Central PA Winter 2024/2025

[canderson]

7 minutes ago, Bubbler86 said:

Here is one...

 

The driving distance from Pensacola, FL to Key West FL is greater than from Harrisburg, PA to Jacksonville, FL. 

Dallas is closer to Chicago than El Paso. 

[Superstorm]

Here is one...
 
The driving distance from Pensacola, FL to Key West FL is greater than from Harrisburg, PA to Jacksonville, FL. 

Interesting. Makes sense though.


.

[Itstrainingtime]

7 minutes ago, Bubbler86 said:

Here is one...

 

The driving distance from Pensacola, FL to Key West FL is greater than from Harrisburg, PA to Jacksonville, FL. 

It's a good half day just on the Overseas Highway...

[Mount Joy Snowman]

12 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

Yes! My claim to fame in school was being able to take a blank map of PA and accurately fill in all 67 counties. 

As someone who travels to Pittsburgh 1-2 times a year, since I started driving the trip today takes nearly an hour less than 40+ years ago. PA Turnpike speed limit used to be 55 the entire route, today a lot of it is 70 and what's not is mostly 65. 

It's so funny you said this.  I was just about to post how MY big claim to fame is being able to fill in all 67 PA counties on a blank map haha.  The guys at work didn't believe me and printed out a blank PA map for me to complete right on the spot and I scored a 100.  It hangs on my desk wall to this day.  I used to know all the county seats too.  Now, I'd probably miss a few.  So yeah, add me to the list of geography freaks ha.  We are a screwed-up bunch.

[Bubbler86]

4 minutes ago, Mount Joy Snowman said:

It's so funny you said this.  I was just about to post how MY big claim to fame is being able to fill in all 67 PA counties on a blank map haha.  The guys at work didn't believe me and printed out a blank PA map for me to complete right on the spot and I scored a 100.  It hangs on my desk wall to this day.  I used to know all the county seats too.  Now, I'd probably miss a few.  So yeah, add me to the list of geography freaks ha.  We are a screwed-up bunch.

What county is Dubois, PA the county seat of? 

[Burghblizz]

18 minutes ago, canderson said:

Dallas is closer to Chicago than El Paso. 

lol - no it’s not

(I understand the idea of these, but this one isn’t that)

[Bubbler86]

2 minutes ago, Burghblizz said:

lol - no it’s not

(I understand the idea of these, but this one isn’t that)

Yea, it is not even close.  I assumed he was right. 

[ChescoWx]

Lows this morning were more than 10 degrees below normal for late February. The coldest spot was here in East Nantmeal at 11.8 degrees. A few more well below normal days with high temperatures remaining below freezing until Saturday. We should start a nice moderating trend that will get us to near normal to above temperatures to close out the month of February. Below normal temperatures look to return as we start the March. Precipitation wise we could use a little snow or rain as we are running at only about 70% of normal melted snow/rain so far here in 2025. Unfortunately, only some flurries are possible tomorrow and maybe some showers by Monday evening.

[Jns2183]

I had the  craziest dream last night that I was being chased around MD and VA by a bunch of clowns driving motorized hot dog stands . They had confetti cannons, but instead of shooting confetti, they were shooting 312 hour kuchera and surface maps at me. 

The hot dogs are dangerous

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[Jns2183]

Yes! My claim to fame in school was being able to take a blank map of PA and accurately fill in all 67 counties. 
As someone who travels to Pittsburgh 1-2 times a year, since I started driving the trip today takes nearly an hour less than 40+ years ago. PA Turnpike speed limit used to be 55 the entire route, today a lot of it is 70 and what's not is mostly 65. 

I think I used to be able to draw our entire interstate system from memory.

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[Mount Joy Snowman]

36 minutes ago, Bubbler86 said:

What county is Dubois, PA the county seat of? 

None!  Clearfield is the county seat of Clearfield Co.  One of the great things about memorizing county seats is that so many of them have them same name as the county itself haha. 

[Itstrainingtime]

3 minutes ago, Jns2183 said:

I think I used to be able to draw our entire interstate system from memory.

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One thing GPS has done is make younger drivers totally ignorant of road and highway names. I have adult kids, one who drives for a living but can't tell me more than 2 road names...the one he lives on and the one his parents live on. When he goes anywhere he's never been before he inputs and drives. He grew up 5 miles from Rt. 30 and couldn't identify it today. He never had to learn it. I find all of it so bizarre. 

[Jns2183]

I also taught myself to read topographic maps, navigation from way points, orienteering. In High school there was this competition each year I think called the science Olympiad at juniata college. I remember placing two of the years in the topographic map/orienteering contest.

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[Bubbler86]

Just now, Itstrainingtime said:

One thing GPS has done is make younger drivers totally ignorant of road and highway names. I have adult kids, one who drives for a living but can't tell me more than 2 road names...the one he lives on and the one his parents live on. When he goes anywhere he's never been before he inputs and drives. He grew up 5 miles from Rt. 30 and couldn't identify it today. He never had to learn it. I find all of it so bizarre. 

Which is weird because GPS is wrong too often to not have some semblance of where you are.    It gets you close every time but often sends one down mystery roads, confuses situations when turns are close, etc. 

[pasnownut]

2 hours ago, Itstrainingtime said:

Same here. Invigorating! 

Long sleeve shorts kinda day??

Us normal folk call em pants. 

[Jns2183]

Which is weird because GPS is wrong too often to not have some semblance of where you are.    It gets you close every time but often sends one down mystery roads, confuses situations when turns are close, etc. 

I love using google earth to get a birds eye view of trips. A buddy of mine is a bit obsessed with Microsoft flight simulator and has it run through a vr headset. I must admit, it's freaking cool.

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[Jns2183]

Long sleeve shorts kinda day??
Us normal folk call em pants. 

Jorts

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[pawatch]

6 degrees for the low this morning. 10 mph wind. 

i use Google Earth for checking out fishing spots on the river. It will show shoals and underwater cribs from the logging era in this area. Williamsport at one time used to be the lumber capital.

[paweather]

Radar doesn't even look impressive to our south for southern folks

[Festus]

it's mid February, so I do my usual check in here to catch up on the latest winter threats.  I see a page of geography.  

Not a good sign.

[Bubbler86]

3 minutes ago, Festus said:

it's mid February, so I do my usual check in here to catch up on the latest winter threats.  I see a page of geography.  

Not a good sign.

We are on hold until later next week when we enter our next window of potential winter storms.  The AFD from the NWS today suggested they needed a break:

 

.LONG TERM /FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY/...
The arctic punch will moderate by the weekend with temperatures
trending warmer/closer to long term averages Saturday-Tuesday
thanks to weak ridging aloft and at the surface. Model
variability with fast moving/moisture lacking clipper type
disturbances in the northern stream will favor low POPs on
balance this weekend into early next week. No significant
precipitation is expected through Monday, which will be a
welcome break after a seemingly incessant batch of winter storms
every few days over the last couple of weeks.

By Monday night into Tuesday, another more potent shortwave is
progged to drift across Pennsylvania as low pressure passes
north of Pennsylvania. Still plenty of time for this system to
evolve, but the most likely scenario will be a mix of rain and
snow at higher elevations with plain rain favored for elsewhere
as temperatures trend above average for the last week in
February.

 

 

 

 

 

[canderson]

1 hour ago, Burghblizz said:

lol - no it’s not

(I understand the idea of these, but this one isn’t that)

Awww let me have fun. 

My true favorite is that El Paso is closer to the Pacific Ocean than the Gulf of Mexico. It also takes 11 hours to drive from my parents’ place to El Paso haha 

[pasnownut]

1 hour ago, Bubbler86 said:

If you look closely enough to Google Earth, if down to the road view,  you can sometimes see people not dressed

Isnt pornhub a lot easier??

askin for a friend.

[pasnownut]

50 minutes ago, Bubbler86 said:

We are on hold until later next week when we enter our next window of potential winter storms.  The AFD from the NWS today suggested they needed a break:

 

 No significant
precipitation is expected through Monday, which will be a
welcome break after a seemingly incessant batch of winter storms
every few days over the last couple of weeks.

 

Which has added up to about 2" otg, and was largely undermodeled and forecasted

hehe

 

[Bubbler86]

The 12Z Icon does not set the table well with its Tue rainer...leaving the boundary too far north for the next storm on the 27th (extrapolated.)    This is also what the GFS Graphcast (AI) and Euro AIFS show right now. 

[Voyager]

42 minutes ago, canderson said:

Awww let me have fun. 

My true favorite is that El Paso is closer to the Pacific Ocean than the Gulf of Mexico. It also takes 11 hours to drive from my parents’ place to El Paso haha 

"The sun is riz, the sun is set, here we are, in Texas yet..."

[mahantango#1]

The ice this morning on the Mahantango Creek is doing a good bit of creaking and cracking. It was very loud earlier. I don't expect the ice to go. The water level is just fluctuating Making the ice creak and crack. I wanted to get closer to the creek but there is thick ice in the yard. So I'm not attempting to go down there. After last weeks episode of me thinking I could walk in the yard on that thin ice which was thicker then I thought i didnt break through it. I took a nice fall and hurt both my wrists and had to crawl out of the yard to the road. Thankfully I didn't break any thing but I sprained the one wrist pretty good.

[Bubbler86]

6 minutes ago, mahantango#1 said:

The ice this morning on the Mahantango Creek is doing a good bit of creaking and cracking. It was very loud earlier. I don't expect the ice to go. The water level is just fluctuating Making the ice creak and crack. I wanted to get closer to the creek but there is thick ice in the yard. So I'm not attempting to go down there. After last weeks episode of me thinking I could walk in the yard on that thin ice which was thicker then I thought i didnt break through it. I took a nice fall and hurt both my wrists and had to crawl out of the yard to the road. Thankfully I didn't break any thing but I sprained the one wrist pretty good.

Sorry you got hurt.  What is the bridge in the background use for? 

[mahantango#1]

1 minute ago, Bubbler86 said:

Sorry you got hurt.  What is the bridge in the background use for? 

Nothing now It was a bridge that was used to connect Dauphin and Northumberland counties. But was closed in 1983 due to being unsafe. The county wanted to sell it to me for a dollar, an then I assume all liability that goes with it. We also found out the county of Dauphin wanted to tear it down and sell it to an outfit in Oregon. In the meantime my wife did her research with a professor from Bucknell University in 1993 and the got the bridge on the National Register of Historic Places. thus stopping the sale, as they would have to do an archeological dig. The bridge is unique because the the turnbuckes on the bridge are opposite than a regular bridge. This bridge is often called the Seaman Bridge (named after my grandfather) it's also known as Dauphin County Bridge #27 There was a plaque on the bridge that said it was built in 1896 by The Chambersburg Bridge Company. But the plaque is missing now. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/93000720.pdf

[Bubbler86]

3 minutes ago, mahantango#1 said:

Nothing now It was a bridge that was used to connect Dauphin and Northumberland counties. But was closed in 1983 due to being unsafe. The county wanted to sell it to me for a dollar, an then I assume all liability that goes with it. We also found out the county of Dauphin wanted to tear it down and sell it to an outfit in Oregon. In the meantime my wife did her research with a professor from Bucknell University in 1993 and the got the bridge on the National Register of Historic Places. thus stopping the sale, as they would have to do an archeological dig. The bridge is unique because the the turnbuckes on the bridge are opposite than a regular bridge. This bridge is often called the Seaman Bridge (named after my grandfather) it's also known as Dauphin County Bridge #27 There was a plaque on the bridge that said it was built in 1896 by The Chambersburg Bridge Company. But the plaque is missing now. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/93000720.pdf

That is interesting.    Was it for cars?  Or pedestrian?  Does not look like there is a road there but maybe it is obscured now.    So wait, you buy the bridge and if someone goes over they authorities saw, "Not our issue, the guy does the road owns it".       You could have also done this...a toll troll.