How's Your Weather?

[Pete_C]

Just north of us they had "Thundersnow" this morning, it was snowing heavily but having thunder and lightning.

Anyone else ever heard of "Thundersnow Storms" or is this a Texas weather phenomenon?

Here they have been saying all day that the snow will start in the next hour and we will get 3-5 inches by morning.

Yeah, like I believe that. It has stayed rainy here; although forty miles to the northwest they do have several inches and I hear they have a lot up by the Oklahoma border.

Still , I will presume that it will be cold and slippery tomorrow morning and will wait for the Texas sun to come out and melt everything.

[isteve]

Yes, we get thunderstorms and snow at least once every winter. December we had 11" of the white stuff and one unbelievable lightening display with thunder that shook the house.

[TheTerrorist_75]

We get Thundersnow quite frequently. Lake Ontario can really cause the weather to behave strangely here. Today is was nice out and hit 41F. Tmorrow they say we may get slammed with a Northeaster.

My business partner drove through Oklahoma City two days after they got hit with around a foot of snow Sunday. He said it was brutal driving from Fort Smith until he got out of Oklahoma due to the other drivers.

[Bubba Bob]

The sheet of ice covering my van this morning was over a 1/4" thick. Side roads were murdur and the main roads weren't much better

Mark

Were the roads this bad?

Wow, that hurt just watching it. Has to be one horrible helpless feeling.

[bozodog]

We get thundersnow off the lake here too. Man, what a video! I always figured if I cant walk to my car, I ain't going out!

[JDoors]

Wow, that hurt just watching it. Has to be one horrible helpless feeling.

In the comments section for the video someone said they lived there (or nearby) and, though it's not obvious, that's a steep hill (though looking at the street signs and lights it doesn't LOOK like a hill).

-----

We get the occasional thunder-snow in the Chicagoland area, but it's so rare it's an "event" when it happens. Just recently I was typing away, snow was falling and I heard a BOOM! What the HECK was that?!? BOOM! Oh! Thundersnow!

-----

Got a dusting yesterday that was gone as soon as the Sun came up, some predicted for today but I think it's supposed to pass South of where I am.

[Honda_Boy]

Old Man Winter came back with a VENGEANCE tonight. It's a friggin blizzard out there. I had power steering on the way home. Boy I was poking along on the way home. 2200lb Civic + tight geared B16 + snow, slush, and ice = no fun. I shifted real early and never got over 40MPH. My car still has about 50lbs of snow on it. And there's more piling up on it now.

[blim]

Like Jdoors said, how easily we forget the sound of thunder or the flash of lightning in the middle of winter! We're only used to hearing wind and horizontal snow hitting the house this time of year. Yup, we get thundersnow up here, too and say,

"what the heck was that??"

Hondaboy and Pete, thinking of all those folks in the Southern states! Man, 1/4" of snow and Southern towns shut down, I can't imagine how y'all handle a foot of the stuff. Even though we still have a good foot of snow in the yard (not counting the drifts) and the snowbanks have melted to about 4', you Southerners have my sympathy! Y'aren't used to it!

Ewww. And I was *this close* to going to Berea KY for the annual Dance Festival this weekend. I am SO glad I decided to stay put, even though it was this winter in Michigan that made my decision! I would have been driving through Cincinatti and according to the radar, would have been NO fun, even for this grizzled old timer....

Liz

Edited March 7, 2008 by blim

[isteve]

Honda Boy, about 15 years ago I owned a Pontiac Fiero GT with the V6. The thing had some good traction in snow with the engine in the rear but would not steer, I use to turn the wheel and pray.

39 degrees and raining.

[Honda_Boy]

I just watched the news and there's apparently been a lot of wrecks on I-24. My parents had gone out to eat and spotted an overturned car in a ditch and called 911. For some reason the city and the rest of TN weren't as prepared for this as they were all those times that it didn't snow. Man.

[TheTerrorist_75]

I just love watching people with their little front wheel drive vehicles try to travel the roads around here in the winter. Also fun to watch are those who think all season tires are going to help them. The only tried and true way to travel here is with rear wheel or 4 wheel drive, snow tires all the way around and sandbags in the back.

We have been getting hit with a mixed bad of precipitation. The heavier, wet snow is supposed to hit us tonight and Sunday.

[Honda_Boy]

7 this morning. Pic courtesy of my dad (like heck I was awake at 7)

then about noonish (me with the camera, like it matters)

hey whadya know. My post count on this post is my Car's year model (1996)

Edited March 8, 2008 by Honda_Boy

[isteve]

Well it's been in the 40's all day a raining, most of the snow has disappeared. If it isn't raining tomorrow I'm going to get a look ant my mazda for the first time in four months... I'll have pictures.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Freezing rain all of yesterday then high winds with heavy, wet snow during the night. Tree limbs were snapping off and taking down power lines. I was without continuous power from 9:30 PM until 4:30 AM. I need a UPS with a quieter alarm. I shoveled over a foot of snow and ice from the front of my house. The side driveway had from 6" to a foot of snow and ice. The roads weren't plowed this morning when I went to get the paper. At least I had the road to myself and could enjoy having a little fun. I hope no one tries to follow my tracks.

[Pete_C]

Well, it pretty much all missed us. The main storm, the snow stayed about fifteen to twenty miles northwest of here. Even the second wave which passed in the middle of the night just dusted us with a half inch. Then the sun came up and everything was melted in a couple hours. Even where they had six inches it was gone by noon.

We are expecting thunderstorms this evening and rain tomorrow.

The Arizona Ash, Plums, and several other early flowering trees are in full bloom. The grass is greening up (Rye and fescue is fully green, the St Augustine is beginning to kick in) and the Mulberry trees have their buds swelling and will probably leaf out in a week .

Soon it will be time to flush the air conditioners coils, make sure that the radiators on vehicles are scale free , topped up and have good airflow, and prepare for the triple digit summer days. Just hope we get enough rain this spring to keep the lakes full .

[Bubba Bob]

I noticed the pear trees and azaleas are blooming quite nicely. In a couple more weeks the neighboorhood should look bright with all the spring colors.

[JDoors]

Why I love Winter and hate Summer:

... prepare for the triple digit summer days. ...

Ugh.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Just lost power again for almost two hours. Tree crashed down on the wires one block away. One of my trees fell over behind my garage. More spring cleanup.

[bozodog]

WhooHoo! 54 degrees today with sunshine! Our snow is gone except for the big piles and some shady places. Some grass is greening up, but no buds yet.

[Flatiron]

About 75 today and forecasting 80 tomorrow.

Sunday & Monday 72 & the rest of the week in the mid 70's.

[Pete_C]

About 75 today and forecasting 80 tomorrow.

Sunday & Monday 72 & the rest of the week in the mid 70's.

Yesterday we had about six inches of rain. Four inches fell between 10AM and 4PM, with another inch between 4 and 7 and the rest in a later wave after 10PM.

Some of the creeks rose higher than I have seen in years, the dogs had fun splashing around in the back yard (no need for baths now, they got well soaked when they insisted on going out ).

They even had a bus drive into water where a creek flows across a major highway and begin floating downstream. High water rescue had to be called to get the driver and fourteen passengers off and the bus floated off the highway and was tilted and up to the windows on one side.

Note that is a thirteen foot tall dam, with a four foot tall ten foot wide spillway in the middle and the water is topping it by several feet (not just the spillway, the whole dam)

Edited March 19, 2008 by Pete_C

[JDoors]

Whoa!

And the worst of the Spring rains has yet to arrive.

[bozodog]

Well Pete, you guys have been needing rain. Too bad it's always to much too late. Keep your boots on and pants rolled up, summer is coming. Our snowdrops have budded, just need a sunny day for them to open. Sunny? Did I say sunny? Jeesch it's been gray here for almost a week. *sigh, I need a solar charge.

[bozodog]

Oh no, raining mud in Texas?

Many of you called and email about what looked like mud falling from the sky late Tuesday afternoon. By sundown, everything was coated in dirt.

People weren't sure if it was pollution, but it was getting all over cars and windows.

"I don't know, I've never seen this before," said Magne Turoy, who is from Norway. "I'm used to rain, lots of rain, but I've never seen this before."

The dirty rain left vehicles across San Antonio looking like they’d been taken off-roading in the mud. The cars are covered, but that coating is not quite dust, not quite dirt and not quite mud.

International tourists visiting San Antonio stopped News 4 reporter Leila Walsh to ask if the rain in America is often brown. Certainly, it's not and for many that's what makes this so hard to explain.

“I've seen pollen and there's a difference between pollen and caked up debris,†said longtime San Antonio resident Tony Harris. “I detail cars for a living, but I don't know what it is or where it is coming from, but someone has to have an answer.â€

There were reports of the muddy rain in Boerne and New Braunfels too.

Storm Tracker 4 Meteorologist Jennifer Broome explains that the heavy winds Tuesday kicked the dust and dirt thousands of feet into the atmosphere. The dust simply combined with the rain as it fell resulting in the ‘muddy rain.’

Basically it's a Texas dust storm meets a rain storm. It's unusual here but dirty rain and even brown snow happen on a fairly regular basis for West Texas and the Panhandle.

San Antonio car washes should be extremely busy Wednesday.

[JDoors]

Raining mud? That's kinda cool, in a "thunder-snow" sort of way.

We're under a Winter Storm Watch. On the first day of Spring. The warnings sound dire, but I expect an inch or two at most. It WILL be odd to have to shovel snow tomorrow.