Snow storm coming, USA

It never really got worse here. We ended up toward the lower end of the estimates, about 8" overall. Still with the barely double-digit highs and overnight lows around -5. That is expected to be the case for the predictable future, melting is going to be a while.
I'm hearing that there might be a round 2 to this....
 
It never really got worse here. We ended up toward the lower end of the estimates, about 8" overall. Still with the barely double-digit highs and overnight lows around -5. That is expected to be the case for the predictable future, melting is going to be a while.
I'm hearing that there might be a round 2 to this....
The one advantage of the extreme cold, is the snow stays light and fluffy—easy to shovel or snowblow.
 
It never really got worse here. We ended up toward the lower end of the estimates, about 8" overall. Still with the barely double-digit highs and overnight lows around -5. That is expected to be the case for the predictable future, melting is going to be a while.
I'm hearing that there might be a round 2 to this....
I hear Saturday will be another snowfall. And I was planning on taking a class that day. Oh well...
 
…until turns to sleet. Predicted to be 2 degrees here Saturday at sunrise.

Lots are small here so there is not enough space to put this volume of snow. You have to start building walls as enclosure and putting the snow inside.
During the blizzard of 1978, New York City hired outside trucks to haul the snow away. My friend had a tree surgery business and was basically idle in the winter and he hauled about 10 truckloads out of the city. He needed the money in the winter, but it took almost a year for him to get paid.
 
During the blizzard of 1978, New York City hired outside trucks to haul the snow away. My friend had a tree surgery business and was basically idle in the winter and he hauled about 10 truckloads out of the city. He needed the money in the winter, but it took almost a year for him to get paid.
I arrived in fall of ‘77 from Florida. That winter was an exciting mess. I didn’t have enough of the appropriate clothes and kept adding stuff until one day in March after getting off the Staten Island Ferry I finally felt like I was dressed warmly enough. Then I noticed several people in T-shirts. Now I’m one of those people who can’t stand hot weather.
 
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My house sits at the top of the highest hill in town, approximately 200 feet above the surrounding areas.

The advantages: Sightline all the way to Danbury (about 60 miles), and remarkable sunrises. Also, flooding seems remote. About 90% of the houses in the county would have to be fully submerged before my basement flooded.

Disadvantage: Snow accumulation is always higher than the houses just 1/2 mile away (at lower elevations).

So it appears that my lower-elevation neighbors got about 8 to 10 inches of snow, my house was sitting surrounded by 18 to 20 inches. (My snow blower has a height of 16” and it was too low for much of the snow blowing. I had to go over the driveway twice to get all the snow.

(My house at 322 feet, and the nearby homes at about 100 feet above sea level. (Those homes do have flooded basements as many are less than 1/4 mile from the Hudson River.)

The official readings are from the local airport—a wide open space—and those numbers are generally higher than the closely spaced houses.

If you want to find the elevation of your home, this site is pretty good. None of the sites that provide this data seem to have a pay wall, but some will redirect you to real estate agents and other sites. This site seems to behave itself. I would not provide any personal information to any of these sites.

 
One of our old shops used to sit on a street that was at the highest elevation in the city. When they
Had flooding in other parts, my mom would call to check in and see if we had been affected. I would tell her that if we were flooded, it would be of Biblical proportions because most of the Eastern Seaboard would have to be underwater before we would!

Corollary to that, my brother used to live in Hermosa Beach, like four blocks from the beach. When the fires would be on the news, my mom
Would call me asking if my brother was okay and if I had called him. I would tell that if his neighborhood were on fire, you would hear about it because all of the LA Basin would be ablaze. I never really called him because of that. They were lucky to live there. Other friends did experience the different fires first-hand.
 
My sister’s first house was near a stream in New Jersey, and whenever it rained really hard, their basement would flood. Typically 1” or less, but sometimes more than that. She moved because of the flooding issue.

When I went to buy my house, she warned me about the flooding. For her (and for me) flooding would make the house unacceptable.

When I shopped, I looked at some new homes. I asked about wet basements and the saleman said, “Our basements never leak”. Thirty percent of all new homes in the USA leak in the first year. I checked for elevation when I shopped for my house.

It was not so easy to find the elevation of a house back then, but my real estate agent had access to that information.

This from Google (and the numbers are scary):

Approximately 60% of homes in the United States with basements experience water leakage or moisture issues, according to industry estimates. Furthermore, nearly 98% of all U.S. basements will experience some form of water damage during their lifetime.
Key insights regarding basement water issues in the US:

  • Commonality: More than half of all homes with basements deal with water intrusion, often caused by poor drainage, heavy rainfall, or, in about 30% of cases, issues with new construction.
  • Risks: Roughly 38% of basements with moisture issues develop mold and fungus growth.
  • Insurance: Water damage is a leading cause of insurance claims, with 1 in 60 insured homes filing a claim for water or freezing damage annually.
  • Financial Impact: One inch of water in a basement can cause over $25,000 in damage, and fixing these issues often costs between $1,300 and $6,000, or more for comprehensive waterproofing
They do make a system that uses an approximately 2” thick panel of mesh similar to ScotchBrite. On one side there is drainage fabric; on the other side is a waterproof membrane. So the membrane goes against the wall, and the drainage fabric prevents the mesh from getting clogged with soil. It is supposed to be effective. I have not read anything about it and I only saw it on one installation.
 
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