I just can't believe this...

[Joe Tilson]

307071
I find this hard to believe on the sixteenth day of Feb. The Day Lily's are beginning to sprout as well. All this and a winter storm coming. This is a true ray of sunshine for some people. Enjoy!

[Matt Day]

I wish I could see the grass, or just anything but snow. It was -15 (w/o wind chill) when I woke up this morning.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My neighbors lilies and other flowers are sprouting, our trees are budding and it's only mid-February. My neighbor mowed his lawn yesterday for the first time this year, two months earlier than normal.

Our youngest son, DIL and 3 of our grandchildren just left on Friday. They took in a number of waterfalls while in the area including Multnomah Falls near Portland en route back to California.

Our rivers are swollen with spring run off typical of June weather, and the mountains are bare of snow. It's going to be a long hot summer with the potential of a terrible forest fire season.

[Harold Burrell]

307071
I find this hard to believe on the sixteenth day of Feb. The Day Lily's are beginning to sprout as well. All this and a winter storm coming. This is a true ray of sunshine for some people. Enjoy!


My neighbors lilies and other flowers are sprouting, our trees are budding and it's only mid-February. My neighbor mowed his lawn yesterday for the first time this year, two months earlier than normal.

Our youngest son, DIL and 3 of our grandchildren just left on Friday. They took in a number of waterfalls while in the area including Multnomah Falls near Portland en route back to California.

Our rivers are swollen with spring run off typical of June weather, and the mountains are bare of snow. It's going to be a long hot summer with the potential of a terrible forest fire season.

REALLY PEOPLE!!!

Ugh...I am not even sure if I still HAVE a lawn...or flowers...or even a garage, for that matter. EVERYTHING is covered in snow...and it is too cold to dig it out!

[Joe Tilson]

Harold,
Just think of what you have to look forward to.
:D The future is very bright!!! :D

[John Coloccia]

REALLY PEOPLE!!!

Ugh...I am not even sure if I still HAVE a lawn...or flowers...or even a garage, for that matter. EVERYTHING is covered in snow...and it is too cold to dig it out!

This morning, sitting at -10 (not sure what it was with wind chill, and it was WINDY), I had to dig a path for my oil guy to be able to get to my filler pipe. I took one step onto the "lawn", and fell in about 4' or so. I was stuck cold and had to dig my way out. LOL. I'm not usually ornery or bitter, but if I saw a cute little flower poking it's head out somewhere right now, I'd probably stomp it back into the snow where it belongs.

Hey, I grew up in New York, and spent most of my adult life in New England, with a couple of years in PA. We're a hardy bunch up here, but it's getting a bit tiring to be doing this every couple of days. We got practically nothing until a few weeks ago, and it just hasn't stopped since.

[Wade Lippman]

Yes, it is a gorgeous day. Up to 7 degrees, warm sun, no wind! Wonderful. (well, compared to the last few days)

[Mike Chance in Iowa]

307071
I find this hard to believe on the sixteenth day of Feb. The Day Lily's are beginning to sprout as well.

LOL It is hard to believe they are Daylilies Joe. That's a Daffodil. My grandmother planted 100's of them so there was always a huge display each Spring.

It's nice to see that bright yellow flower even if it is a bit early. Have a great day and thanks for sharing.

[Mel Miller]

REALLY PEOPLE!!!

Ugh...I am not even sure if I still HAVE a lawn...or flowers...or even a garage, for that matter.

Wait a minute - aren't you the guy that claimed to like working in his unheated garage, even when it was 10 degrees????

The daffodils are blooming in my yard and the blueberries are budding out (and it's warm in my shop).

[Dave Anderson NH]

We got lucky on yesterday's storm. Only got 8" at my house while 20 miles away on the seacoast they got 20". The snow has been settling a bit and the depth across my front and back yard is down to 4 feet or maybe a slight bit more. I had the roof shoveled and the ice dams removed this morning by a contractor. When they were finished they just jumped off the second story roof into the snowbanks. It was actually safer than going down the ladder and they enjoyed it a good bit more. The wind has been the big issue here with steady above 30mph, fairly regular 40mph+ and gusts as high as 60mph for over 2 days now. Lots of drifting and a bunch of driving accidents due to whiteout conditions. It is really wierd when the snow has a partial covering of pine needles and sprigs from stuff that was ripped off of the trees.

[Jim Matthews]

Anybody up your way have a heating wire along the gutter line?
I've got a well insulated house and ice dams on every eave.

I rake my roof and it hasn't mattered, this year.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I don't know anyone who does Jim. My house is a gambrel with the front facing due south. The steep pitch is 18 in 12 and the upper pitch is about 6 in 12. The back unfortunately is the north side and has a shed dormer with about a 4 in 12 pitch. That was the troublesome one. I have aluminum plating going up 24" from the drip edge and there was still a 6" thick ice dam and it covered all of the aluminum. That's the first time that has happened.

[Chris Padilla]

It's so hot and dry here....

[Jim Falsetti]

After last winter, with relatively large icing on the gutters, we had the "Hot Edge" system installed - it is a metal shield that extends up over the first course of shingles, under the second, with a heating cable inserted along the edge, and a heating cable in the gutter and the downspouts. There is a sensor for precipitation and temperature, to control the system. It then runs on a timed drying cycle. I thought it would be a better and more energy efficient system than the a manually controlled zig-zag heating wire. The jury is still out on operating cost but we have had no ice problems so far this year.

We have two independent systems, one on the front and one on the back, in our modified raised ranch. Each system has its own controller and 30 amp breaker. On installation, one cable was a about 8" too short so there is some snow cover on the end - but no icicles (last Year's icicles were enormous). We will fix that after the weather breaks.

The system was not inexpensive but for us the icing had become a safety issue.

[Leo Graywacz]

I'd like to see the Lilly's try to play that trick around here. 2 full feet of snow in my yard. 3 ft within snowblower range.

[Wade Lippman]

but no icicles (last Year's icicles were enormous). We will fix that after the weather breaks.



Is that a fair rule of thumb; no icicles means no chance of ice damming?

At my old house I had huge icicles and got ice damming if I didn't rake the roof.

This house I couldn't possibly rake the roof, but have no icicles. Even though it was bitter cold today we had a good sun and some snow melted; but no icicles.

[Joe Tilson]

Well things have changed in a hurry. Ice is about .5" now and we can hear it hitting the north side of the house pretty loud.
Harold, You wished this on us didn't you?;)307147