Packard
Member
Night time temperatures, no wind chill, according to the NOAA (National Weather Service). -6 on Friday night.
Snow storm coming, USA
- Thread starter Packard
- Start date
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2015
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- 5,737
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'm hearing that there might be a round 2 to this....
Packard
Member
The one advantage of the extreme cold, is the snow stays light and fluffy—easy to shovel or snowblow.
Michael Kellough
Member
…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.
onocoffee
Member
I hear Saturday will be another snowfall. And I was planning on taking a class that day. Oh well...
Packard
Member
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.
Michael Kellough
Member
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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semenza
Member
And 14" at our other property at a higher elevation.
Time to go snow shoeing for the next couple weeks at least!
Seth
Packard
Member
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.
geocodify.com
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.
What Is My Elevation? - Find Your Elevation by Address | Accurate Elevation Finder Tool
Discover your exact elevation above sea level by entering your address. Our free elevation finder uses advanced geocoding APIs to provide instant and accurate elevation data.
geocodify.com
onocoffee
Member
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.
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.
Packard
Member
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:
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
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Well, in the country where I live... basements in the US sense; with raised ground floor and then a layer below aren't really a thing. There are homes with what you would call a cellar. And in large parts of the country they would be installed pre-fabricated by filling them with water, because otherwise they would float. As in; groundwater table is significantly above cellar floor height. Or they would be connected to dovetail headed foundation piles. Once the whole house was build on top, the floating issue was resolved by the weight of the home.
Nowadays cellars are very rare in new construction.
The city I live in used to have a lot of industry that would pump up groundwater for own use. The industry left and the water table rose back up... resulting in flooded basements, cellars, crawl spaces. Oh yes... even water in the 50cm crawl space underneath a home is common here in large parts of the country.
Where I live the soil is double digits above sea level (both in meters and feet) but where my sister lives... well... what Americans call the third floor is just above sea level.
Nowadays cellars are very rare in new construction.
The city I live in used to have a lot of industry that would pump up groundwater for own use. The industry left and the water table rose back up... resulting in flooded basements, cellars, crawl spaces. Oh yes... even water in the 50cm crawl space underneath a home is common here in large parts of the country.
Where I live the soil is double digits above sea level (both in meters and feet) but where my sister lives... well... what Americans call the third floor is just above sea level.
What is their lifetime considered to be?
Packard
Member
Not clear. I have a lifetime membership to Jack LaLane’s Fitness. It turned out it was the company’s lifetime, not mine.
luvmytoolz
Member
Basements and cellars are very rare here in Oz, my brother however has a large house built mid 19th century that has a fairly large cellar. I almost feel inclined to wear a mask down there though as it always has a very strong musty/mildew smell.
I'm guessing being so old there is practically no waterproofing in the construction of it.
I'm guessing being so old there is practically no waterproofing in the construction of it.
MacBoy
Member
smorgasbord
Member
I’m confident of my elevation. This is on my property: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.
What Is My Elevation? - Find Your Elevation by Address | Accurate Elevation Finder Tool
Discover your exact elevation above sea level by entering your address. Our free elevation finder uses advanced geocoding APIs to provide instant and accurate elevation data.
thudchkr
Member
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2007
- Messages
- 299
Ground water tables can be funny. My first home was literally next to the river that runs through town, as in my property line ended at the center of the river. There was a sump pump hole in the basement but we never saw any water there for the first 25 years we lived there. Meanwhile the home that were situated above the river valley to both the north and the south, easily 200 feet or more higher in elevation, had perennial water issues in their basements. Evidently the ground water was carried away by the river so it would never rise enough to come up into the basement.
Normally that is. In 2011, we had a flood event that changed all that. Due to a very wet fall and a heavy snowpack over the winter, the river went to near flood stage the next spring and remained that way for weeks. The river banks had dikes on them and they contained the large amount of water flowing down river, but it no longer carried away the groundwater from the river bottom area. Water started coming into our basement anywhere there was a crack or opening and I installed a sump pump in the available pit, that was pretty much running nearly non-stop. The leaks were bad enough, I punched a second hole through the floor at the opposite end of the basement and added a second pump to try to keep up.
Long story short, it was all for naught when they had to release water from an upriver dam and the entire river valley ended up flooding. We ended up with over six feet on the main floor of the house. Since then we've relocated and like Packard, sit on a high point where many of my neighbors would be completely underwater before the water level would get to the level of my basement. The new house has a sump pump pit, which has remained dry in the 5-1/2 years we've lived here just like the previous residence. I've neighbors who've had basement water issues, probably from the Crystal Springs for which the area is named, but so far none for us. We'll just have to see if that changes if and when we move into a wet cycle, as we've been relatively dry since moving here.
Packard
Member
0
But here’s a red alert: If a builder tells you that his homes “never have wet basements”, then what other lies is he telling you?
Interesting.
But here’s a red alert: If a builder tells you that his homes “never have wet basements”, then what other lies is he telling you?
Our home is built on the slope of a ridge along the Pa Turnpike --- for some reason, every home in the development where there is a significant slope has the house oriented so that the driveway is steeper than it would be if the house were mirrored --- we've had water come up in the center of our basement exactly once, I believe during a wet summer when the uphill neighbors (who have a well) were on vacation.
Otherwise, the only water issues have been due to not managing runoff or plumbing issues --- one of these days we'll convert the carport into a garage (sans basement) and extend the gutters away from the house by that much....
Otherwise, the only water issues have been due to not managing runoff or plumbing issues --- one of these days we'll convert the carport into a garage (sans basement) and extend the gutters away from the house by that much....
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