Astro: April Fool?

I've been complaining way too much about the weather. Then Joe comes in
with three times the snow we've had. Obviously some snow god didn't
take kindly to this development. My observatory sits under the Polaris
Tree that shields it from snow. But the storm today has been coming
down a rates of 2.5 to over 15 cm per hour. The depth away from trees
is pushing 75 cm and no end in sight. Forecast was for 75 to 150mm. So
much for forecasting skills.

I think we are trying to catch Joe in one storm. We had 10C yesterday,
so the ground was warm and melted a lot of the snow as it fell yet it is
sitting at near 75cm and growing. This photo was taken a good 30cm ago.
It's now about 40cm deep on the roof of the observatory. Those poles
in the photo go together and make the snow rake I use to pull the snow
off the roof and onto the deck. But first I have to get the blower out
to clear the deck.

Of course it is another new moon down the tubes. 8th in a row for me.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

"Rick Johnson" wrote in message
...
I've been complaining way too much about the weather. Then Joe comes in
with three times the snow we've had. Obviously some snow god didn't
take kindly to this development. My observatory sits under the Polaris
Tree that shields it from snow. But the storm today has been coming
down a rates of 2.5 to over 15 cm per hour. The depth away from trees
is pushing 75 cm and no end in sight. Forecast was for 75 to 150mm. So
much for forecasting skills.

I think we are trying to catch Joe in one storm. We had 10C yesterday,
so the ground was warm and melted a lot of the snow as it fell yet it is
sitting at near 75cm and growing. This photo was taken a good 30cm ago.
It's now about 40cm deep on the roof of the observatory. Those poles
in the photo go together and make the snow rake I use to pull the snow
off the roof and onto the deck. But first I have to get the blower out
to clear the deck.

Of course it is another new moon down the tubes. 8th in a row for me.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Ouch. Not to rub it in, but we had sunny skies with a temperature of about
69 F today here in the Ohio Valley (of course, we've gotten about ten inches
of rain in the last two weeks, so this was quite a respite). I'll take that
over what you've been getting any day. lol

George

Hello all, skies clouding here too, That storm is heading this way
where it's 15c (please be rain and not snow)!
The first time photos make my first posting and me feel better.

Hoping for rain

John Blair
Port Perry, Ontario

Heard on the radio that northern MN got 30 some inches... how did it go
after this shot was made?

--
Regards, Doug W.
www.photonsfate.com
"Rick Johnson" wrote in message
...
I've been complaining way too much about the weather. Then Joe comes in
with three times the snow we've had. Obviously some snow god didn't
take kindly to this development. My observatory sits under the Polaris
Tree that shields it from snow. But the storm today has been coming
down a rates of 2.5 to over 15 cm per hour. The depth away from trees
is pushing 75 cm and no end in sight. Forecast was for 75 to 150mm. So
much for forecasting skills.

I think we are trying to catch Joe in one storm. We had 10C yesterday,
so the ground was warm and melted a lot of the snow as it fell yet it is
sitting at near 75cm and growing. This photo was taken a good 30cm ago.
It's now about 40cm deep on the roof of the observatory. Those poles
in the photo go together and make the snow rake I use to pull the snow
off the roof and onto the deck. But first I have to get the blower out
to clear the deck.

Of course it is another new moon down the tubes. 8th in a row for me.

Rick

--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

Doug W. wrote:
Heard on the radio that northern MN got 30 some inches... how did it go
after this shot was made?


Let's put it this way. I'm running the computer off of the trolling
motor deep cycle battery. Power's been out now about 36 hours. Can't
open a door. They open out (screen doors that is) and there's no way
you can push against waist deep 80 cm of very wet snow. Garage doors
are electric so released the chains but with the snow piled against them
both my wife and I pushing together can't budge it. Radio indicates
that the plows are constantly stuck on the side roads. The frost was
going out of the ground when this hit. That puts road limits into play.
In theory the plows are too heavy but being "emergency" vehicles they
are allowed out. But all they do on the non hard surface roads is spin
their wheels and dig into the road. A friend of mine spent the day
following one with his bulldozer (illegal and he's not emergency but no
cop will ticket him) and he pulls the plows out. Sometimes out of the
ditch. But says after they've dug in the roads are so tore up nothing
can get down them. So the plows were pulled. They say it will be
Friday before they will try again. If so the power will be out for some
time as mine is out due to a large tree that took the line down about
300 feet from my house. It took the pole with it so that will have to
be replaced as well.

Officially we got 28" but its 32" against my doors and they are
sheltered by the eaves. Its a good 6" deeper out a couple feet. So
it's about 1 meter on the open part of the deck. Ground is less as it
was warm and melted a lot of the snow for the first few hours it fell.
I had 15 cm on the deck before anything started to show on the ground.
Probably where the 28" comes from. It was sunny later in the day with
temps hitting 8C so melted some. A few more days of it and I can open
the door again. But they are forecasting more snow for Thursday!

We got lucky as there wasn't a lot of wind with this. Maybe 15 kph at
most. Otherwise a lot more trees and power lines would be down.

Oh yes -- its crystal clear tonight! Even if I had power I couldn't
roll the roof as the snow is melting and it would melt right into the
observatory as the gutters are totally useless with all that snow in them.

Ah spring!

Rick


--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

On Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:44:43 -0500, Rick Johnson
wrote:



Doug W. wrote:
Heard on the radio that northern MN got 30 some inches... how did it go
after this shot was made?


Let's put it this way. I'm running the computer off of the trolling
motor deep cycle battery. Power's been out now about 36 hours. Can't
open a door. They open out (screen doors that is) and there's no way
you can push against waist deep 80 cm of very wet snow. Garage doors
are electric so released the chains but with the snow piled against them
both my wife and I pushing together can't budge it. Radio indicates
that the plows are constantly stuck on the side roads. The frost was
going out of the ground when this hit. That puts road limits into play.
In theory the plows are too heavy but being "emergency" vehicles they
are allowed out. But all they do on the non hard surface roads is spin
their wheels and dig into the road. A friend of mine spent the day
following one with his bulldozer (illegal and he's not emergency but no
cop will ticket him) and he pulls the plows out. Sometimes out of the
ditch. But says after they've dug in the roads are so tore up nothing
can get down them. So the plows were pulled. They say it will be
Friday before they will try again. If so the power will be out for some
time as mine is out due to a large tree that took the line down about
300 feet from my house. It took the pole with it so that will have to
be replaced as well.

Officially we got 28" but its 32" against my doors and they are
sheltered by the eaves. Its a good 6" deeper out a couple feet. So
it's about 1 meter on the open part of the deck. Ground is less as it
was warm and melted a lot of the snow for the first few hours it fell.
I had 15 cm on the deck before anything started to show on the ground.
Probably where the 28" comes from. It was sunny later in the day with
temps hitting 8C so melted some. A few more days of it and I can open
the door again. But they are forecasting more snow for Thursday!

We got lucky as there wasn't a lot of wind with this. Maybe 15 kph at
most. Otherwise a lot more trees and power lines would be down.

Oh yes -- its crystal clear tonight! Even if I had power I couldn't
roll the roof as the snow is melting and it would melt right into the
observatory as the gutters are totally useless with all that snow in them.

Ah spring!

Now that's what I call snow. Beats the boring 2 inches I get here.
--
This message has been brought to you by nuclear power. Please don't tell the neighbours.
http://www.petersparrots.com http://www.insanevideoclips.com http://www.petersphotos.com

Save the whales. Collect the whole set.

Rick, that's probably more snow than we had in Berlin in the last two years
altogether...

Stefan

"Rick Johnson" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...


Doug W. wrote:
Heard on the radio that northern MN got 30 some inches... how did it go
after this shot was made?


Let's put it this way. I'm running the computer off of the trolling motor
deep cycle battery. Power's been out now about 36 hours. Can't open a
door. They open out (screen doors that is) and there's no way you can
push against waist deep 80 cm of very wet snow. Garage doors are
electric so released the chains but with the snow piled against them both
my wife and I pushing together can't budge it. Radio indicates that the
plows are constantly stuck on the side roads. The frost was going out of
the ground when this hit. That puts road limits into play. In theory the
plows are too heavy but being "emergency" vehicles they are allowed out.
But all they do on the non hard surface roads is spin their wheels and dig
into the road. A friend of mine spent the day following one with his
bulldozer (illegal and he's not emergency but no cop will ticket him) and
he pulls the plows out. Sometimes out of the ditch. But says after
they've dug in the roads are so tore up nothing can get down them. So the
plows were pulled. They say it will be Friday before they will try again.
If so the power will be out for some time as mine is out due to a large
tree that took the line down about 300 feet from my house. It took the
pole with it so that will have to be replaced as well.

Officially we got 28" but its 32" against my doors and they are sheltered
by the eaves. Its a good 6" deeper out a couple feet. So it's about 1
meter on the open part of the deck. Ground is less as it was warm and
melted a lot of the snow for the first few hours it fell. I had 15 cm on
the deck before anything started to show on the ground. Probably where the
28" comes from. It was sunny later in the day with temps hitting 8C so
melted some. A few more days of it and I can open the door again. But
they are forecasting more snow for Thursday!

We got lucky as there wasn't a lot of wind with this. Maybe 15 kph at
most. Otherwise a lot more trees and power lines would be down.

Oh yes -- its crystal clear tonight! Even if I had power I couldn't roll
the roof as the snow is melting and it would melt right into the
observatory as the gutters are totally useless with all that snow in them.

Ah spring!

Rick


--
Correct domain name is arvig and it is net not com. Prefix is correct.
Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".

"Stefan Lilge" wrote
....
Rick, that's probably more snow than we had in Berlin in the last two
years altogether...

Stefan


I played golf twice this week so far. The forecast for next week is "snow",
but I bet that it will just be some slushy stuff at night. I've had enough
snow for this year Rick can keep it at least until fall!

......and last night my wife and I watched the moon approach the Pleiades
with a small scope on the back deck and today I drove up to Kopernik to
check on the 20-inch which others reported as being dead. I found that it
worked fine, but the drive electronics might be failing.

After a month of being retired I've concluded that it's better than
working - snow or not!

George N

Hey, now that you are retired you can go imaging every clear night (if the
bears let you).
Of course with the current weather it won't make much of a difference, but
at least theoretically you could ;-)

Stefan

"George Normandin" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...

"Stefan Lilge" wrote
...
Rick, that's probably more snow than we had in Berlin in the last two
years altogether...

Stefan


I played golf twice this week so far. The forecast for next week is
"snow", but I bet that it will just be some slushy stuff at night. I've
had enough snow for this year Rick can keep it at least until fall!

.....and last night my wife and I watched the moon approach the Pleiades
with a small scope on the back deck and today I drove up to Kopernik to
check on the 20-inch which others reported as being dead. I found that it
worked fine, but the drive electronics might be failing.

After a month of being retired I've concluded that it's better than
working - snow or not!

George N

"Stefan Lilge" wrote
...
Hey, now that you are retired you can go imaging every clear night (if the
bears let you).
Of course with the current weather it won't make much of a difference, but
at least theoretically you could ;-)


Stefan,

My wife says that I can go live at the observatory as long as I leave the
check books and credit cards at home!

George N