Rained is an understatement.

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Dave
Fire is the leading cause of fire.
Was once SAM#0132

Almost sounds like your in eastern Montana, over there trains get blown over.

No, not eastern MT; I'm in the northern Adirondacks (northernmost part of New York state). It wasn't quite THAT extreme - I do still have my roof, after all. The only thing that was really blowing that bad around here was this year's Jets. [Sigh!]

Trains getting blown over? Wow, now that's some impressive wind!

Mark

ADDENDUM: Will there ever be any break in this wind?!?

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SAM # 0011

I think you have to much time on your hands.

Here is a good example of Montana weather:

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/tfx/tx.php?...t&fx=topweather

http://www.montanamagazine.com/0206/stackofacts.html

And one year when a train was going through the pass (the one by glacier) a train carrying rice fell of the tracks (I forget how) and they had to pick up all the rice before the bears came and ate it.

Cabin fever will do funny things to the mind...


Wait, you wouldn't happen to be related to anyone named "Donner," would you?

(BTW, the two links in your message go to pages that list Montana "extremes." The first link is to a list by NOAA of the top ten most extreme weather events in Montana in the 20th century, and the second list provides additional factoids about "Montana Weather Extremes" that were gleaned from NWS data. "Extreme" in both cases, as in "unusual" or "atypical" or, to put it another way, "nothing like the weather that we Montanans normally get around here." Thus, these certainly wouldn't constitute evidence of anything that could be called "good example(s) of Montana weather."

Not to say that the lists aren't interesting, in a nerdy-meteorological sort of way. Just the sorts of things you want to ponder during those long winter nights. )

Mark

(I'm having WAY too much fun with this thread... Thanks, F_O_G!)

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SAM # 0011

Yeah, I know what you mean by cold.

Why, it only got up to 74 F in the shade. Too cold to do any rocket painting here in San Diego.

Bob

The spot of Montana that I lived in stayed consistantly around -20 for a couple of months, with dips down to -50. My snot froze instantly upon stepping out the door... it took me a while to realize that I didn't have boogers crusted around the bottom (that's what it felt like).

My wife's chin turned black one time (in the -50), and once I forgot to blowdry my beard and mustache, which partially came off when I wiped my face (to get the "boogercicles" off).

It was a dry cold though... sorta strange. I had a freezer suit that I wore every day (a dude from down here gave it to me... he worked at a meat packing place), and when I would shovel snow I would get so hot that I'd have to remove the top and shovel in a t-shirt in -20... no joke, and was NOT cold! Pretty weird.

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Daniel Runyon Net

Yeah, the Adirondacks used to be known for winters like that, too; I experienced a few of them after I moved here 24 years ago. But it's been awhile since we've had a real cold one; they may even be gone for good, now. It still gets pretty cold here at times, but not like it used to get. Milder winters are good for the deer herds, anyway; they spare a few more of the fawns.

I often shovel the snow off my driveway and my walk in a t-shirt without a coat. It's odd, but I still need to wear thick gloves because my hands get numb from the cold even though I'm sweating everywhere else.

"Freezer suit" - is that something like a snowmobile suit?

Mark

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SAM # 0011

You have bears that are active in the winter?

Mark

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SAM # 0011

(Any YORF members living in the US along the northern border of the lower 48 or else in Alaska, any members who live in Canada and anyone in northern Europe will be able to relate to the following: )

One peculiar thing that I started noticing right away after moving to the Adirondacks was that in the winter, it seemed to snow every day. Or every night, to be more precise. Sure, we saw snow every time a winter storm passed through, but I also began to notice that I was brushing snow of my steps and off my car just about every morning, even when the sky had been clear overnight and no precip had been predicted. In fact, when I would go out on clear nights to stargaze, I would sometimes find the air full of snow even though no wind was blowing and I could see a sky full of stars. In fact, this phenomenon seemed to occur especially when the skies were clear overnight. Where was this snow coming from?

If you read the preceding paragraph carefully and know something about winter weather, you will find the answer to this paradox right away. The key clue is clear winter nights. When you make your home up in the nation's freezer compartment, you quickly learn that the coldest nights in the wintertime are the ones which have no cloud cover. And you usually get clear nights when there is a really deep freeze (a cold spell) going on. OK, fine, you ask: why does this cause snow to come out of nowhere? During the daytime, even in the coldest weather, the air near the ground (well below the level of clouds, if there were any) picks up a little bit of water vapor. Sunlight causes a little to sublimate from the snow, some is introduced from car exhaust (and there are substantially more cars operating during the day than at night, even in rural areas), the exhaled breath of people (just like cars, there are many more of them operating during the day, too), etc. After the sun sets in the evening (or afternoon), the air temperature quickly drops (like a rock!). And so, overnight, all that water vapor hanging around in the air near the ground simply freezes, and falls back to the ground. It never coalesces into clouds first; it just freezes where it is in the air, and falls back down as ice crystals. That's why I have to sweep off my car every morning, even in fair weather, during the winter.

Really cold air cannot hold much water (it has a very low dewpoint), which is why in cold winter climates such as Montana and the northern Plains, the upper Midwest, the northern Adirondacks and northern New England in the continental US, and anywhere further north of those places or in higher altitudes, the winter cold often feels so dry.

(and yes, today's lesson will be on the test...)

Mark (I'm not a science teacher, but sometimes I act like one in order to impress the girls.)

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SAM # 0011