Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 21:39:56 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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It’s the time of the year when our local water utility cranks up the chlorine, making the experience of filling a pot for boiling some spaghetti (or for making coffee) akin to stepping into the locker room at the municipal swimming pool.

I don’t recall this happening years ago, back when the water operation was locally owned and managed.  Of course, in those days the board of directors  had to face their customers at the butcher’s, the baker’s, or the corner drugstore.  Or across the table at breakfast.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:50:21 GMT | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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So the storm turned out to be not quite as end-of-the-world as it might have been, but sufficient unto the day.  In my neighborhood there’s ½–¾” of ice on stuff, and we’ve had a few branches down but no power flickers.  Getting the car de-iced this morning was a process very similar to yesterday.  Made it up the driveway just fine, but while stopping at the bank realized I’d left the cell phone.  So went back to get it, and proceeded to get stuck at the bottom of the hill up to the street.  There’s ice, on top of sleet, on top of ice, and there’d been just enough sun to make the top ice brittle: The wheels broke through into sleet layer, an ice-pellet slurry providing no traction whatever. Spread some salt and shoveled a bit, but that top ice layer makes the shoveling just about impossible.  I may see if I can talk the neighbors into letting me park it next door this evening until things thaw out.

Other reports:

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 19:41:17 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Our overnight icing/sleet isn’t the end of the story.  Here’s the snow prediction map for the next 24 hours or so...

The problem here in Indy will be ice:

The Weather Service doesn’t map ice predictions beyond ¼”, but here’s what their Ice Storm Warning has to say:

...MANY AREAS ALONG INTERSTATE 70 SAW A TENTH TO A QUARTER INCH OR MORE OF ICE LAST NIGHT AND EARLY THIS MORNING ALONG WITH PERIODS OF SLEET...

A BRIEF LULL IN THE ACCUMULATING PRECIPITATION WILL COME TO AN END AS FREEZING RAIN, SLEET, AND SNOW WILL BEGIN ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AS THE STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM SWINGS OUT OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS...
...
AT THIS TIME...NORTH AND NORTHWEST CENTRAL INDIANA...INCLUDING THE CITIES OF DELPHI AND LAFAYETTE...LOOK TO REMAIN COLD ENOUGH THAT A SIGNIFICANT PORTION OF THE PRECIPITATION MAY FALL IN THE FORM OF SNOW.  SNOWFALL MAY BE HEAVY AND AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 12 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE BY WEDNESDAY EVENING.

FARTHER SOUTH...INCLUDING THE CITIES OF TERRE HAUTE... INDIANAPOLIS...BLOOMINGTON...NEW CASTLE AND MUNCIE...WARM AIR IS EXPECTED TO BE PRESENT AND PRECIPITATION SHOULD CONTINUE TO FALL AS FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET.  SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATION IS POSSIBLE...WITH ICE ACCUMULATION OF ONE INCH OR MORE. FURTHERMORE...STRONG WINDS GUSTING UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED FROM LATE TUESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.  THIS COMBINATION WILL RESULT IN WIDESPREAD DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES...

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 20:33:09 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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...I DID spend half an hour at chiselling sufficient ice off the car to make it safely drivable this morning.  Why do you ask?

Elsewhere:

Posted by: Old Grouch in Dear Diary... at 17:24:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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