And then it all changed...

So, for a week or two there it seemed all I could blog about was snow. IN fact, it snowed again this past Sunday evening; it started at about 530 PM, and by the time I went to bed (about 11 PM) there were five or six inches of snow on the back porch, and Mrs. Drang had extracted a promise from me (by the nefarious wifely process known as "Waiting for him to offer") to drive her to work in the morning.

Well, around midnight, the weatherman turned out be correct and it started to rain; by 7 AM there was an inch of slush in the driveway. Still, after Seattle's past two weeks of piss-poor performance, I drove Mrs. Drang to work anyway. It was still cold, and very windy, so rather than make her nurse her sinus infection waiting for her bus in that weather, I drove her home that evening, as well.

It continued to rain pretty much all week until today, really coming down in buckets yesterday, to the point where a colleague had to leave very early, to evacuate his kids from school, his wife from work, and then report to the Lewis County Emergency Operations Center where he is currently (well, I suppose they let him sleep sometime) piloting a radio. (Or two, or three. He is doing both ARES*/RACES** and MARS*** work.)

Seattle stayed pretty much dry yesterday, but as it cleared up down south, it has been pouring today up there.

Meanwhile, Lewis County and environs have been having a 500 Year Flood.

For the second year in a row.


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Here is a page of Google News stories about the Washington Floods of 2009. (Which Phil of Random Nuclear Strikes has dubbed "Aquapocalyse.")

And here is a page of items about the floods of December, 2007.

This is not the first time I5 has been underwater--pic from '07. Note that this is after the water receded: At high water, all you could see of that Walmart was the roof.

This photo from 2007 is famous, as well:


















So, gee, Drang, I guess you're a convert to Global Warming, now, huh?

Ha! (Again, found at RNS.)

Europe has been freezing since November. Literally freezing: In this post also from RNS we learn that 76 people have died of hypothermia in Poland since November, that temperatures in Belgium have reached 20 degrees below zero (Celsius), that airports in Milan, Turin, and Bergamo have all gotten a foot of snow, and that it has snowed in the Mediterranean port of Marseilles! Meanwhile, the fountain in Trafalgar Square and the English Channel are freezing solid. (Well, OK, the channel is "only" freezing 20 or so yards out to sea. It is salt water...)

And, of course, those famous humanitarians the Russians have cut off Eastern Europe's supply of heating oil.

*ARES: Amateur Radio Emergency Services. Ham radio operators who support non-governmental agencies with communications support in emergencies. Overseen by the ARRL, see link at right.
**RACES: Radio Amateurs Communications Emergency Services. Like ARES, but supports local, county, regional governmental agencies. Often the same guys as ARES, but wearing different hats. Overseen by FEMA.
*** Military Affiliate Radio System. Volunteer Amateur Radio operators who provide emergency communications support role to regional, state, and Federal agencies. Originally provided "Morale and Welfare" communications support to deployed GI's. When you saw Radar fire up that radio behind his desk to Col. Potter could balance Mildred's checkbook from 5000 miles away, that was a MARS telephone patch. What with cell phones, email, Skype, etc., the morale, welfare aspect has fallen to a less important role, but MARS picked up the EmComms role after the Northridge 'quakes and has been doing well since.