A non Corona Virus discussion, imagine that..

[Old Ironmaker]

I need to talk about something other than this Pandemic. I have Corona Virus overdose. It's about all my wife and I as well as family and friends talk about., text, email, twitter of Facebook, any other ways to communicate these days,  I'm sure there are more ways. . I knew how to email and now know how to text. And 99% of the time it is Covid 19 related. Which is a good thing in ways.  My God Daughter is a real hoot. She texted me to ask how I am doing as I am the oldest person she knows!!!!! Funny girl she is. She writes for Yahoo. she's their entertainment, pop culture editor. Look at her stuff, she 's good. They sent her to NYC to interview Wonder Woman in January. I would pay my own freight if I could meet Wonder Woman. Google Elizabeth DiFilippo, Yahoo.ca. If this should not be here Art please delete. 

So let's talk about the weather.

How bout that so called winter we had. The Farmer's Almanac called for abnormally cold temperatures and heavy snow. It was the opposite. I wore my winter coat a few times and that was it. I shovelled about 1" of snow from the walkway once. We live on a private laneway and our snow removal guy didn't touch it not once. We have a 4 plus car driveway and it wasn't touched once either. I know it was tough for ice guys but you did eventually get good ice in some places. Not the usual 4" on New Years Day.  I know  my snow removal guy had a bad season as there wasn't any snow to speak of. He told me the only money he made was from our contract with him, snow or no snow., all he does is complain about how poor he is, from the drivers side of his new $60,000.00 Ram Hemi. Some years in March there is 5 feet or more of dirty snow on the side of the roads, our Day Lilly's are 3" high. I called him to roll the lawn, unheard of here in March. It's dry as well. Last year it looked like we live on an island in a big pond. 

How's the weather folks? 

Edited March 24, 2020 by Old Ironmaker

[OhioFisherman]

It was the 3rd warmest winter on record here, the birds started returning a couple of weeks ago, a morning dove seems to think the roof or gutters above my bedroom makes the best calling spot. Blue Jays and Starlings seem to have turf battles, I'm cheering for the Jays!

Saw some pictures this morning, the walleye are biting if you can get out.

[AKRISONER]

Johnny on the farmers almanac

Most scientific analyses of the accuracy of Farmers' Almanac forecasts have shown a 50% rate of accuracy,^[1][2] no greater than random chance

Doug Gilhelm is the head meteorologist at the weather network. He releases seasonal outlooks based on global weather patterns using a mathematical scientific approach. Most observation is done by simply looking at ocean temperatures and the expected jet stream variations that accompany those ocean current and wind patterns.

His prediction for the winter was pretty close to spot on although he figured it would be colder than it was. He nailed the precipitation forecast though. A wild winter, southern Ontario surprisingly had one of the wettest winters we have ever had! Even more strange and unbelievable and this will throw a lot of folks for a loop, it was actually one of the snowiest...i know right? snow? where??

I talked to Doug and what threw us all for a loop is that the consistent pattern was that every time we got snow it immediately warmed up and melted it all therefore making it feel like we never had much snow. We also got a very significant amount of rain over the course of the winter. You may remember the one storm where Toronto got close to 70mm of rain. Thats almost record breaking. The pattern difference between for example parry sound and a place like Barrie was also extremely different. That ended up being the battle ground between the warm air to the south and the cold air to the north. That meant that many of those rain storms were a mix of snow and rain rather than the traditional snow we normally get. What was most notable was the simple lack of lake effect snow this year due to warmer than normal temperatures everyone experienced. It really cut down on the snow totals in the traditional snowbelt areas.

What annoyed most of us was how bloody cold the fall was vs December and January. My lake actually totally iced over in November with almost 3 inches of ice, and then cleared, and then re-iced over again. That was strange to say the least and sure did a hell of a number on our docks and boat house. Ive got plenty of work to do once the lake opens up again.

Edited March 24, 2020 by AKRISONER

[Old Ironmaker]

9 minutes ago, AKRISONER said:

Johnny on the farmers almanac

Most scientific analyses of the accuracy of Farmers' Almanac forecasts have shown a 50% rate of accuracy,^[1][2] no greater than random chance

 

 

Yep Akrisoner, the only job where you can be dead wrong 1/2 the time and not get fired is a Weatherman or girl. I'll add people that put together the Farmers Almanac to that list. 

It wasn't as wet along the Erie shoreline as the rest of Ontario this year but many times I commented thank goodness it isn't cold or we would be snowed in. 

[LefroyFisherman]

Wasn't that harsh of a winter at all, here in Innisfil we had some snow but many thaws. Maybe a handful of cold days. It seemed like we would have a really early and long ice season in November, it was skimmed over very early and guys were ice fishing the kawarthas in November, then we lost it all til after xmas.