The Big Freeze

[user120312]

Still snow/sleet on the ground and vehicles from last night and looks like we have more on the way tonight; supposed to be as much as 1/2 inch accumulation, which is nothing for most folks but never seen by me at the beach in February in the eleven years I've been here.

Adding small image to test forum software and show snow forecast...


Checked those heat tapes. So far, no power problems.

[TrappedinCalifornia]

...which is nothing for most folks but never seen by me at the beach in February in the eleven years I've been here...

Now you can legitimately claim to have survived the big event. Take a...

...for dramatic emphasis in the future. 😉

[user120312]

Strangest thing, all the sleet and snow thawing off the roof; I hear this gushing water noise while the sun is out this morning and thought I had a water leak. Nope, just the gutter drains gushing into the creek through the wall.

I remember real snow at my aunt and uncle's place in Tahoe. Snow up to the roof. Nice to visit but after one winter there back in the early 90's I decided not my cuppa. Glad I bought at the beach instead of up there.

Oh, good idea to clear the conifer needles out of the gutters before the snow and sleet freezes them solid. Oops.

[Duck Killer]

We have plenty of wood. Cooking heating. The problem is cooling in summer time.

Swamp coolers work great. Get them 2-3 times bigger then you need.

[user120312]

It was a challenge to find an affordable place that rarely froze or got hot and took a couple years but God and the real estate crash smiled.

Even though below freezing this morning, a couple of small space heaters that the Jackery can run keep the house a comfortable 65 and I have used the 'air conditioner' once in the last decade. It's a small window AC the Jackery can run and works great. The real heroes are 100' tall conifers and their shade in the summer and protection from storms in the winter.

The main problem at the beach is humidity so AC would be a must if cooling is needed. I used a swamp cooler for decades in the shop, and in my first house in town, but that was in the irrigated desert with humidities in the teens. Here it's usually 50-70% or more year round. I keep calcium chloride bags in the vehicles to capture the damp; it's that bad. This morning those reservoirs were frozen.

Reading the thread did remind me of a rare snow event in the irrigated desert, right before Christmas in 1998. I had a then new digital camera and captured a few shots.... having lived in the area for a long time, the last time I'd seen that white stuff on the valley floor was in 1962. We had a big freeze in 1990 that killed a lot of crops and burst water pipes everywhere but no snow, just cold. I'd installed heat tapes and wrapped insulation around my well tank so was spared the worst of it. Got the shop bathroom though. Galvanized pipe in the exterior wall split.

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