Weather speculation

[GTRS Fiero]

It's been dry, here.  The winter has been relatively warm, with minimal precipitation.  I don't know about elsewhere, but I'm expecting a hot summer, with lots of mosquitos.  I further expect lots of rain this Spring, but flowers not to do well.  My daffodils already flowered, but only a handful, because frost got most of them.

I'm curious how the crops will do.  If I were a farmer, I'd be working the soil extra, adding water, using less multch, more nutrients, and covering the ground to keep out the weeds.  I'd probably have run the plow twice this winter, to turn the soil, probably once at 8 inches, and once at 1 foot depth.  It would probably be a good year to rotate the livestock pastures and the fallow field.

Heck, my weed field would probably get a batch of piglets, and the horses.  The grown pigs would go to market in late Spring.  I'd get a batch of chicks, and free-range them until the vegetables started coming up.  The goats will do well in the pasture.

The cattle will probably fatten well this Spring.  The milk cows will have to stay in the small pasture.  Probably a good calving, this year.

I'd plant hay early, and harvest early, but probably still miss one haying.  Fortunately, this season's leftover hay could be used next Winter.  I could cut back on grain to all but the milk cows this Spring.

Sap will be poor, but the firewood should be good.  Of course, there would be leftovers from this season.

This fall may well be irrigation weather, but the ponds will probably be low.

But I'm not a farmer.  I didn't read the Almanac, and haven't followed trends in weather for 30 years.  Or done any farming for 30 years, either, for that matter.

Food prices may go up next Fall and Winter.

If, instead, we get rain in the Fall, it will probably be a banner year for crops and livestock.  Either way, extra care will have to be given to the frops and livestock to ensure survival and health.  If the Fall is hot, the livestock will suffer.

As much as we need a wet Spring, I hope it's dry for my trip with my Fiero.

[GTRS Fiero]

Is it usual to have this much snow in GA at this time of year?

[Roger]

Ice, yes. Snow, no.

[GTRS Fiero]

I hope you don't get that shutdown that happened a few years ago.

[Fierofool]

Short answer---No.  Most times we have none or maybe just some flurries in the Atlanta region.  High elevations might get snow several times in a given year.  Freezing rain is our biggest winter problem.

There have been rare occasions of 12 inches. 

My daughter and son in law are returning from teaching EMS classes in Knoxville.  They left I-75 in Cartersville and got caught in a snowjam near Canton.  They finally got turned around and are about 15 miles from here.  7 hours from Knoxville to Auburn.

[GTRS Fiero]

I don't know the geography, but I'm sure turned around.  They were heading toward you, got caught by snow, turned around, and are 15 mines away?  Not that I enjoy a trek in the snow (I had to hike several miles in sub-zero temps and 18-inch-deep snow, many years ago), but 7 miles doesn't seem terribly far, but that'd probably be hard on their daughter.

[Fierofool]

They were in Knoxville, and came down I-75 through Chattanooga.  No snow until they crossed into Georgia.  About halfway between Chattanooga and Atlanta, they turned east on Ga. Hwy 20 at Cartersville.  They made it east of Canton, about half way to Cumming where 369 splits and got caught when a tractor trailer ahead of them couldn't get up a hill, slid backwards and blocked the road.  Other cars behind eventually tried to go past by driving up the wrong side of the road, only to not be able to get by and not back up because of the other cars following them. 

It took some time, but the cars finally untangled themselves and began turning around and going back.  So did Tony and Melissa, headed back west again.  They picked up I-575 in Canton going back toward I-75 and Atlanta and had to navigate around a long and high flyover bridge at the junction with I-285 to continue eastward.  The bridge had not been brined or plowed and no one was traveling on it.  I believe they said they went on south, turned around at an exit, then reapproached I-285 from the south so that they only had a ramp to contend with to get onto I-285.  You would need to look at this on Google Maps to know what I'm talking about. 

Just a mile in your snows can be rough.  You know where I lived when I lived in your city, I walked up to the shopping center on the other side of Hwy 67 to get a few groceries to get us through a snow storm.  We had just gotten up there and hadn't secured a car yet, so walking was our only means of travel. 

[GTRS Fiero]

Not laid out well for inclement weather there.

Not all snows are equal.  Much depends on the type of snow (powdery, puffy), the size of the snowflakes, the wetness of the snow, and the temperature.  Also, whether there is ice underneath, if the snow has a crust, and what is underneath the snow are determining factors.

I think that shopping center is mostly empty, now, There is one a ways up 67, or East.  If you're used to cold, snow, walking, have enough energy, and are dressed properly, walking isn't so bad in a few inches of snow.  It's exhausting and time-consuming, though.  It could take an hour to go 500 feet.  You lived up North, so probably not a big deal for you.  Snow more than 20 inches deep gets to be a trouble.

Is your granddaughter going to build a snowman?

[Fierofool]

Yeah, the wet snow we have here is troublesome, combined with the lack of snow removal equipment.  Not really financially feasible to have equipment sitting around for years with no reason to use it. 

In New England, the snow was usually powder and just cars driving along would usually blow most of it off the roadway until there was 3 or 4 inches.  I've driven a 73 Toyota Celica from Providence, RI to Worcester, MA, a distance of 40 miles in 12 inches of unplowed snow when we got caught with unexpected snowfall amount.  I got tired of creeping along behind the plows, so I passed them and blazed new territory.  Good powdery snow was easy to get through. 

Like your area, it was mandatory to have winter tires mounted by October 1, also.   

I don't know if she made a snowman, or not.  Probably so because she wanted to go out and make one when I brought her home from school, yesterday. 

[GTRS Fiero]

It used to be legal to have studded snow tires through the winter.  I haven't seen studded snow tires in years, and am not sure they're still legal.  I've used chains on my tires, but not for the last 30 years.  I have all-season tires on my vehicles.  I rarely use 4WD.

I learned to drive in a 2WD '78 GMC pickup that had been swapped from a V6 to a V8, making it tail happy.  I don't remember ever getting it stuck, and I never ended up in any ditches.  Of course, I wasn't 14, yet, so it was legally a farm vehicle, meaning that I always had a heavy load of something.  My rear wheels had plenty of weight on them.  My dad told me that, if I got stuck or damaged the truck, I'd have to use a wheelbarrow.  Of course, he also told me that, if I spun the tires, he'd take the keys.  One day, I was coming around a turn in the snow, with the stock racks on and loaded to the top with firewood, holding my speed around 40MPH, and there was a bit of an incline.  I had my hands full keeping the truck from sliding off the road, but I was making forward progress, despite some traction issues.  When I got the truck straightened out, I saw my dad's work van behind me.  After delivering my load and picking up a load of hay, I got home about the same time as my dad.  He didn't say a word.  We washed up and went to supper.  About halfway through, he asked me if I needed help with that hill, or maybe he should have my older brother take over that task.  I said I could handle it.  The truck I was driving was an auto with low, but the Dodge my brother was driving was 2WD with 3 on the tree, no low.  The next run, the heat in the truck quit working.  Later that week, the temp, was 25 below.  We sold that truck 2 years later without ever fixing the heater.

When driving the northern route from California to here, some areas required 4WD, chains, and a truck.

Many years ago, when driving up from Texas, we got caught behind the snowplows.  The snowplows were plowing the snow (traction) off the ice, so we passed them, just like you did.  Driving greatly improved.

[GTRS Fiero]

Today marks our third day of snow this season.  Not much accumuation.  The weather people predicted snowmageddon.  This snow started about 9:30am.   After a while, it quit melting, and started sticking.  Today, there is ice on the cars.  Tomorrow, there will be ice on the roads and sidewalks.

[Fierofool]

The cold weather we're having is a part of your system.  The leading edge got us down to freezing in a few areas of Georgia, but then the rain came in and temps rose, though this afternoon, it was only 45 at 2:30.  Heavy rain with flooding and flash floods through Thursday.

[GTRS Fiero]

Well, at least it was nice while I was there.

I thought that system from down there came up here, actually.     That brought us a lot of rain.