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Post by Habs_fan_in_LA on Nov 18, 2008 16:39:35 GMT -5
Yes, it was hot here, high 90's.
Yes it was windy, gusts to 70mph in the passes and canyons.
Yes, fires affect far more people than floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and mudslides combined.
I just finished two days of cleaning ashes out of the pool. For two days the ground was covered with soot and ash and we are 30 miles from the nearest fire. This was far less disasterous than previous years. The air quality went down and they had to cancel the Pasadena marathon. You could smell the charcoal and taste the ash in the air everywhere.
Overall a minor nuisance unless you are one of the unfortunates whose house burned down.
Cleaning the pool beats shoveling snow.
We drove to Santa Barbara and didn't see any of the fires except for a bit of smoke on the horizon in Burbank. We live with it. The price for sunshine.
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Post by CrocRob on Nov 18, 2008 19:08:25 GMT -5
Californians live with the fires, Kansas, Missouri and Georgia live with the tornados, Louisiana and Florida live with Hurricanes, Texas gets a bit of it all, plus drought along with Utah, Arizona, New Mexico.
Give me cold weather anyday. Nobody's house was destroyed by cold. And you can always melt snow to drink.
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Post by Skilly on Nov 19, 2008 8:20:34 GMT -5
Nobody's house was destroyed by cold. Remember the ice storm that hit Quebec a few years ago .... it got so cold that ice tore people's roofs open and trees (from the cold not wind) broke off fell on powerlines and homes and vehicles.... I haven't seen first hand such destruction to homes here in Newfoundland, but I have seen snow crush peoples cars from its shear weight .... I believe it was called the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. |
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Post by Disgruntled70sHab on Nov 19, 2008 9:16:54 GMT -5
Nobody's house was destroyed by cold. Remember the ice storm that hit Quebec a few years ago .... it got so cold that ice tore people's roofs open and trees (from the cold not wind) broke off fell on powerlines and homes and vehicles.... I haven't seen first hand such destruction to homes here in Newfoundland, but I have seen snow crush peoples cars from its shear weight .... I believe it was called the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. Not sure how far it extended but was involved in the restoration programs. Most of Ottawa and parts of Kingston were without power for days. Many villages and towns in the Ottawa Valley were without power for longer periods. Electricians were brought in from everywhere to help restore services. The military was called in and were taking countless hours of overtime away from the civilian companies. Our guys were restoring power to some of these smaller places in half-a-day, whereas the civilian companies were taking their time. Created some friction but nothing too serious. The military teams bashed on regardless. Rewind to France in 1990. We were in our annual gun camp, this time in France. The tracer rounds we were using caused a huge range fire. By the time we unloaded and went down to beat the flames out, it was probably half-a-kilometer wide. If left unattended, the fire would eventually spread to some of the local villages (though some distance away). They called out all of the remaining Canadian military, the French military (many were just young recruits), the base fire dept and the local civilian fire dept. We used the buddy system, which was necessary. I know firsthand what it feels like to be breathing one moment and then have nothing to breath the next. It was my buddy who pulled me away from the black smoke the first time. The second time the wind changed and all of us could breath again. I've never experienced anything like it since. By nighttime we had the blaze controlled enough that we ended up waiting for it, in an extended line, on a dirt road. It was raging towards us when the rain came. Later, as we were preparing to go to ground for the night my Warrant Officer comes to me and says to prepare a quick reaction team if in the event the fire decides it's going to start up again. Unlikely since it was still raining, but SOPs are SOPs. I had to go from bunk to bunk to tell the guys I had selected of their task. The story-in-a-story; it's times like this that bring out the absolute best in people. It didn't matter that the civilian companies wanted to soak their overtime. Sure the money opportunity was too good, but they chose to make the trip and were there anyway. The soldiers and volunteers who came out both in the ice storm and the range fires in France, all wanted to do the right thing. I know there will always be opportunists, looters, etc, but how about the people of the Atlantic Provinces who opened their doors to those stranded air passengers in 9/11? The best says I ... the best!! Cheers. |
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Post by CentreHice on Nov 19, 2008 9:25:15 GMT -5
1998 Ice StormI remember driving from Cambridge, Ont. to Sherbrooke, PQ not long after that storm. Couldn't believe it. ----------------------------------- Glad you're unscathed, HFLA.
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Post by CrocRob on Nov 19, 2008 9:54:14 GMT -5
Nobody's house was destroyed by cold. Remember the ice storm that hit Quebec a few years ago .... it got so cold that ice tore people's roofs open and trees (from the cold not wind) broke off fell on powerlines and homes and vehicles.... I haven't seen first hand such destruction to homes here in Newfoundland, but I have seen snow crush peoples cars from its shear weight .... I believe it was called the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. Yeah I'd kind of forgotten about that. We weren't much affected here in Waterloo by that, but I'm certainly glad I don't live somewhere where the destruction seems to happen yearly. Earthquakes, fires, Hollywood. You certainly pay a premium for sunshine HFLA. Glad the fires didn't reach you. |
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Post by HABsurd on Nov 19, 2008 17:39:31 GMT -5
Nobody's house was destroyed by cold. Remember the ice storm that hit Quebec a few years ago .... it got so cold that ice tore people's roofs open and trees (from the cold not wind) broke off fell on powerlines and homes and vehicles.... I haven't seen first hand such destruction to homes here in Newfoundland, but I have seen snow crush peoples cars from its shear weight .... I believe it was called the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. The cause of the ice storm disaster was not that it was too cold, but rather that it was too warm. The temperature fluctuated around the freezing point coupled with a few days of continuous heavy freezing rain. This resulted in a significant ice build up (5-6 cm) over the whole area. The added weight of the ice meant that trees collapsed, ice accumulated on power lines which were not designed to handle the added weight Similarly, all bridges were closed as there was a genuine fear they could collapse under the added weight. |
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Post by cigarviper on Nov 19, 2008 21:14:57 GMT -5
...were apparently started by potheads partying in a vacant home, started a bonfire and neglected to properly extinguish the embers before leaving.
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Post by Skilly on Nov 20, 2008 9:44:57 GMT -5
Remember the ice storm that hit Quebec a few years ago .... it got so cold that ice tore people's roofs open and trees (from the cold not wind) broke off fell on powerlines and homes and vehicles.... I haven't seen first hand such destruction to homes here in Newfoundland, but I have seen snow crush peoples cars from its shear weight .... I believe it was called the most expensive natural disaster in Canadian history. The cause of the ice storm disaster was not that it was too cold, but rather that it was too warm. The temperature fluctuated around the freezing point coupled with a few days of continuous heavy freezing rain. This resulted in a significant ice build up (5-6 cm) over the whole area. The added weight of the ice meant that trees collapsed, ice accumulated on power lines which were not designed to handle the added weight Similarly, all bridges were closed as there was a genuine fear they could collapse under the added weight. True ... but if it stayed warm (and not got colder) the rain doesn't freeze ...  (just needling...) |
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(just needling...)