weather – Page 7 – The Books are Taking Over…

Winter is coming, indeed

One of my favorite things about New England is the seasons. I love the seasons here, and how we actually have four distinct ones. The ground is now covered with leaves and the trees are mostly bare. We woke up this morning to snow coming down, although not very hard. More like heavy flurries, if that makes sense. It wasn’t really sticking either except for a few elevated surfaces. But it was still kind of cool to see. Just a sneak preview of the winter that is coming. At least for us it won’t last for years, like the poor folk in Westeros. The temperature today is not supposed to get much above freezing. Now, at 1 PM, it is still only 33 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s the sort of day to make you glad to be indoors, enjoying a good cup of coffee.

It is also the second anniversary of our wedding, and my brother Greg’s birthday as well. So happy anniversary, Kelly my love, and happy birthday big brother!

-Geoff

Terrible news from the Philippines

Now that Typhoon Haiyan has passed over the Philippines and headed west towards Vietnam, the people there have had a chance to begin initial assessments of the damage done, and it doesn’t look good. One observer has described the scene as “apocalyptic”. Some areas are so devastated that there is no communication from them at all. Accurate assessments of casualties at this point are impossible, but it looks as if the loss of life will easily be in the hundreds, if not the thousands.

If you have any ability to help at all, here’s some groups that are assisting with relief efforts: the Philippine Red Cross; the World Food Program; Shelter Box; and Americares.

-Geoff

Possibly the strongest typhoon ever recorded

Wow. Glad we don’t have a storm like this anywhere near us.

Super Typhoon Haiyan is definitely the strongest storm of 2013, and it may just be one of the strongest ones ever recorded, with sustained winds of 195 miles per hour and gusts of up to 230 mph. Imagine that. Good God, an EF5 tornado has winds of 200 plus miles an hour. And this is a tropical cyclone, causing damage over a much wider area. They probably won’t even know for a while just everything that it has done. The size and power of it are just mind-boggling. Hopefully the loss of life in the Philippines and other places in its path will be minimal. They seem to have been quite prepared, at least.

I will settle for some cooler weather and rain here, thank you very much.

-Geoff

Welcome, October

Ok, so it’s October 1st. The Federal Government has effectively shut down. Open enrollment for the ACA has started, but the website isn’t working. In fact, until about 11:00am this morning, the MA iteration of the website didn’t even reflect that open enrollment for people looking for ACA healthcare effective 1/1/14 had begun.

Continue reading “Welcome, October”

Fall is here… so long, summer…

And don’t let the door hit you on your way out.

Seriously, I have been wanting summer to go away for some time now, and not just because fall is my favorite season. Largely because I am tired of being hot all the time. Sure, we have some window AC units at home, but it is still not as cool in the house as I would like. And my major place of employment is an 18th century building with no AC.

But I always try to find silver linings.

Continue reading “Fall is here… so long, summer…”

One hundred thirty years ago today – Krakatoa

The gigantic eruption that made the volcanic island of Krakatau in Indonesia (or commonly in English, Krakatoa) famous down to the present day actually began on August 26th, 1883. But the final eruption that destroyed most of the island happened on the following day, in a series of four gigantic explosions. Ultimately the volcano was blamed for more than 36,000 deaths, although some historians and scientists consider that number (estimated by the Dutch authorities, as it was part of the Dutch East Indies at that time) to be much too low. Krakatoa was the first major volcanic eruption to be studied and measured with modern scientific instruments such as seismographs and barographs.

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A New Storm Naming System Proposal

I am a bit of a weather geek, and a history geek, and sometimes a weather history geek. But you knew that already.

So anyway, I heard about this interesting proposal to change the naming system for hurricanes, and I certainly appreciate the sentiment.

Continue reading “A New Storm Naming System Proposal”

ASSEMBLED Artist Market tomorrow in Somerville!

Come see me tomorrow in Somerville! I’ll be back at ASSEMBLED. We had a great time last time and the weather should be great again.

My friend Kirby will be joining me again with her fantastic handmade bracelets and ear jewelry. WBZ radio is also covering the event and there’s even a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to certain vendors like Singing Stones Jewelry. Ahem.

Hope to see you there!

~Kelly

We’re melting… melting…

Well, looks like Boston broke another record today. The official temperature reached 99 degrees Fahrenheit, although Basil (our Mini) insists that it was higher than that.

So today is day six of our ridiculous heat wave here in Boston, and tomorrow is supposed to be day seven. Fortunately this sort of heat is quite abnormal for Boston, and it should return to usual 80 something degree temperatures by Sunday. We have had both of our AC units running, plus all of our fans, and it is just barely enough to make it tolerable.

I am definitely ready for fall to get here. I was more enthusiastic about summer when it meant I got to do lots of fun things, but these days fun tends to be a bit limited and I prefer comfortable temperatures. Hell, I even prefer cold winter temperatures to this.

-Geoff

More adventures in plumbing… wheeeee…

All of the heavy rain we have experienced in the Greater Boston area recently seems to have reproduced the problem that Kelly and I had last October.

Yeah, that problem.

Continue reading “More adventures in plumbing… wheeeee…”