New England Weather

A thread to rejoice, laugh, cry, complain and every other emotion in between about the wonderful unpredicatableness new england weather. LIke how it can be 90 degrees one day and a blizzard the next. No body does weather like New England. =)

Also if you haven't read it yet be sure to check out Mark Twain's speech about new england weather:

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/arts/twain1.htm

I particularly like this line, Every year they kill a lot of poets for writing about "Beautiful Spring." These are generally casual visitors, who bring their notions of spring from somewhere else, and cannot, of course, know how the natives feel about spring. . .

mud season. . . black fly season . . .

rainy season...cold and wet for months and months

Oy...yesterday really warm out...was sweating with my hat and scarf.

This morning snow and wind and cold.

I really wish the weather would make up its mind. lol

Living in Mattapoisett, MA as a teenager, I wondered why our spirng came a week later than Marion which is only one town away. I also wanted to have more winter down there on Buzzards Bay: snow in Boston & north frequently was just rain in Mattapoisett; and the cranberry bogs seldom froze over to permit ice skating.

Whe my Navy stepfather was reassigned to Massachusetts in 1960, we found that the weather forecasting in Eastern New England was much more extensive than what we had in Jacksonville, FL. And the forecasters had new England accents and sounded knowledgeable!

I think that many forecasters get their start in new england. then when they get run out of town by the locals because they just can't seem to predict the unpredicatable they move to those areas of the country where the weather follows a steady pattern.

Can't tell you how often I hear my local weather man saying there is a slight chance of rain, with a slight chance of sun and then maybe slight chance of snow in the later part of the day.

It's so funny to me - as a new transplant to NH - to hear people say all these things. "Welcome to New England!" they say, when I complain about any bit of weather.

It's funny because it's the same thing everyone says where I'm from, in Michigan. "Welcome to Michigan!" they say, when any newcomer complains about any bit of weather. The city I grew up in has drastically different weather than the surrounding areas, especially the cities just south of it - they'd have a foot of snow and we'd have an inch, if any, that sort of thing.

I lived in Michigan also, Detroit, mostly. Detroit is considerably less snowy than the rest of Michigan. The Upper Peninsula (UP) is vastly different from the rest of the state.

Coastal new England is quite a bit different from the interior. And Mount Washington has a deserved reputation for having disconcerting weather most days of the year.

Certainly the weather of coastal Massachusetts is different than the interior and higher elevations, but I grew up on the coast of Maine and it seemed that we got as much of snow, ice and below freezing temps as the interior of that part of the state. In the summer, I know we were a bit cooler because of the breeze off the ocean.

I was thinking of Buzzards Bay, when I mentioned New England winter weather. More like the winters of Long Island where I now live than Maine.

"I hear we're getting some weather this week."

Is there any other region where the noun "weather," unmodified by anything, always means "trash weather"?

I'm as happy to whine about our climate as anybody else. But in fairness, we don't have it so bad, compared to, uh, Buffalo. Or Winnipeg. (Never been there, but the stories I've heard are frightening.) I'm just curious about that turn of phrase.

People often say some variation of that in Michigan, so yes :) I can't speak for anywhere else.

I was in Buffalo for the Blizzard of '77. It was a hum-dinger - shut the city right down.

I often just go to an on-line source like weatherunderground and NWS (NOAA). I check out the fronts and forecast myself. NE weathermen are accurate if they are forecasting about 12 hours in advance. Of course, with regards to predicting inches of snow, they frequently make mistakes. Who can blame them, who can predict accurately.

it's hot out. really hot.

Sometimes we really, really want accurate predicitons. When I lived in Indianapolis (1993-97), we really wanted to know what block-face in the next 20 minutes, the next tornado was going to drop down to.

I am sure people would have liked even an approximate knowledge like that in 1953 in Worcester, Massachusetts. There is a book about the event, "The Worcester tornado" which happened June 9, 1953. This is about the 55th anniversary of the sorrowful catastrophe (I was a kid in Rhode Island at the time).

In case you've been wondering about why it got dark out:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080606145620.htm

My first experience of a Northeast blackout was in 1965 when the grid went down. I was in upstate New York at the time. We had never had blackouts when I lived in Massachusetts.

This posting doesn't merit its own thread, and I think "darkness" is a kind of weather.

Robert

vpfluke (16), I have vivid memories of riding around Worcester looking at the damage. I am surprised to hear that I was about nine at the time. Tornadoes were supposed, then, to happen somewhere else.

Robert

There was a tornado in Greenfield, New Hampshire when I was living up there (must have been the 90s). I was coming back from a class at Keene State, it was pouring and the sky was the oddest color. I hurried home (to Francestown) just behind the tornado which bounced up and down from south of the Keene area to Greenfield (backside of Crotched Mtn). The next day, the kids and I took a drive around the mountain (we lived on the other side). The storm chopped the top half of the trees off in a path up one side of the mountain - a very strange sight.

I lived in Springfield, Mass at the time in 1965 and I do remember the blackout back then. The whole east coast was out.

Everything in the east went out in 1965 except the MBTA in Boston, as its antique electrical generation system was not tied into the grid. Because of the positive memory of this, it took years for the T to get its power at much lower rates from Boston Edison.

November 9, 1965. I was reading Eight Cousins when the lights went out.

It was my father's birthday. He'd just opened this little vacuum gizmo that was supposed to suck up all the green gunk and fish poop in his fish tanks. My mother told everyone the blackout was a Communist Conspiracy. Ah, those were the days.

This is not New England weather; this is South Florida weather.

are you talking about the monsoon that's going on today there avaland?

I'm tired of the thunder storms...normally I love storms...but twice this week they've been responsible for setting off the fire alarm in my apt building.

The first time it was 2 AM! Happened again last night but fortunately it was 9 PM.

Well, after the 3rd snowiest December on record, winter has kind of lost steam here in New England (except you all in Northern Maine). Bit o' a bust for us all, eh? Of course, there's still a good month to go....

Yea, the mid-Atlantic states are having a New England winter.

And we're getting fake snow days – that non-storm from last week. It'll be interesting to see if everyone will leave early if there's another storm coming, or if the Little Storm that Cried Wolf means everyone will stay at work/school until they see a blizzard.

>28 sonyagreen: yeah, my husband took a fake snow day for that one.

RAIN.

Lots of rain, and ridiculous amounts of wind. Lights were blinking on and off here a bit on Saturday, but they never actually 'went out.'

I know LI isn't part of NE, but they had gusts of 65+ MPH at Kennedy Airport on Saturday.

I guess I should be thankful that all this rain wasn't snow!

On Long Island in Bellmore, we lost electric power for about 12 hours -- there were people who had much longer sieges. Also shingles off the roof, but no trees down really close to us (i.e. under 1/4 mile).

I heard yesterday that the temperatures in Boston have been normal or above normal for six weeks straight (of course, the change came last night).

8.5 inches of rain for that last big storm. We have one very tired sump pump. Luckily, though we abutt wetlands, we are not near any streams or rivers.

cabegley in CT said her parents stayed with them for several days until their power came back on (at least the temperatures were above freezing!)

This has been one really odd Winter for us in Northern CT. The shoreline and even NY City got much more snow than we did. Our weatherman was referring to it as The Snow-nut Hole. I don't think we're behind on precipitation, though. We had some torrential rains.

Not sure what to expect for the rest of Spring. I did kill a mosquito in my bathroom yesterday! That's a first for March. Now I'm hoping we get enough of a frost to kill off the skeeters tonight. On the other hand, I don't want it to hurt all the Peepers that have hatched!

Seriously, snow-nut hole? Actually, I love the pun, for the city that runs on Dunkin.

I couldn't believe I woke up to snow this morning, after being out in the sunshine yesterday.

Oh, Spring!

And not just any snow! Icky, sodden snow, the kind that melts on contact with the ground, or, say, your coat! And don't forget the 25mph winds! Bleh.

See? Still in the snow-nut hole here. We got rain and then sun. No snow. (For which I am thankful!)

#35 - Yes, seriously! http://www.courant.com/news/weather/hc-ct-weather-hartford-snowfall-0227,0,40043...

>34 clamairy: snow-nut hole! LOL!

I woke up today and it was 30 degrees and rainy. My roomate says "at least next weekend it'll be 80 degrees!"

thats new england.

No snow here (Southern NH) since maybe February. Its been rainy, cold, windy, but no snow. I am grateful.

Saw that Lake Winnipesaukee has its ice out as of March 24th. I think its the earliest ever.

>40 FicusFan: It doesn't seem the winter was cold enough to get some really thick ice.

Well, the rain bucket says 5 3/4 inches from this last storm. Sounds like all of RI is afloat.

I just signed the closing papers for my condo in Cambridge. FEMA has declared our (and many other) counties as flood disaster zones. I had to sign a form saying I was OK with whatever the level of water in my basement. (There was no water, thank goodness.)

Apparently, starting in a day or two, you have to get a re-inspection if you're buying, because of the flooding.

At least it's supposed to let up now. Good new, because I think RI is about to disappear.

That was one heck of an occluded front, draped over the East last Wednesday, from FL to ME. The map was covered with big "Ls". That was more lows than a night at a Blues Club.

It's long gone and this weekend is beautiful!

>42 sonyagreen: And we get an extra month to get our taxes in because of the disaster zone declaration! (I'm in Middlesex county).

btw, congrats on your new condo!

>43 Sandydog1: It was indeed (even if the backyard was still quite soggy)

Nor'easter for maybe Sunday night into Monday. Maybe.

Oh, we must be really dead if none of us got here to post about the...BLIZZARD OF 2010!!!!! Of course, most of us had to dig out and keep the hatches battened down...

Oh, you mean that steam train noise I heard for 2 days straight? 'Seems to have quieted down some.

We held out National Audubon Christmas Bird Count on Sunday, December 26 and walked off the job around 12 pm. To paraphrase Dave Chapelle, "Bird people are crazy!"

>47 Sandydog1: that definitely sounds a bit crazy. (thanks, you remind me that i need to put some of the feeders back up)

We're having a one-day thaw -- thermometer is inching up to 50ish..... but just for one day, so I can stand it.

My Monday flight was canceled thanks to the GIANT BLIZZARD (is it just me, in my neighborhood, or was it more like just a big snow?) but we got tickets for later in the week and got to have a staycation AND a vacation.

Since I've lived here, every big snow has been accompanied by some above 32 weather, which I appreciate. Boston weather is so polite.

Good to see you posting, sonya!

We had that nice warm-up over the weekend, but then it got cool again. We're expecting 3-6 inches of snow here in CT today and tonight. Just enough to make staying home seem very inviting.

Bracing for another foot of snow on top of our existing feet of snow.

>52 sonyagreen: We got it! The snow is mid-thigh deep now in the back yard. One more storm and the birds will be able to walk to the bird feeder! We are the notorious "north and west of Boston" area. I must be adapting in some ways, I didn't even check the French Toast alert level this time.

>51 clamairy: Clamairy, what did you end up with? I know cabegley got a foot down in Norwalk.

Here we go again...

Weather forecast for the next two days (as seen on a friends Facebook page)

I know in reality that's a hilarious map, but it just makes me want to sob. The snowbanks are up to the windows on the parking meters here in Watertown (MA). There is literally no where else to put the stuff. Uncle!

Yeah, I'm not thrilled about the foot and a half that's forecast for the next day or two in southern NH either. I already can't see around the corner at intersections! When I get a new car (within the next couple of years, when my 17 year old car goes kaput) I have to remember to get something that handles snow better.

>55 Irisheyz77: OMG, too funny!!

Well, today was another 8-9 inches (metrowest Boston). My poor husband is having an even more difficult time getting around the house to rake the roof...

Can't wait for tomorrow! *snort* I'm on the computer all day doing Belletrista but I have plans to bake a lovely coffeecake (no better way to survive a snowstorm).

You know, I think there is going to be a spring. There is always hope.

I can actually see some grass! I cannot BLEEPing believe it! Granted there are only a few scant patches peeking through the ice/snow crust. But still... it's a start!

Edited to add: We need a group picture, avaland! Please, anything but a New England snow scene...
;o)

>61 clamairy: done! I've left the authorization open for all members to contribute pictures - New England-related, of course.

I thought I would see lawn through the hole that the sump pump water has carved into the snow, but, as it turns out, the end of the pipe is over a piece of slate at the edge of my garden! Soon, though.

Nice! (The picture... not the lack of lawn visibility.)

Just got our power back after the latest weather adventure. Two of my children have homes in New Hampshire and they are still without power.

For days, all I had was my iphone to play on....tap, tap, tap, tap...

My sister in Harvard, Mass, still didn't have power late last night (along with everyone else, at least in Still River). She sent me an email from an internet cafe in Acton.

My sister in Concord never lost power (only 20% there did lose power). She said that Maynard went completely dark, but Stow did relatively well. And she heard that Weston had major problems.