Hows the weather?

[NathanS]

Cold and getting colder. Really glad we put so much insulation in our walls. We had 1 fire this morning at 7am, and as of 1130 the house is too warm for another.

It looks windier than 15-30mph, but I'm not going outside to find out. Humidity is running a little high so I turned the bathroom fan on, I have one spot downstairs I can still move the insulation to take moisture readings of the sheathing, which is still in the safe 'no mold' zone.

[Adam Roby]

The weather is so wonky this year.
Last Friday was +8C (~46F) and raining, Saturday it snowed 45 cm (~18") in less than 24 hours, and today it was -34C (-29F).
This kind of temperature swing with massive snow falls is becoming the norm in these parts... strange.

[MountainDon]

Well, here it is Feb. 9 and for all intents we have zero snow so far this year. Our "water year" runs Oct thru the next Sept. In the past 125 years, since records started being kept, this is the driest start to our water year. Tomorrow we will be driving to our cabin. We should have to snow shoe.

On the one hand it is nice being able to drive all the way up at this time of year. On the other hand if this keeps up the drought will stress the trees even more, beetles will add to the kill toll and wildfires will turn the rest to ash. 

It's not even all that cold; 33F last night and 55 F today at the cabin according to the remote weather station.

[Adam Roby]

Last year they (US Gov) had changed some policies that used to govern the water levels in the great lakes, rules that had been standing for over a century.  As a result we have massive flooding and many homes were either damaged or complete losses with many families still living in hotels waiting for insurance companies and government to catch up with repairs and payouts (since last spring).  In the fall, the levels were still very high, and with all this snow fall there is sure to be even more flooding this spring.  We live on an island (Montreal) so there is no escaping.   They've had to change all the 100 year flood lines and now anyone living where it used to be considered relatively "safe" are now stuck with their homes not being able to insure, and/or not being able to get permits to rebuild or to change any footprints.  My buddy bought in a "safe" area, and his builder had some forethought and build his place on a hill (build up the lot before building the house).  It looked bit wonky, but after last spring his house had no damage other that the land, driveway all but disappeared, and his shed was completely destroyed along with everything inside of it.  They will not issue any permits to rebuild his shed, fence, deck, driveway...   

Even small changes can have massive impacts.  A bit less snow can mean everything burns down in the summer.  A bit too much snow, everything floods and washed away.

[Nate R]

Last year they (US Gov) had changed some policies that used to govern the water levels in the great lakes, rules that had been standing for over a century.  As a result we have massive flooding and many homes were either damaged or complete losses with many families still living in hotels waiting for insurance companies and government to catch up with repairs and payouts (since last spring).  In the fall, the levels were still very high, and with all this snow fall there is sure to be even more flooding this spring.  We live on an island (Montreal) so there is no escaping.   They've had to change all the 100 year flood lines and now anyone living where it used to be considered relatively "safe" are now stuck with their homes not being able to insure, and/or not being able to get permits to rebuild or to change any footprints.  My buddy bought in a "safe" area, and his builder had some forethought and build his place on a hill (build up the lot before building the house).  It looked bit wonky, but after last spring his house had no damage other that the land, driveway all but disappeared, and his shed was completely destroyed along with everything inside of it.  They will not issue any permits to rebuild his shed, fence, deck, driveway...   

Even small changes can have massive impacts.  A bit less snow can mean everything burns down in the summer.  A bit too much snow, everything floods and washed away.

I hadn't heard about this, so I looked up the stories about it.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/quebec-ontario-floods-water-management-politics/article37511432/

To counteract local self-interest, Canada and the United States created the International Joint Commission (IJC) in 1909, an independent agency to regulate shared water bodies and settle disputes, along with the board that manages Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence.

The board consists mainly of scientists from the Canadian government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, along with other appointees. Year round, they meet weekly to decide how much water to let through the dam.

Looking at the data, it doesn't sound like it was soley due to the changes from that, nor was it JUST the US gov't.   Record amounts and near record amounts of precipitation this Spring didn't help. And from my reading, if they let the water out of the dam TOO fast, they flood MORE down the St. Lawrence river! Doesn't sound like this was really preventable from what I can tell. ALL of the Great lakes have risen. Lake Michigan and Huron was above the 1918-on historical average as of 2015. (2 years before the new plan went into effect.) We've had a much wetter last couple years here in Wisconsin, dumping more water into Michigan than normal.

Just saying I think there's more than just the US Gov't policies affecting this. Mother Nature really has the power. 

[Adam Roby]

Yup, you're totally right.  More habit than anything, figure our news and conversations are biased so it becomes natural to blame the Americans... 
It just seemed to happen at the same time, and our news were warning of impending doom based on the US decision to blaa blaa blaa... and then sure enough we got hit.  Trump bashing is rampant even here in Canada, we hear more about him than our own princess, oops, I mean prime minister.  At least your chief is not a wuss....

[Adam Roby]

We just got plummeted by 16" of snow, that's gotta put some stress on the roof rafters.
Gotta come up with a better design for roofs...  maybe heated...  not just those ice dam wires but the entire surface.

[Adam Roby]

Its almost June and we"re still in the mid 40's here... Has summer started for any of you yet?

[Redoverfarm]

We hit the mid 80's today which is not normal this early in the year .

[MountainDon]

Today in Los Alamos it is cloudy and 46 this morning, it may hit mid 60's. At home about 10 degrees warmer.  I'll take it it. It is better then snow which it did 2 weeks ago.

[NathanS]

We had a nice April till the last week, and then the first 2-3 weeks of May which were cold and rainy.

Similar weather to you, Adam, though a bit warmer. We are in the 70s now, and have been for about a week.

Looks like a rough start for farmers this year.

[MushCreek]

We're just coming off of a brutal heat wave here in the southeast. High temperatures as much as 20 degrees F. above normal. We haven't had measurable rain in nearly a month, which coupled with the heat has left things DRY. The last two nights have been down around 60 F. Supposed to be rain by Wednesday- I hope!

[maureenowaters]

Well it's offically started.  I guess it is all down hill from here.  This is about 25 miles from the house in the same county.  Boy I am so not ready for this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i_-G623xQI&feature=player_embedded

Nice video guys, love it.

[rusticrural]

(hi for my first post here btw)

winter sure has been a bit weird in and near ottawa [the capital of canada] as far as janurary-feburary span goes, one very warm spell and a few separate instances of it literally raining a lot! I mean who has heard of a few inches of rain when there is a lot of snow still on the ground?! ughhh

nevertheless its been basically between -10c and +5c temperatures during the day with little/no windchill most of the time lately tho