A little OT: Our wonderful world of whacky weather!

17 years ago

Hi All!

If youÂre a weather watcher like me you're ver much aware of the unusual harsh weather weÂve been having for the past two weeks. I happen to live just outside and east of Syracuse.

I know many of you have seen worse days during this Oct and weÂve only seen the sun on three occasions since Oct 10 and we last saw full sun on Oct 13 with only 2 days of full sun for the whole month, which is highly unusual for this time of year.

On the other two occasions since the 13th it was mostly cloudy. In between weÂve been below average temps, and the unfortunate heavy snow aka Buffalo and Watertown. With the wind and rain gusting at over 50 mph it was impossible to take the dog out in the backyard for the past two days.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because of our DST change I was up at 05:00AM EST, actually biologically it was 04:00AM, and just before 06:00 I couldnÂt believe I was see daybreak for the first time since I donÂt know when? When I looked at the backdoor window the birds were back, even a flock of Robins of about 20 or 30. The feeders were pretty much windblown empty, so I obviously went out to fill them.

Now get this, as I closed the rear garage door I happened to look out and thought I was at first seeing things. In my large open 10X20 Fall compost pile I had 5 Dahlias coming up through the leaves etc. and blooming. It was almost a sight for sore eyes knowing what weÂve been through for the past 3 to 4 weeks. Now with another full day of sun in store (possibly our 3rd for Oct) that was beginning to shine brightly, it seems all of the bad weather we recieved in an around Syracuse was worth it, how easy we can forget.

Thanks for listening.

Jim

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Comments (4)

penny1947
17 years ago
Well Jim,
It is 65 degrees right now at my house on 11/16 but no sun...just more rain. That is ok though as it is mild enough to throw some of my plants outside to get a natural watering such as my 6 ft. tall abutilon that I almost decapitated bringing it outside. I could actually deal with the rest of the winter being like this. I still have tropical salvias and some agastaches blooming and those that aren't blooming that got hit by the freeze a couple of weeks ago are putting out all new leaves.

Penny
laurelin
17 years ago
We had cloudbursts, flash floods, and landslides in our area yesterday. Sheesh, after all this UGLY weather I'm almost ready for a drought next year. (ALMOST!! I'm not a glutton for punishment, really!)

Laurel
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Aurore
17 years ago
Hey Laurel,
I've been watching the news. Is the flooding as bad as this summer's flood? You guys south of us get the flooding much worse than here. I was surprised when you said this summer that the area beyond the embankment turned into a lake next to your house. That had to be unbelievable.
I've got a little water in the basement. Just holding my breath and praying for all those people next to the river and streams who were finally getting their houses back in order from this summer's flooding. They predict snow for this weekend. Snow might actually help if it didn't run off into the rivers and streams like rain does.
My brother stopped by on his way down to North Carolina yesterday. He is thinking of moving down south to get away from northern New York winter weather. Still waiting to hear whether he got into any of the lethal tornados that blew through that state yesterday. He wasn't supposed to be near where they hit, but he might have to drive back through that area. Guess there is no getting away from this crazy weather.
cats39
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi Laurelin and All!

I didn't think when I originally posted this thread that we'd be back in a couple of weeks talking about another onslaught of bad weather.

The rain of yesterday afternoon here in the Syracuse area was somewhat reminiscent of the straight line winds we had during the Labor Day storm of a few years ago when we lost over 33,000 trees just in Syracuse alone and we were without power for almost a full week. Back then the winds with the moving storm were estimated at 115 mph.

They said yesterday's winds were clocked at 75 mph hour at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse and with the same fast movement of the storm they must have been close to 90mph. It's only the second time I've seen horizontal rain like that, and my initial thoughts were here we go again, and thanks be to God all of the leaves on the trees have fallen.

Laurelin I'm originally from Binghamton and was heart sickened to see the devastation you all had in the summer and with it being so widespread. My wife and I have family in Conklin, Kirkwood, as well as in Great Bend where my wife and I had to pick up and bring back her mother to stay with us after the Rt 81 off and on ramps at GB were re-opened on July 3rd, as everyone else who could have helped was stranded.

After her mothers return to GB two weeks later my brother in Conklin took my wife and I on a full scale sad and sometimes teary eyeopening tour. It was close to sickening to see the damage even in little places like Stillwater where my sister lived back in the '70's and I had so many fond memories. To see that virtually ever home, cottage or trailer at Stillwater had to be condemned was mind boggling. I couldn't fathom the power of water that could turn once quite Brooks where I fished for Brook Trout into raging torrents that now left them wider than most two lane roadways. Just unbelievable.

When I heard esterda on the 06:00PM news that the Port Crane area was hard hit, plus the high water in Binghamton I easily envisioned Port Crane as I hitchhiked (almost walking all the way on man of those occasions) to Lily Lake in the summer as a kid. The traffic flow then wasn't bumper to bumper as can be today at times, and rides to the Lake were far from in between. All of us kids back then were also far from overweight, and I don't have to wonder why?

In fact during yesterdas storm my wife was talking to her sister in Kirkwood when you all were getting pelted in the Broome area.

Yes Laurelin! I fully agree, I too am ready for a drought. Maybe if we get to use the hoses more often next year we'll be able to bring down the water table of 2006 a little.

Hope things get back to more normal soon!

Jim