The Weather

[DaveInSeattle]

We got an email yesterday afternoon from our building management asking that unless you absolutely had to be in the office today (working in the lab, etc) to please work from home. They are worried that having too many bodies in the building is going to overload the HVAC system. It's supposed to hit mid 90's this afternoon.

[HaulCitgo]

Kids are out there conditioning

[Nonlinear FC]

Tourists often hit DC the most in August and so a lot of folks come here and talk about how hot it is here that month. While, in fact, July is the hottest month. (Even many locals have this backwards, to be fair.)

Welp... Even armed with this knowledge, I'm fucking done with this mid- to high-90s bullshit. I feel like going back to mid-June, we've been in the 90s all but a handful of days.

It's starting to fuck with stuff like water treatment because algal blooms and other yucky stuff that is VERY hard to treat is becoming a real issue. (Under-reported potential shitshow, btw.)

[Baloney]

Getting a ton of rain here in Clearwater from TS Debby

[rass]

Good luck man, and to cheds and anyone else potentially in the path.

[Giff]

Ditto rass. Looks like there could be some historical flooding in GA and SC.

[govmentchedda]

Drove back from the United game in Columbia SC today. Was all great until we were near Gainesville. Driving headlong into that first band was pretty scary. After that it was treacherous on and off but mostly ok. Constant light to medium rain here and moderate wind right now. Looks like our wind chance increases overnight, but then should be fine.

[A_B]

How are our east coasters faring?

[The Sybian]

How are our east coasters faring?

Tornado warnings in effect in my county for another couple hours. Highly unusual. We do get the infrequent report of small tornados here, but rarely a warning. Not concerned, but I did bring the empty garbage cans into the garage. I've seen my neighbor eyeing them with extreme jealousy.

[Nonlinear FC]

We lost power for a couple of hours this morning. Tornado Warnings yesterday evening and again this morning, but it looks like that stuff has passed through MD at this point.

[mister d]

Kinda hoping for less than Monday (Tuesday?) night where the water got halfway up the front lawn on two separate occasions (first from the huge amount of rain over an hour span and then again later, after it had fully receded, the storm drains just started firing it all back out which was disconcerting). I'd post a pic here but that would mean going to some free image hosting site and all that.

[rass]

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s cans.

[Sabo]

We had a pretty strong line of storms blow through Northeast Ohio Tuesday afternoon, and it produced at least one tornado. Unfortunately, the tornado happened to hit the golf course where I work.

We’re lucky in that it was an F1-category tornado, so the damage wasn’t ridiculous. But it uprooted a few trees, knocked down at least 100 trees and who knows how many branches. It also knocked out power at my house for about 24 hours, and we didn’t have power at the golf course until this afternoon.

The tornado actually turned out to be boon, in a weird way. Our sixth green is by far our worst green because it doesn’t get a lot of sunlight, and there are so many trees surrounding it that air movement is negligible. So it usually sits wet, which invites turf disease and other problems for growing turf. But the sixth green is pretty much where the tornado landed on the course, and it knocked down so many trees around the green that it should now have plenty of light and better air movement. Thank you, Mr. F1!

On Wednesday and Thursday, I worked more than 10 hours at the course each day (yay, overtime pay!). But it’s hard to explain how tired one becomes when you wield a chainsaw for hours on end, or when you’re feeding a chipper for hours on end or when you’re just bending over to pick up branches for, yep, hours on end. I know I’m not a spring chicken, but I also know I’m more physically fit than I’ve been for most of my life, and even with that, I am one stiff, sore and tired pain in the ass. Thank goodness for magnesium pills and Aleve.

My boss offered me overtime if I’d come in today (my regular shift is Sunday through Thursday), and I agreed to come in. He said we’d probably only work a half day because we had a golf outing scheduled for Friday, and he didn’t want the chippers running while golfers were on the course. Worked for me.

After two hours of work this morning, I knew there was no way in hell I’d be done at 9:30 a.m. Finally, we were allowed to take lunch at 11:30, but I hadn’t brought anything in since I thought I was working a half day only. And since the course didn’t have power, the concession stand was essentially closed, too.

We went back out around noon to finish chipping some branches on the 18th hole. Around 1 p.m., I was moving one of the dump trucks back to the chipper when I saw my boss sprint to his cart and drive off. I looked up and then saw the reason:

One of our shop garages was on fire.

And then it hit me: my car was parked right next to that same garage. Shit.

I immediately sprinted to another cart and drove in to the shop. Went to my locker and got my car keys and ran to my car. Fortunately my car was parked about 15 feet away from the garage, and the fire was mostly confined to the opposite side of the garage. Personal disaster averted.

But a professional disaster awaits, which is why the next few weeks are going to be rough. We don’t know the full extent of the damage, but it appears we lost both of our fairway mowers, two of our three greens mowers, our main rough mower and a zero-turn mower that had been bought this spring. We also lost six tons of fertilizer and our supply of grass seed. Fortunately the most critical piece of equipment - our sprayer - appears to be fine. If that was destroyed, we’d be FUCKED. Golf course sprayers are very expensive to replace, and the waiting time to get a new one is roughly 18-24 months.

We’re not 100 percent sure about the cause of the fire, but we suspect it was electrical. The course hadn’t had power since the storm hit Tuesday afternoon, but it came back on about 10 minutes before the fire was noticed. We suspect the surge when the power returned ignited something, but that’s for the fire investigator to determine.

No one was hurt, and I didn’t lose any personal belongings. So that’s all good. But damn, work is gonna be a challenge for the foreseeable future.

[Steve of phpBB]

That's a hell of a trip.

I'm glad you're okay, Sabo, that your car is okay, and that things are looking up for the sixth green

[rass]

Jeez man. That’s a lot.

And you love that car!

[Sabo]

Jeez man. That’s a lot.

And you love that car!

I drive my 2014 Honda CRV to work instead of the Accord, mostly because the shop is next to the 10th fairway and we get the occasional stray tee shot in the parking area. I’ve worked here for less than three months and I’ve heard golf balls hit the shop or break room at least 10 times. The golfers who play my course suck.

But rass, your point still stands because I love that CRV, too.

[sancarlos]

Scary story, Sabo. Good luck with everything.

[govmentchedda]

Good lord, what a couple days. Hope your luck in both directions cools down for a bit.

[Shirley]

I flew to Vegas last week for a work conference (Black Hat). My plane landed just before midnight and I went outside to go to the Uber pick-up area, it was 95 fucking degrees. At midnight. That place is unbelievable.

[sancarlos]

But it’s a dry heat!

[DSafetyGuy]

But it’s a dry heat!

When I was there during the summer, I preferred to call it a choking heat.

[mister d]

I don't think I've ever seen a day where it looked more like it was going to rain but with a 0% chance based on weather apps.

[rass]

You guys! I don't think I've ever seen a day where it looked more like it was going to rain but with a 0% chance based on weather apps. Ever!

[mister d]

There's a >50% at 6:00 PM (which you would know if you weren't so busy searching "pregnant ladies bumping stomachs" on twitter).

[rass]

“Wine moms bumping uglies”

And it was raining in Piscataway last evening when I read your post.

[A_B]

It was clear a ducking bell here and so I waved my truck.massive storm an hour later.

[mister d]

You can say that again.

[A_B]

You can say that again.

I didn’t have my glasses.

[Giff]

I don’t ever remember it feeling this nice this early in September. 60s and low humidity for the first soccer game of the season.

[garyclark]

A number of my friends in NOLA have evacuated off for the next few days with Francine now officially a hurricane.

Many have already lost power. Hope it moves quickly when it hits.

[govmentchedda]

Helene sure is a big fucker. Not loving this recent wobble to the east.

[Rex]

Good news! I will never not think of the Onion bit at times like this:

[Baloney]

Should take a look at Flightradar24 and see how little air traffic there is on the FL west coast right now.

https://www.flightradar24.com/27.17,-82.11/8

[govmentchedda]

Just went for a scooter ride around the neighborhood with the family. MUCH easier heading west than east or south. So far it's partly cloudy and windy. Very little rain, but the storm surge has definitely started. All of the retention ponds are fuller than normal.

[Steve of phpBB]

Just went for a scooter ride around the neighborhood with the family. MUCH easier heading west than east or south. So far it's partly cloudy and windy. Very little rain, but the storm surge has definitely started. All of the retention ponds are fuller than normal.

Jeez, I didn't realize the storm surge warnings covered the entire west coast of the peninsula. Good luck, Chedda.

[Steve of phpBB]

It should also be re-emphasized that Helene is a very large hurricane. In fact, comparing the system with previous hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico over the past couple of decades, Helene is at the upper bound in terms of size. As a result, storm surge, wind, and rainfall impacts will extend far away from the center and well outside the forecast cone, particularly on the east side.

[HaulCitgo]

At a place that overlooks a runway. Pretty cool to see them launch into the Helene bands. No real winds but downpours still these guys like profits so who wants to be on the last one out

[govmentchedda]

Lots of wind but not a ton of rain. Probably gonna be worse for Atlanta swampers.

[L-Jam3]

Waffle House is closing and boarding up locations in Tallahassee. That basically means to get the fuck out of Dodge NOW.

[Baloney]

Been very windy here in Clearwater since about 5 o'clock with steady heavy rain.