is horrible and awful and all of that stuff), almost every day that it isn't snowing, it has been MIND-NUMBINGLY COLD.

Look at Milwaukee, WI's December temps:

Mon 1
Hi 33°F
Lo 21°F

Tue 2
Hi 36°F
Lo 16°F

Wed 3
Hi 35°F
Lo 17°F

Thu 4
Hi 21°F
Lo 11°F

Fri 5
Hi 21°F
Lo 6°F

Sat 6
Hi 29°F
Lo 12°F

Sun 7
Hi 20°F
Lo 5°F

Mon 8
Hi 36°F
Lo 19°F

Tues 9
Hi 36°F
Lo 20°F

Wed 10
Hi 25°F
Lo 14°F

Thurs 11
Hi 31°F
Lo 18°F

Fri 12
Hi 18°F
Lo 7°F

Sat 13
Hi 39°F
Lo 16°F

Sun 14
Hi 47°F
Lo 35°F

Mon 15

Hi 29°F
Lo 3°F
*NOTE: Hi of 29 came at approximately midnight; by 6am temperatures were in the range of 0 to 3

Tues 16
Hi 28°F
Lo 0°F

Wed 17
Hi 25°F
Lo 10°F

Thurs 18
Hi 25°F
Lo 7°F

Fri 19
Hi 31°F
Lo 24°F

Sat 20
Hi 29°F
Lo 23°F

Sun 21
Hi 23°F
Lo -5°F*
*NOTE: Hi of 23 came at approximately midnight; by 6am temperatures were in the range of -4 to -5

Source: Monthly Weather Forecast for Milwaukee, WI - weather.com



This just stinks. It just stinks. By the end of Christmas Eve Day, we'll have likely picked up about 40 inches of snow in 3.5 weeks in this area. It is just incredible. The burb I live in (very nice town), has essentially decided to stop using salt on the streets because they are running out so quickly.

My heating bill came in the mail recently and it just kills my wife and I. We set our heat so low as it is and try to help (throw plastic on the windows, etc.), and it still just kills us. It isn't so much just snow, or just ice, or just cold, but all of the above and strong winds as well. And it is just relentless, day after day after day.

On Saturday when I was observing the bitterly cold and snowy conditions outside, I logged on to ABQ's current weather, and it was 50 and sunny in ABQ. At that point, 50 and sunny looks like the Bahamas, let me assure you.

I miss Albuquerque and its climate so much. But the thing is, I don't just hate winter/cold and crave warmth...if that was the case, I would've gone originally to Phoenix or Miami. I *like* that ABQ gets a dose of cold, a touch of snow, some actual winter, etc. But I really like that in ABQ, a "cold day" is considered a high of 41 and a low of 23...here, that is a very mild winter day.

I can't take it much longer...I am losing it. If my wife and I had the financial means to be back in ABQ tomorrow, we'd have done it long ago (cursed be the current housing market and job market for mid-professional level positions). It just kills me, just KILLS me, to not be in ABQ right now I tell you. And frankly, despite me abhorring this weather here, I don't hate Milwaukee by any means...I just so miss ABQ and NM in general. You guys have it good!!!