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Cliff Mass: "Major Windstorm Possible Tuesday"

(34 posts)

Started 3 years ago by Silver
Latest reply from phoo

Silver

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Yeehaw! Stock up on batteries and peanut butter tonight, 'cause when people hit the stores tomorrow it won't be pretty. ;-)

Extreme Weather headed our way!

Posted 3 years ago #
wildernessbarbie

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Yea! I'll get out my oil lamps tomorrow!

Posted 3 years ago #
chermoni

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This is the second time in the last 15 minutes that I've visited a website linking to that blog about this storm. It's not a new blog is it? Just haven't seen it referenced before. That aside, BRING IT ON! I love storms, they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Posted 3 years ago #
Silver

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Cliff Mass has an awesome blog. I've just started hearing about it in the last year or so. Word must be getting out. Perhaps his subscriber base is reaching (wait for it!) critical Mass.

Heh heh.

Okay, sorry.

Posted 3 years ago #
Silver

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Wow - check out this satellite loop!

Posted 3 years ago #
phoo

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Woohoo! Thaks for the headsup! This is my first year in ballard, so I don't know how prone my area is to power outages. However, I've got my lamp and glowsticks out and the handheld charging. Don't have a really good non-personal radio, but maybe I'll look for something cheap when I go for more batteries at freddies tomorrow. Oh. Perhaps I should try harder to fix the firewall tomorrow as the upgrade was broken (thank you straight debian) and I don't believe it'll work on reboot.

So much hidden prep to do for a windstorm!

Posted 3 years ago #
chermoni

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My experience in Ballard is that only accidents cause outages. For example, some unknown animal blows the whole neighborhood, or a tree and or it's limbs fall on a power line. Other than that we seem to fare very well. Even when we had that really bad windstorm a few years ago I can't even recall my lights so much as flickering.

Posted 3 years ago #
blueben

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Almost half the neighborhood lost power just a few weeks ago, on a cool clear calm night. Our power is good, but not infallible.

Posted 3 years ago #
Silver

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Getting some pretty good gusts here at around 3am!

Posted 3 years ago #
bikerchick

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Indeed, Silver - it's too noisy to sleep!

Posted 3 years ago #
jubbjubb

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This is my favorite site to watch for weather news. You will get used to the abreviations after a while. They usually update 4-times a day. Lots of other good links too if you get real interested.
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/get.php?wfo=sew&pil=AFD&sid=SEW

Posted 3 years ago #
Silver

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Humph. No pictures.

Posted 3 years ago #
blackcat91

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phoo - this is my first year here, too, so I have no idea what to expect in regards to major weather here (there's no "weather" where I come from). I got one of those crank radio/flashlight/weather units since there were SO many power outages in the Southern California town I'm from due to the fires over the last year. It's just a cheap one from Radio Shack but it worked great so I recommend getting one (also takes batteries so if you have them, you don't have to crank it). I heard about the 2007 storm here and really hope it doesn't get that bad in my first year... I'm still unpacking. I also hope the waterproofing work done by the previous owners of my house holds... they had water coming up from below ground then a& had to re-do the basement. I guess I should drop the unpacking & make sure I get that warranty transferred to me :)

Posted 3 years ago #
Nora Bell

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NOAA has some excellent satellites. At work we used to check them during hurricane season to see what was going to be messing up Haiti. It's a fun site to explore in general.

Posted 3 years ago #
Frayed Knot

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The best thing to do in a major windstorm is to panic. I mean fly off the proverbial handle and run about your block waving your hands willy nilly. After that get to Home Depot right away and buy the biggest generator you can afford. Next, stock up on canned goods and meat as much as your vehicle will hold. Then barricade the doors and hole up in your house and pray the looters pass you by.

Or just maybe nothing significant will transpire and all will be well.

Posted 3 years ago #
motorrad

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To the newcomers- Weather here is tame compared to other areas. Rare thunderstorms are a celebrated event to those of us from elsewhere. No local tornadoes, which I do not miss. Winds seem to rarely get over 40. That was a great day of windsurfing where I come from. Problem is the trees have shallower root systems so they will come down in these lighter winds which sucks, but the wind doesn't get strong enough to damage shingles or shakes, etc. by itself. No hurricane/typhoon kind of stuff. Worst is a little snow in the city which locks things up but really not that dangerous. In the first years here we would chuckle aboot the storm watches and the 35 mph wind gusts. As you are here longer (if you stay) you forget what dangerous or extreme weather is like and you start to gauge storms by the seattle grades. Luckily my neighborhood in ballard sees very few power outages which are the worst thing really.

But before the Seattle natives get all defensive on my a$s that seattle is too exciting and dangerous, there are a couple things I will mention. The impending earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruption with disastrous mud flow, mudslides on a smaller scale, and the howard hansen dam.

Posted 3 years ago #
phoo

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Frayed Knot, you almost have it right. You should panic, but you should save that panic for when the storm is already here. You should previously been preparing by scoffing at anyone who mentions stocking up on batteries or getting their lantern out. Bonus points for telling them that they are panicking.

When the storm hits, then you can panic. Be spectacular and as dramatic as possible. Drive at an unreasonably fast speed and cut off as many people as possible. This will show everyone how important you are and how right you are to panic and that everyone else should panic too or they are fools. Buy everything in the store that could possibly pertain to your situation, no matter how impractical. Make sure to buy icecream, forgetting that it won't keep when the power is out. Get the largest generator possible and make sure to run it in your attached garage, assuming you remembered to get fuel for it. Don't forget to play the victim card when you suffer CO poisoning from the generator.

Enjoy the storm!

Posted 3 years ago #
blackcat91

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Thanks motorrad! As a newcomer from a place where it's sunny, warm & mostly "perfect" year-round, I've been enjoying the thunderstorms, hail & rain since they're such a novelty for me. Now I just need to get my cat & parrot used to it (the cat got sick from stress & the parrot is still telling herself "it's okay" over & over, though not as much)... at least the dogs aren't afraid of thunder :)

Posted 3 years ago #
motorrad

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@bc91- Since you are from a place with more benign and boring weather, then Seattle's may be exciting for you. I went to LA for 5 months a few winters ago when we had NO snow at all for snowboarding and it was coincidentally almost a record breaking year for rainfall there. I enjoyed many thunderstorms down there and wrongly assumed they were a regular occurrence throughout southern CA. Good that the dogs are OK with the thunder. Too bad about the other animals. Thunder doesn't happen very often, but that also means hard for them to get used to it.

Posted 3 years ago #
Edog

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As long nothing hits my house, we still have gas, and I can flush the toilet, I'm not really worried.

Posted 3 years ago #
blackcat91

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Yep, I lived about 90 minutes north of LA and the only time we had weather was in an "El Nino" year... and that was just heavy rain & a lot of flooding since the town wasn't designed to handle the water. We did have strong winds which caused excitement, though... unfortunately it often came in the form of major wildfires. Anyways, my parrot didn't freak out like I expected her to. That could have been bad, even deadly for her. She was just a little nervous and kept telling herself "it's okay" (she also asked where the dogs & cat were to tell them they were okay)... and it was only when the hail was pelting the window near her cage :)

Posted 3 years ago #
motorrad

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BC91- I think I need to borrow your parrot.

Posted 3 years ago #
DNADave

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We seem to have about a week of windy weather in November, one or two days of snow in December, and about a week of "hot" (really just really warm) weather in August each year. How extreme these events are seems to fluctuate from year to year, but those events seem fairly consistent. I grew up in South Texas and went to graduate school in South Dakota and Virginia and worked in Southern Arizona. None of the weather here is as extreme as the weather in the other places I've lived.

Seattle is really a lovely place to live.

Posted 3 years ago #
Nora Bell

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Hmm. Maybe I need to get a parrot. The cats could use that kind of reassurance. ;-)
Yeah, not freaking out, just getting prepared. Plenty of bottled water in the fridge, batteries in the flashlight, re-charged cell phone, and filled ice chest to keep the beer cold. I've never lost power for very long in any Seattle storm, though.

Posted 3 years ago #
msballard30

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During the massive wind/rain storms that lashed Seattle in December 2007, Ballard, Queen Anne and Magnolia were the only three communities in the greater Seattle area not to lose power (for a week or longer). I guess there IS an upside to being tree-free.

Posted 3 years ago #
Nora Bell

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Heh. Yeah, but the appliance place on 62nd didn't put all the appliances inside and there was a refrigerator in the road the next morning. :-)

Posted 3 years ago #
blackcat91

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Nora Bell & motorrad - yes, parrots are wonderful but they're also a LOT of work and when my African Grey is annoyed with me, boy do I know it... they're not described as being in their "terrible two's" for 60+ years for nothing :) If you ever want to talk parrots, start a thread asking about them & I'll share any info I have. I've had as many as 6 at a time (various species) since I used to take them in... some abused, some abandoned, some just given up because they bit someone or their human found out they're messy & don't just eat seeds. I love my little girl & wouldn't trade her for anything... even on the days when she's annoyed & gives me the "smoke detector low battery" treatment or answers every question with "huh?" :)

Posted 3 years ago #
BlackSheep

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Much respect for the pre-storm beer-chilling prep, Nora Bell. Now THAT'S how to plan for an emergency!

Blackcat, the "it's okay" cracked me up. My cat responds pretty well to "it's okay" when he's scared, but my bird is not interested in making him feel better. LOL

When I went to check on her during all that thunder and lightning, she was just making weird clucking noises...

Posted 3 years ago #
blackcat91

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BlackSheep: Hehe, she's not usually interested in making my other animals feel better, either :) That goes to show how nervous she was by the hail hitting her window... but again, I'm really glad she didn't have a full panic attack & break anything. I think she just wanted company & called each of them by name so they'd come hang out with her, then told them "it's okay" like she'd been telling herself (by the way, it didn't work on the cat... she took off to the basement bathroom & stayed there for 2 days). Normally she prefers torturing them... getting them in trouble by using my voice to tell them to do something they shouldn't, throwing her food so they scramble & fight over it, meowing, whining like the dogs do, barking like an old neighborhood dog did, imitating the doorbell, etc. She makes things very entertaining around here, especially for guests that don't expect her to speak so clearly in my voice :)

Posted 3 years ago #
vanillamilk

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Cliff Mass taught my atmospheric sciences class at UW. Probably one of the top five teachers at UW. His enthusiasm made a 'dry' subject quite interesting.

Posted 3 years ago #
Nora Bell

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Thanks Blacksheep. Well, I just know when the lights go out I'm going to want a cold beer. ;-)
Blackcat91, I had a pair of parakeets when I was a kid and found out birds are too much for me. The cats just don't believe me when I say 'it's okay' so thought they may like having a second opinion.

Posted 3 years ago #
blackcat91

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Ha! My cat doesn't believe me either... I wish she'd at least listen to my parrot. Now... I need to go get that beer chilled, excellent idea & probably the only preparation needed! :)

Posted 3 years ago #
motorrad

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Hey Silver- Hope you went out and got a battery powered scanner just in case.

Posted 3 years ago #
phoo

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Although it's not a trunking scanner, I've got my handheld and I also got a battery powered regular radio today. So I can get the official news and listen to some of what's happening on the ground so to speak. I do not actually think I'll have a significant power outage, so no ice purchases today, though I did pop an extra couple of ice packs into a freezer. The lights here in Ballard have flickered more than back in Fremont, which is why I was asking. Sounds like it is fairly stable here too. Just the same I am glad I finally got my office computers on the UPS that was inexplicably connected to the tv downstairs (maybe I thought it was going to have a power surge?). Firewall is not fixed, but will survive a reboot.

I have always missed the storms we used to have when I was a child living on the north Oregon Coast. It was common to have sustained winds of 90+ mph with gusts >100. Top winds when I lived there were sus. 100 (110?) with gusts of 120. That was the year I was watching our double paned picture window flex in and out with a "whofp" noise and all the reflections in it would change. Before the rain hit I enjoyed running up and down the long driveway in winds around 70mph. It was easiest to exhale by turning my head if I was facing into the wind. The wind was vaguely warm and always exhilerating. I've always missed that wind.

Posted 3 years ago #