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E PA/NJ/DE Winter 2024/25 Obs/Discussion


JTA66
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21 minutes ago, Kevin Reilly said:

Yea I’ve spent $745 on oil heat this season it too bad and right now I sit between half and quarter tank with a 240 gallon tank think I’m good to not get anymore oil until July or August 

Same. I’ve used up 80% of my pre-purchased oil for the season. Got my last refill just before the arctic blast in Jan.

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12 hours ago, RedSky said:

You have a snow bowl, trees for shade with an open area in the middle to accumulate. 

Correct…

Funny thing is, it’s actually a south facing lawn but the north slope, trees and “mountain” behind my home combine perfectly for a long lived glacial oasis!

In fact, mid-December to mid-January, the mid-day sun barely rises above that “mountain”!

Fifth home since getting married in ‘85 and, until now, I’ve always cursed out the homeowner who had a shielded lawn, as invariably, my lawns were ALWAYS first to melt on the block :devilsmiley::lol:

NOT anymore…It’s made this very cold, but minimal snow winter, seem very acceptable‼️

2 hours ago, Birds~69 said:

Looks weenie calculated...

:lol:…LOLOL all related posts‼️

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8 hours ago, KamuSnow said:

Hey Paul, what's your count on days where the high did not exceed 32°F for Jan and Feb so far? Just curious, similar to how we use days over 90 in the summer as a measure. I don't have the data for here, but there have been a bunch of sub 32 days. And since the lows don't generally get as cold these days, the high temps could be interesting to look at. Thanks, if you have the time!

Don’t know about Paul but here in eastern central bucks:

Since December 1st, I’ve had 24 days where the temp remained at/below 32°…

Quite a few of those stayed below 20°‼️

Also, had 43 days at or below 32° up at my coastal Maine cabin!

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3 hours ago, snowwors2 said:

Don’t know about Paul but here in eastern central bucks:

Since December 1st, I’ve had 24 days where the temp remained at/below 32°…

Quite a few of those stayed below 20°‼️

Also, had 43 days at or below 32° up at my coastal Maine cabin!

Nice! This winter has had the cold, a nice regular supply. Our wood stove has been happy, lol.

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21 hours ago, KamuSnow said:

Hey Paul, what's your count on days where the high did not exceed 32°F for Jan and Feb so far? Just curious, similar to how we use days over 90 in the summer as a measure. I don't have the data for here, but there have been a bunch of sub 32 days. And since the lows don't generally get as cold these days, the high temps could be interesting to look at. Thanks, if you have the time!

Hey Kamu! We have had 30 days with high temps below freezing this season.

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27 minutes ago, The Iceman said:

Also the ground by me is muddy as hell, no drought conditions here at the moment

The ground was muddy at the parade a week and a half ago. A sign that the drought is beginning to ease. This is later than what we want, but at least the drought isn't going on for months on end like in 2002.

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1 hour ago, PhiEaglesfan712 said:

The ground was muddy at the parade a week and a half ago. A sign that the drought is beginning to ease. This is later than what we want, but at least the drought isn't going on for months on end like in 2002.

Drought is only broken by quantity of rainfall there has been no easing, surface mud is always present in a cold winter because of frozen ground

Drought guy though he can elaborate..

 

 

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39 minutes ago, RedSky said:

Drought is only broken by quantity of rainfall there has been no easing, surface mud is always present in a cold winter because of frozen ground

Drought guy though he can elaborate..

 

 

Drought guy may be beside himself and hitting the sauce. Next 8 to 10 days look pretty damn dry.

Shaping up to be a nice sunset with a few birds chirping/ making funny sounds...

44F

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3 hours ago, The Iceman said:

Saw the first bumble bee of spring outside today. Winters over folks

The bluebirds have been around for about 2 weeks now, heard a woodpecker yesterday, and saw a bluejay today. I dont know annual birding patterns so for all i know those three species are active year-round. Regardless, winter is over. Wouldn't be shocked to see flakes or accums 1 more time as a fluke, but overall winter packed it's bags and is done.

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Today was the turning point for me, it felt so nice outside. Yeah, we have a few months of dreary weather ahead before heat & humidity lock in. But I’m done with the cold. Looking forward to the week ahead :sun:

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1 hour ago, Ralph Wiggum said:

The bluebirds have been around for about 2 weeks now, heard a woodpecker yesterday, and saw a bluejay today. I dont know annual birding patterns so for all i know those three species are active year-round. Regardless, winter is over. Wouldn't be shocked to see flakes or accums 1 more time as a fluke, but overall winter packed it's bags and is done.

Heard a woodpecker the other day as well. Thought it was a bit odd for February.

Winters final grade still a C-?

36F

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1 hour ago, Ralph Wiggum said:

The bluebirds have been around for about 2 weeks now, heard a woodpecker yesterday, and saw a bluejay today. I dont know annual birding patterns so for all i know those three species are active year-round. Regardless, winter is over. Wouldn't be shocked to see flakes or accums 1 more time as a fluke, but overall winter packed it's bags and is done.

Those birds are all around in abundance year round, now, if you see a hummingbird pass by, you know winter is LONG gone‼️

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56 minutes ago, Birds~69 said:

Heard a woodpecker the other day as well. Thought it was a bit odd for February.

Winters final grade still a C-?

36F

I'm going with a C+.....if we had reached seasonal avg probably a B but doesn't look likely now. White Christmas, 13 or 14 'events', cold asf January, a couple minor icing events. I'm comfortable with a C+

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8 hours ago, RedSky said:

Drought is only broken by quantity of rainfall there has been no easing, surface mud is always present in a cold winter because of frozen ground

Drought guy though he can elaborate..

 

 

First 3-6 inches of the soil is  called the A- horizon which has had a temporary permafrost and will easily become muddy once the soils are above 36 degrees.  That is what you are seeing now. If you dug down below 6 inches, the soils are still frozen with what little moisture we received from the New Years t storms. Once you get down below the B- Horizon 1-2 feet - it is dry as  a bone. . Red Sky is right- we need significant long duration rain events of 3-5 inches over several weeks when the the B- horizon is not frozen. to put a dent in the drought. That usually does not happen until mid march, especially after an extremely cold winter that we had thus far.  A week of 50-60 degree weather will aid  in thawing out the  soil profile, especially with rain showers or even fog.

By the way, we will most likely get another accumulating snow storm in the next two weeks based on my previous observations from the winter of 2020. Mr Raccoon wiped out my feeder last night of food. I sat there and watch him go to town.  He knows there something brewing since that was the last time I saw him at my squirrel feeder.  Beware of the ides of March LOL

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32 minutes ago, Albedoman said:

First 3-6 inches of the soil is  called the A- horizon which has had a temporary permafrost and will easily become muddy once the soils are above 36 degrees.  That is what you are seeing now. If you dug down below 6 inches, the soils are still frozen with what little moisture we received from the New Years t storms. Once you get down below the B- Horizon 1-2 feet - it is dry as  a bone. . Red Sky is right- we need significant long duration rain events of 3-5 inches over several weeks when the the B- horizon is not frozen. to put a dent in the drought. That usually does not happen until mid march, especially after an extremely cold winter that we had thus far.  A week of 50-60 degree weather will aid  in thawing out the  soil profile, especially with rain showers or even fog.

By the way, we will most likely get another accumulating snow storm in the next two weeks based on my previous observations from the winter of 2020. Mr Raccoon wiped out my feeder last night of food. I sat there and watch him go to town.  He knows there something brewing since that was the last time I saw him at my squirrel feeder.  Beware of the ides of March LOL

My high IMBY was 47.8°F today, and 44 the day before. My top soil is dry AF. We're still super dry up here in Reading.

FWIW, we got near to an inch of liquid precip (snow melt+rain) last Sunday, and my basement sump started cycling almost as soon as the snow started melting. I would have thought that if the ground was deeply frozen that all of that would have run off, but our extremely localized groundwater flow has seemingly been forever altered by our massive flooding rains in July 2023, so who knows what is actually happening down there.

As much as I'd love one last, good snow storm, I agree, we still need rain and lots of it. Although, maybe not another flooding event. I think there are still some roads closed from that previous event I mentioned (due to bridges still being washed out).

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4 hours ago, CoolHandMike said:

My high IMBY was 47.8°F today, and 44 the day before. My top soil is dry AF. We're still super dry up here in Reading.

FWIW, we got near to an inch of liquid precip (snow melt+rain) last Sunday, and my basement sump started cycling almost as soon as the snow started melting. I would have thought that if the ground was deeply frozen that all of that would have run off, but our extremely localized groundwater flow has seemingly been forever altered by our massive flooding rains in July 2023, so who knows what is actually happening down there.

As much as I'd love one last, good snow storm, I agree, we still need rain and lots of it. Although, maybe not another flooding event. I think there are still some roads closed from that previous event I mentioned (due to bridges still being washed out).

One inch of rain can penetrate frozen topsoil.  In your case , a warmer foundation and the location of roof leaders can make a big difference.  If you have a sump pump in your basement, that usually means that you have a  significant fragipan soil layer near or at homes foundation walls where water in the soil is also moving laterally and not just vertically. Extending roof leaders from your home may hep curb the constant running of your sump pump too.  https://pure.psu.edu/en/publications/water-balance-and-flow-patterns-in-a-fragipan-using-in-situ-soil-     PA is noted for having fragipan in soil horizons 

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7 hours ago, Albedoman said:

By the way, we will most likely get another accumulating snow storm in the next two weeks based on my previous observations from the winter of 2020. Mr Raccoon wiped out my feeder last night of food. I sat there and watch him go to town.  He knows there something brewing since that was the last time I saw him at my squirrel feeder.  Beware of the ides of March LOL

Like this doesn't make any sense. Winter 2020 was a snowless winter. It was pretty much done and over with by the beginning of February. If 2020 is the analog for March, then the winter is done:

2020-03-01 45 25 35.0 -4.1 30 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-02 63 30 46.5 7.1 18 0 0.04 0.0 0
2020-03-03 60 41 50.5 10.9 14 0 0.12 0.0 0
2020-03-04 59 43 51.0 11.1 14 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-05 53 38 45.5 5.3 19 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-06 45 33 39.0 -1.4 26 0 0.35 0.0 0
2020-03-07 47 35 41.0 0.3 24 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-08 60 30 45.0 4.0 20 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-09 71 39 55.0 13.7 10 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-10 68 48 58.0 16.4 7 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-11 59 43 51.0 9.1 14 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-12 60 40 50.0 7.8 15 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-13 74 49 61.5 19.0 3 0 0.37 0.0 0
2020-03-14 58 43 50.5 7.7 14 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-15 55 40 47.5 4.4 17 0 0.01 0.0 0
2020-03-16 52 36 44.0 0.6 21 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-17 57 41 49.0 5.3 16 0 0.03 0.0 0
2020-03-18 59 40 49.5 5.5 15 0 0.08 0.0 0
2020-03-19 56 43 49.5 5.2 15 0 0.93 0.0 0
2020-03-20 79 49 64.0 19.3 1 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-21 67 41 54.0 9.0 11 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-22 47 35 41.0 -4.4 24 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-23 45 38 41.5 -4.2 23 0 0.80 0.0 0
2020-03-24 58 39 48.5 2.5 16 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-25 49 41 45.0 -1.4 20 0 0.01 0.0 0
2020-03-26 59 35 47.0 0.2 18 0 0.00 0.0 0
2020-03-27 69 49 59.0 11.9 6 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-28 54 47 50.5 3.0 14 0 1.14 0.0 0
2020-03-29 53 47 50.0 2.1 15 0 T 0.0 0
2020-03-30 60 45 52.5 4.3 12 0 0.06 0.0 0
2020-03-31 48 41 44.5 -4.1 20 0 T 0.0 0
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