New England Met Winter 2022-2023 Banter

[powderfreak]

12 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

 

Back in the day in the post-WWII middle 20th century , most households spent around 25% of their disposable income on food. 2021 ticked up from pre-Covid, but it was still only around 11%. 

Yeah the supposed middle class glory days and boom years post WWII definitely spent more on food as a percentage.

One also has to consider we have more more bills to pay these days too compared to back then… cell phones and cellular plans aren’t cheap, internet, streaming subscriptions, etc.

Feels like most households have these relatively new monthly payments they don’t truly *need* that weren’t around even 30 years ago. But they are things we feel we can’t live without now (and allow us to post on here, ha) so when food increases it hits most middle class harder.

 

 

[Spanks45]

16 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

There’s a large housing shortage. That’s the biggest culprit on rents/shelter. We’ve become a pretty big NIMBY society…esp in more affluent areas. It’s not as bad here as it is in, say, California…but it’s important to not fall further into the red when it comes to housing unit supply. Super low mortgage rates have masked some of the price increases keeping monthly payments more affordable, but it’s hard to enter the market in the first place with those big down payments needed…and renters have really felt the pinch recently. With fewer new buyers entering the market than previously, you crowd the renting market more driving those prices up. 
 

Back in the day in the post-WWII middle 20th century , most households spent around 25% of their disposable income on food. 2021 ticked up from pre-Covid, but it was still only around 11%. 

We bought back in August of 2020, with the property values where they are now/interest rates and almost needing 20% down we wouldn't be able to afford our very basic 4 bdrm 2.5 bath colonial almost 3 years later. Interest rates/value increase with the same percent down, our payment would increase almost 2 grand per month.

No one wants affordable housing near them, they fear it will bring out the worst in people and just want it somewhere else. Issue is, where do all the college graduates go? Right back home until their salaries can cover school loans/rent/food. It is amazing that in a lot of states, the minimum wage is basically what it was back when I graduated college back in 2005 when everything else has increased substantially....

All the new houses around here are pushing 500k, how does the majority afford that?

[Spanks45]

9 minutes ago, powderfreak said:

Yeah the supposed middle class glory days and boom years post WWII definitely spent more on food as a percentage.

One also has to consider we have more more bills to pay these days too compared to back then… cell phones and cellular plans aren’t cheap, internet, streaming subscriptions, etc.

Feels like most households have these relatively new monthly payments they don’t truly *need* that weren’t around even 30 years ago. But they are things we feel we can’t live without now (and allow us to post on here, ha) so when food increases it hits most middle class harder.

 

 

it is amazing how much just phone and internet cost, God forbid you wanna watch something on TV. Health/car/renters/insurance alone is ridiculous compared to what is was just 15 years ago. If of course you could afford a used car to drive and pay insurance. The simple things that we took for granted not too long ago is pushing luxury territory as we speak....

[dryslot]

Went up to Tim Pass this morning, Trails were good in most places but some water openings and bare ground in a few other places.

[STILL N OF PIKE]

FAU 

[mreaves]

Wow UConn. By eliminating Gonzaga, nobody in our small pool has a team left. That means I win it since I was leading coming into this game. Lol our pool fell apart.  

[Torch Tiger]

7 hours ago, dryslot said:

Went up to Tim Pass this morning, Trails were good in most places but some water openings and bare ground in a few other places.

where are the adults ?

[powderfreak]

I just saw that Flagstaff, Arizona has had 140” of snow this season and two feet recently?

Guess that’s what happens when records are being broken from Sierra to Utah and SW CO.

[weatherwiz]

What’s the best “dirt” to get to fill holes in the yard (like gopher holes)? Only thing I can think of is like planting soil but Lowe’s or Home Depot must have something else 

[LongBeachSurfFreak]

32 minutes ago, weatherwiz said:

What’s the best “dirt” to get to fill holes in the yard (like gopher holes)? Only thing I can think of is like planting soil but Lowe’s or Home Depot must have something else 

Regular composted top soil. Most areas will have there own local brand for a couple bucks a bag. Don’t waste your money on any specialty crap. 

[weatherwiz]

Just now, LongBeachSurfFreak said:

Regular composted top soil. Most areas will have there own local brand for a couple bucks a bag. Don’t waste your money on any specialty crap. 

Thank you! Love that price…that’s what I was hoping for 

[eekuasepinniW]

3 hours ago, powderfreak said:

I just saw that Flagstaff, Arizona has had 140” of snow this season and two feet recently?

Guess that’s what happens when records are being broken from Sierra to Utah and SW CO.

god I miss sodium street lights

[ORH_wxman]

17 hours ago, powderfreak said:

I just saw that Flagstaff, Arizona has had 140” of snow this season and two feet recently?

Guess that’s what happens when records are being broken from Sierra to Utah and SW CO.

Flagstaff actually has 159.9" so far this season. Already 5th highest on record....decent chance for them to get 3rd place as they only need 7.2" for that....if they can get 17.3" more, then they'll get second place.

 

First place is a much tougher task needing 50.2" to break that.

[powderfreak]

1 minute ago, ORH_wxman said:

Flagstaff actually has 159.9" so far this season. Already 5th highest on record....decent chance for them to get 3rd place as they only need 7.2" for that....if they can get 17.3" more, then they'll get second place.

 

First place is a much tougher task needing 50.2" to break that.

The entire west is just unbelievable.  Alta and several other spots in Utah have broken snowiest winter records.  Even Steamboat in Colorado is over 500" at the summit on like a 320" average.

This SWE graph from Snowbird is wild.  Just up up and away.

[Lava Rock]

Wife and her friend from Colorado landed in Tel Aviv yesterday till next week. Hoping the Netanyahu protests get resolved as they've closed the airport for now for all departing flights.

[ORH_wxman]

1 hour ago, powderfreak said:

The entire west is just unbelievable.  Alta and several other spots in Utah have broken snowiest winter records.  Even Steamboat in Colorado is over 500" at the summit on like a 320" average.

This SWE graph from Snowbird is wild.  Just up up and away.

The area of record-breaking snowfall is crazy out there...it's not just isolated areas....it's basically everyone in a 300,000-400,000 mile sq mile area that is seeing record or near-record snows.

[cleetussnow]

7 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

The area of record-breaking snowfall is crazy out there...it's not just isolated areas....it's basically everyone in a 300,000-400,000 mile sq mile area that is seeing record or near-record snows.

They need it for the watersheds, esp. lake Powell and Meade.  Those need a decade of snow like this to catch up most likely.  At least this year the water diversion to Southern California won’t be needed thanks to their record snows as well.

[tamarack]

3 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

Flagstaff actually has 159.9" so far this season. Already 5th highest on record....decent chance for them to get 3rd place as they only need 7.2" for that....if they can get 17.3" more, then they'll get second place.

 

First place is a much tougher task needing 50.2" to break that.

So the record is 210.1" - only Maine co-ops with more (that I've found) are Eustis and Long Falls Dam in Bigelow/Flagstaff country.  (And sadly, both ceased reporting, 10/18 and 1/14, respectively.  The loss of key Maine co-ops has become epidemic.)

[ORH_wxman]

3 minutes ago, tamarack said:

So the record is 210.1" - only Maine co-ops with more (that I've found) are Eustis and Long Falls Dam in Bigelow/Flagstaff country.  (And sadly, both ceased reporting, 10/18 and 1/14, respectively.  The loss of key Maine co-ops has become epidemic.)

Yeah it was during the super nino of 1972-73 when Flagstaff got their unicorn 200"+ season. They had 77.4" in the month of March 1973 alone. This winter was fairly prolific in every month but January's 61.4" carried the most weight....3rd snowiest January on record for them.

[tamarack]

18 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

Yeah it was during the super nino of 1972-73 when Flagstaff got their unicorn 200"+ season. They had 77.4" in the month of March 1973 alone. This winter was fairly prolific in every month but January's 61.4" carried the most weight....3rd snowiest January on record for them.

Long Falls Dam had 238.5" in 1968-69, with 88.3" that Feb and 56.0" from the 4-day late month storm, Maine's greatest storm total on record.

Eustis' top is 215.3" in 2000-01 with 64.6" in March, including 34.5" on 22-25th.  I've found no useful data from Eustis for 1951 thru 1982 but they measured 39.2" in Nov 22-23, 1943.

[STILL N OF PIKE]

Good listen . 
 

 About as clear indication that a rapid slowing of the economy is coming as all the money that left bank deposits leads to a rapid pullback in lending . This is a VERY rapid shift out of bank deposits and the thing is This likely won’t reverse ..Also depositors Lulled to sleep by low interest rates On savings accounts and very low CD rates for over a decade now seem to realize  that they can go somewhere safer and earn 4%+ now that interest rates have risen and you can actually find shelter in fixed income with little effort 

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/funds/money-market-funds-bank-crisis-raises-fears-depositors-2023-3?amp

[beavis1729]

10 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

The area of record-breaking snowfall is crazy out there...it's not just isolated areas....it's basically everyone in a 300,000-400,000 mile sq mile area that is seeing record or near-record snows.

West Yellowstone MT has 62” on the ground, and has essentially stayed below freezing constantly since November. As you said, an amazing winter out there. 
 

I mention West Yellowstone because I love that town…right outside of the park. Such a beautiful part of the country. High valley location that often drops into the 30s even in July. 

[DavisStraight]

35 minutes ago, beavis1729 said:

West Yellowstone MT has 62” on the ground, and has essentially stayed below freezing constantly since November. As you said, an amazing winter out there. 
 

I mention West Yellowstone because I love that town…right outside of the park. Such a beautiful part of the country. High valley location that often drops into the 30s even in July. 

One of the places I have on my list of places to visit. Did Colorado last year so this might be next. I'd like to go in winter but have to see the Park.

[beavis1729]

3 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

One of the places I have on my list of places to visit. Did Colorado last year so this might be next. I'd like to go in winter but have to see the Park.

Yeah, would be great to experience winter there. And you’d definitely avoid the peak season crowds. I was there in early June 2018…with bluebird sunny days punctuated by an occasional afternoon shower, then plummeting temps after sunset. You could almost feel the temperature drop in real time. 

[mreaves]

46 minutes ago, beavis1729 said:

West Yellowstone MT has 62” on the ground, and has essentially stayed below freezing constantly since November. As you said, an amazing winter out there. 
 

I mention West Yellowstone because I love that town…right outside of the park. Such a beautiful part of the country. High valley location that often drops into the 30s even in July. 

I was there on vacation a couple of years ago and loved it. What’s funny is that even though it’s at almost 7000’, it almost feels like the lowlands after coming out of the park. Lol. Beautiful place and definitely a some time there in winter is a bucket list item for me. 

[Ginx snewx]

 

 

[eekuasepinniW]

Forgot to mention... saw my first white throated sparrow a few days ago. No singing yet.

Also noted the noisy return of the song sparrows today.

My overall winter bird population was the lowest I've ever seen. Basically no juncos and very few finches. Not even that many chickadees.  Feeders needed to be filled every 4 days instead of every other day.

 

[NorEastermass128]

4 minutes ago, eekuasepinniW said:

Forgot to mention... saw my first white throated sparrow a few days ago. No singing yet.

Also noted the noisy return of the song sparrows today.

My overall winter bird population was the lowest I've ever seen. Basically no juncos and very few finches. Not even that many chickadees.  Feeders needed to be filled every 4 days instead of every other day.

 

All the birds had plenty of food to eat in the barren, snowless wasteland of SNE this season. 

[greenmtnwx]

14 hours ago, beavis1729 said:

West Yellowstone MT has 62” on the ground, and has essentially stayed below freezing constantly since November. As you said, an amazing winter out there. 
 

I mention West Yellowstone because I love that town…right outside of the park. Such a beautiful part of the country. High valley location that often drops into the 30s even in July. 

My son attends Montana State University which is just an hour or so up the road to West Yellowstone. I’ve visited in both seasons and it’s a cool little town. It’s very quiet in winter. Quite a few sledders but otherwise a pretty quiet stop off point between places like Jackson Hole and Big Sky. 
 

It’s really an incredible part of the country in all seasons. They’ve had an incredible winter. They don’t necessary get the huge dumps like the Sierras or Little Cottonwood Canyon, but they are cold and get frequent snows that just pile up all season. I was thinking the same as you, how much time has a place like West Yellowstone spent above freezing since November?

[tamarack]

1 hour ago, eekuasepinniW said:

Forgot to mention... saw my first white throated sparrow a few days ago. No singing yet.

Also noted the noisy return of the song sparrows today.

My overall winter bird population was the lowest I've ever seen. Basically no juncos and very few finches. Not even that many chickadees.  Feeders needed to be filled every 4 days instead of every other day.

 

We've had scads of chickadees at the feeder all winter, along with downy and hairy woodpeckers, juncos and bluegluttons (jays).  Since mid month we've had some sightings of male and female cardinals.  Spring sightings (not at the feeder): one robin late last week, the barred owls are calling and downy/hairys are doing their "machine gun" pecking calls.