Good morning!!!!

[mostly_gas]

Good afternoon all. Missed this morning temps but already to 27F, roads are thawing. At work today, db implement about 2 week late but getting there. Eye was just blood vessel inflammation, just eye drops with steroids should clear up in a few days.

 

[daugen]

yeah, you want pics? I'll be under general anesthesia, this could be a challenge. Maybe I can set the timer on the camera...

Ok, now here's some pics I can give you. Interesting ride to the River. Was fine up by Washington Crossing, but getting down to the upper Trenton Bridge it was a big
white clog, with just a little moving in the center. While I was standing there taking pics and yacking with others doing the same thing, the ice in the River just stopped ,and it started to back up going North. Figured it was time to get out of there. It's very low along the River on the PA side and that ice can do quite a landscaping job on the local shrubbery.

On the way back, I had to stop and take a pic of the town pond in Yardley, filled with local kids and folk, apparently ready to start an ice hockey game.

 

[brin]

Drew ...that 3rd picture...is that sea foam that froze or waves...beautiful..just curious how that froze ? Cold but very neat pics...thanks - but you still have to have the hospital take pics of your surgery....I mean, otherwise how do we know

 

[daugen]

no foam, but I sure know what that is, not enough "fetch" for the wind to do that here,
this is just tidal water coming downstream. What gets really fun is when the tide changes and things
start moving around, piling up on top of surrounding stuff, and I've seen it six or seven feet tall, looking like
Superman's ice palace. All jaggedy edges, I believe from the ice simply breaking off and getting pushed upwards.

the tidal aspect of this is what concerns the folk downstream, and the police and fire companies are starting to go out waiting for the next tide change.
It's going to warm here too, up to sixty on Saturday. The worry is the whole thing letting loose at once. Look out below for sure. It happened about ten years back and a wall of ice came into my home town on the River, smashing into the houses down by the water. Made a real mess.

 

[txdon]

You know, Don, I'm less than impressed with this gage. The stinkin' center tube only goes to 1" total. the base of the gage could have had a bit higher ridge to make placing the inner gage easier and hold it so it doesn't flop around while you try to put on the larger collector at the top. The other thing is that they could have added some markings to the big part of the gage for rains over 1". The fact that you have to pour off the first inch and then refill the inner tube several times for rains over 1" makes this very inconvenient. This gage could have been made so much better with a minimum of effort, but they didn't do it. I could never recommend this to anybody. I was truly disappointed when I removed it from the box and started struggling to put it together.

I had the same thoughts when I first assembled mine also. But it is accurate and trouble free. The reason I bought this particular rain gauge is because it was REQUIRED by CoCoRaHS. Here is what they say about why this gauge:



"We are often asked why CoCoRaHS does not encourage the use of automatic rain gauges to report 24 hour precipitation totals. After all, many weather enthusiasts already have electronic home weather stations with automatic rain gauges to record precipitation - why should they also purchase a separate CoCoRaHS gauge?
Unfortunately, it turns out that rain gauges are not all created equal and do not all report the same. The Colorado Climate Center has been involved in rain gauge studies for many years and have had dozens of volunteers like you test their automated gauges against either the CoCoRaHS 4" diameter gauge or the National Weather Service (NWS) 8" diameter Standard Rain Gauge. We have also tested National Weather Service Automated Surface Observing System tipping bucket rain gauges (not unlike the tipping bucket gauges that come with most home weather stations, but sturdier and a lot more expensive).

While the NWS and CoCoRaHS gauges compare quite well with each other (our tests indicate that the CoCoRHS gauge has a collection efficiency of 101-105% compared to the standard NWS gauge), the majority of automated rain gauges, when summed over several months or years, report less precipition than actually fell by a significant amount -- sometimes 25% or more. Moreover, none of the automated gauges work well in areas that receive snow. This is not acceptable for our project because we are interested in observing and understanding natural precipitation variability, as accurately as possible. If we're all using different kinds of gauges with different abilities to catch precipitation, it's too hard to determine if differences in rain or snowfall are "real" or due to the kind of instrument that was used to report the measurement.

Because of these test results, we have asked our observers to please set up a CoCoRaHS 4" gauge along with their automated gauge and see for themselves. Many observers have converted to using the 4" gauge as their daily measurement when they see the results, and then use their automated gauge as a backup when they are gone. It is very good to use the two in combination. But whenever people do use their automated gauge as their measurement, we request that they mention that in the daily "observation notes".

For those of you who decide it's too much trouble to purchase a CoCoRaHS gauge in addition to your automatic system, you may still be able to share your data with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA - the organization that oversees the NWS) via their Citizen Weather Observation Program (CWOP). This program makes home weather station data available to the NWS for certain real time applications. WeatherUnderground is another system for web-based data sharing."

 

[jinman]

Well, Don, my complaints are not about the CoCoRaHS gage compared to an automated gage, but the things they could have easily done to this gage to make it better. Reading reviews on Amazon say lots of folks have trouble keeping the top funnel in place with more than a 30 mph wind. It sounds like they don't consider a loss in accuracy if the top funnel is laying on the ground, possibly in several pieces. I will drill mine and place a thumbscrew in place to cure this problem, but at the price they charge, it should be included. How about the top having a small pour spout to keep from spilling rain as you repeatedly pour it into the center measuring tube?

What I think is that I could invent a far superior gage, but if a cousin of somebody at CoCoRaHS makes the other gage, they would/will never accept it.

 

[daugen]

The Flood Warning continues for
the Delaware River at Trenton.
* At 7:45 PM Wednesday the stage was 20.7 feet.
* Flood stage is 20.0 feet.
* Minor flooding is occurring and minor flooding is forecast.
* Forecast... the river will continue rising to near 21.0 feet by after midnight
tonight. This flooding is due to an ice jam near the Trenton makes bridge.
* Impact... at 21.5 feet... Ferry street in Yardley begins to flood.

Some evacuations are possible. Lots of ice associated with this jam
is coming onshore in some areas including up and over some fencing.
This is a changing and dangerous situation, therefore people are
urged to stay away from the banks of the Delaware River in these
areas.

The Delaware River narrows down above the bridge they refer to as the "Trenton makes" bridge.
Actually, it's Trenton Makes The World Takes sign on the bridge that has been there all my life.
Doesn't quite apply any more...this was back when Roebling was pumping out a ton of bridge cable there.

The River was likely at low tide when I saw it, so all that ice is going to get lifted up into folk's back yards.
Going to be a lot of coffee drunk along the River tonight, a lot of police and firemen up doing their best to protect
their town. God bless them.

 

[sodamo]

Catchment project functionally complete.

Gutter fills connected with new and improved filters, cross fill complete, overflows complete and piped to old hole, pump line complete to all tanks.
Still have to fashion some permanent supports, plug the old mounting holes, some cosmetics, and the landscaping. Other than backfilling the ditch, no urgency on the rest. Not my best work, but happy with it.





David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet

 

[Larro Darro]

David, they look good to me. Just sitting there like four big, fat, green water bottles.

Larro

 

[WayneB]

8 degrees this morning and going to be a sunny day and we will reach into the 20's by mid day
Calm before some snow tomorrow afternoon!