It's now about 4:45 pm so here's a very quickie update. My area has seen zero snow so far. We are getting a very little rain, but no snow. The current weather radar seems to indicate we won't get any, or, since the snow part of the "massive" storm is almost past us, we'll only end up with a very little. We may get some sleet and little snow overnight, but the forecast is now down to the "maybe" one to two inches of new precipitation. Some day, I'm going to trust my own reading of the conditions and radar and simply trust my own forecast. I'm embarrassed I got drawn into the one below.
On this Wednesday morning, the storm watch is back on. There's a chance we'll get some stormy weather actually beginning around noon time. The truth is as we look outside with the cloudy darkness growing very fast, I wouldn't be surprised if the weather arrived within the hour of this posting.
We were warned Monday that a major Nor'easter was heading our way, but then the dire warnings went up and down. First, my little area could get seven or more inches of new snow. Then the forecast tempered a bit and we'd get a lot of rain and sleet but only abut four inches of white stuff. That changed again last night (Tuesday) when only right along the immediate coast (my area) would we get some snow for a couple miles from the coast inland but it probably would change over to sleet, possibly after some seven inches would arrive.
Today, far northern Maine is in line for two feet...not a misprint, feet...of snow while along the coast we'll have two to four inches along with sleet, and a lot of rain. About all I can say is we'll have to just keep watching and see what does arrive. If they warrant them, I'll have periodic updates here.
I remember bout 20 years ago when my wife and I decided we wanted a new home and asked a real estate agent friend (my Fearless Friend) to help us find just what we (spell that with an "sh" in place of the "w") wanted. We took our sweet time, a year or more, of visiting homes, reading about them in real estate printouts, and just driving past them.
One of the tasks we included throughout our search was to park our car near a potential home just to see what the neighborhood was like. In other words, we were making sure we wouldn't find some condition that would disappoint us and cause us to regret out choice later. Just as an example, one place we parked outside a nice home and just stayed there for a while. Holy smoke! All of a sudden a screaming siren on a pole right next to the car and within a few feet of the house started blaring. The town had a volunteer fire department and that was how the volunteers were called to duty. In spite of its purpose, we decided we didn't need to live next to that siren. We left.
Another place we spent some time was in the big city. We parked, watched and listened. It wasn't long before we heard the screaming sound of jet engines going right over the car. We were in direct line with a major runway at our local airport. The seeking continued.
I thought of all this earlier this week when a neighboring town council passed a new ordinance to begin controlling a rod and gun club shooting range. That range was first built way back in the 1920s or earlier in an undeveloped area of the town. Twenty or thirty years ago, though, as often happens to large open spaces, developers began erecting homes nearby. The owners of the homes began a campaign of getting the Town Council to control the noise from the shotguns as well as where the bullets were going.
Remember, this rod and gun club had been using the area for 50 or more years before the development began. Had I been looking for a home there, I would have parked nearby for a spell and would have learned about the club activities. I probably would have returned to my home search.
It simply seems to me that it is rather unfair for "newcomers" to be able to dictate what happens in an area where there has been activity for decades. Those home owners knew what they were getting when the bought their homes. Or they should have. I understand their noise and safety concerns, and I honestly only know what the news media wants me to know about the conflict, but it seems to me unfair for one group, almost interlopers, if you will, to dictate conditions to long established users.
I was entertained by a story I saw on the TV about a snow pile at the Portland Jetport. (Almost every other airport is called just that, Airport. Even Portland's was the Portland Municipal Airport before someone thought the world was heading to the Jetport designation.) According to the story, a private parking lot owner erected a new sign pointing his parking area which was less expensive than the parking on the Jetport property.
Not like the competition, the Jetport parking group simply piled snow about 20 feet high in front of the private lot's sign. It hid the sign well. Naturally, the owner was unhappy and, through his attorney, wrote a letter to the city complaining. Naturally, the situation will be corrected.
The part that fascinated me was hearing a spokesman for the Jetport, I think it may even have been the manager of the facility, tell the TV station that it was just some poor judgment on the part of an over zealous Jetport parking lot person and that he, the spokesman, had nothing to do with the decision.
But, if you get a chance to see the clip, just watch that spokesman's facial expression while he's proclaiming innocence of involvement. I won't tell you what the expression said to me, but it might question some credibility with the statement.
Sometimes, the news is really fun to watch.
Dave
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