"The ice is not expected to thaw anytime soon, as forecasters predict below normal temperatures for at least the first 10 days of March, the weather service said.... The first week of March in Boston will look an awful lot like January and February, with more storms rolling into town. Another snowstorm is on the way with light snow expected Tuesday night, and there could be more snow Wednesday and Thursday, meteorologists said early Monday."
And yet the Globe is still pushing spring!
Better not screw with the high-school basketball tournament schedule or I'm really going to be ripping.
Youth hockey players, coaches flee as roof collapses at ice rink
Scary thought.
"It’s Snow Compulsive Disorder — Snow CD — and we’ve got it bad."
It's enough to drive one crazy.
Massachusetts needs help this winter
Ah, just laugh it off I was told.
"Alaskans wonder, ‘who stole our winter?’ We did." Billy Baker, Globe Staff March 01, 2015
ANCHORAGE — In the 100 years since the city was founded, the people of Anchorage have developed all sorts of tricks to deal with winter. This might be a new one:
For a snow sculpture competition that is a signature event of the Fur Rondy Festival, an annual celebration of the normally brutal, icebound season, all the snow was brought in from a stockpile the city has been saving, because there’s none on the ground. And since it was so warm, volunteers Bill and Griff Tucker used PVC pipes and blue tarps to create a giant curtain to keep the sun from melting the snow.
As Boston is crushed under more than eight feet of snow, with the city’s all-time record just a few frigid inches away, the people of Anchorage 3,372 miles away can also unequivocally say, “We’ve never seen a winter quite like this.”
As of Friday, less than an inch had fallen here in February. The joke on the streets is that the two cities have swapped winters.
I'm failing to see the humor.
It’s more or less true. The cause of Alaska’s mild winter is the same as has created Boston’s punishing one — the “wonky jet stream,” as a headline in Friday’s Alaska Dispatch News described it. High atmospheric pressure in the western US and low pressure in the east are combining to draw arctic air down through Canada to New England, literally rerouting Anchorage’s winter to Boston while basking south coastal Alaska in weather warmed by Pacific Ocean currents.
They want theirs back.
“You give us your snow, and we’ll give you the Palins,” said Nina Walker, the manager of a downtown gift shop called Once in a Blue Moose.
No thanks.
While the massive amount of snow in Boston has wreaked havoc on the city, the lack of it in Anchorage has exacted its own stiff price. Snow and cold are not just something to be endured in Alaska; they are what allow many people to survive the winter, mentally, physically, and practically.
“It’s dark here in the winter. If you don’t have your winter recreation, you’re bummed,” said Andy Elsburg....
It is “the worst winter ever,” and that is why playing and attending the basketball games is so important for yours truly.
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I didn't see the term global warming or climate change once, did you?
"Animal shelters see large numbers of suffering wildlife" by Bella English, Globe Staff February 26, 2015
If this month’s record cold and snowfall have taken a toll on human residents in Massachusetts, they have also wreaked havoc on the animal population, particularly wildlife. Animal shelters are beyond capacity with weather-related injuries.
“This is the worst winter that we’ve seen in terms of straight-up starving animals coming in,” said veterinarian Maureen Murray, who practices and teaches at the Tufts University Wildlife Clinic in North Grafton. “With this historic amount of snow and extremely low temperatures, animals need more energy to stay warm, but they’re not able to find food sources for that energy.”
Although it’s difficult to determine whether wildlife populations have suffered permanent damage, local experts say it’s clear the animals are under extreme stress.
In response, animal shelters are working overtime. At New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth, the staff is tending to creatures they rarely see....
Called patients, not consumers like human residents!
“I cannot think of a wild species that is not at risk in this weather.”
Just gotta have patients, I guess.
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Care more about animals than people, ha-ha. Kind of a disturbing attitude.
Meanwhile, far away the weather is warm and the waters flow -- or did:
US agency limits water for Calif. farms
Looking more and more like a depopulation agenda all the time.
Second suspect held in shooting of snow-shoveler in Jamaica Plain
Shoveling crew member accused of ordering hit on fellow worker
All funny, ha-ha.
Boston to begin removing space savers Monday
Might have a fight on their hands because not everyone sticks to the rules. Just be careful landing the planes.
Historic Winter Isn't Behind Us Yet
It's going to carry into St. Patrick’s Day?
That is not going to make a lot of people happy, although I'm sure some will be if school is cancelled.
Avalanche safety can’t be an afterthought; Last year, there were 35 deaths in the US alone
Here's an afterthought adder regarding avalanches:
"Official says Afghan avalanches kill at least 124 people" by Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez, Associated Press February 26, 2015
PANJSHIR VALLEY, Afghanistan — Avalanches caused by a heavy winter snow killed at least 124 people in northeastern Afghanistan, an emergency official said Wednesday, as rescuers clawed through debris with their hands in attempts to save those buried beneath.
The avalanches buried homes across four northeast provinces, said Mohammad Aslam Syas, deputy director of the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority.
The province worst hit appeared to be Panjshir province, about 60 miles northeast of the capital, Kabul, where the avalanches destroyed or damaged around 100 homes, Syas said.
Rescue teams had been dispatched to the affected areas and casualties were expected to rise, Syas said.
The heavy snowstorms, which began early Tuesday, hampered rescue efforts. Snowfall from the storm was nearly 3 feet deep in places and fallen trees blocked roads in the Panjshir Valley.
Avalanches in the valley’s Dara district affected up to 600 families, according to people trying to reach the area to assist in rescue efforts.
‘‘People there have told me that two of my relatives have been killed and eight others are still under the snow,’’ said an Afghan who goes by the single name Sharafudin. ‘‘My son and I are trying to get through to see if we can help find their bodies.”
‘‘We’ve had no help yet from the authorities, no medicines, no machinery to open the roads so we can get to the buried houses,’’ Sharafudin said.
Authorities in Parwan province closed the strategic Salang Tunnel, which links the north and south of the country, over avalanche fears. Power cables traversing the tunnel have also been damaged, cutting power to much of Kabul.
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"Afghan avalanche toll reaches 165" AP February 27, 2015
KABUL — The number of people killed in a massive avalanche in a mountain-bound valley in northeastern Afghanistan rose on Thursday to 165, as lack of equipment and the sheer depth of snow that buried entire homes and families hampered rescue efforts.
‘‘We’re facing a real crisis because of the depth of the snow,’’ said Mohammad Aslam Syas, deputy chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority.
So far, 165 deaths had been confirmed in the Panjshir Valley, in Panjshir province, which is about 60 miles from the Afghan capital, Kabul, he said.
‘‘We can only speculate on how many people are buried beneath destroyed houses, Syas said. “It’s possible that if houses have not collapsed beneath the weight of the snow, we can still find people alive.’’
The army deployed 1,000 soldiers form the Kabul Corps to help in the rescue efforts.
General Kadam Shah Shahim said he expected the death toll to rise. Rescuers were using shovels and their hands to scoop away snow from the estimated 100 homes destroyed or damaged in the avalanche, which followed heavy snow storms on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Abdul Rahman Kabiri, the acting governor of the province.
Roads remained impassable on Thursday, blocked by fallen trees and 3 feet of snow in many places.
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"Afghan avalanche death toll increases amid rescue effort" by Rahim Faiez, Associated Press March 01, 2015
KABUL — The death toll from a massive avalanche in an Afghan valley rose yet again Saturday as rescue crews cleared roads to try to gain access to rural villages buried under deep snow for days.
Mohammad Aslam Syas, deputy chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, said 186 people have been confirmed dead in the hard-hit Panjshir province, 60 miles northeast of Kabul.
Machinery has been moved into the Panjshir Valley to help clear roads buried beneath at least 3 feet of snow. Syas said army helicopters on Saturday continued to distribute food and other essentials to villages cut off for days.
Nationwide, the death toll from the avalanche and accompanying flooding rose Saturday to at least 235 people, said Mohammad Daim Kakar, general-director for the National Disaster Management Authority. He added that after Panjshir province, Badakhshan province had 35 people killed, Parwan province had 15 dead, and Nuristan province had 11 dead.
Severe weather has affected at least 21 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces and more than 1,000 houses are destroyed or damaged.
In a televised address, President Ashraf Ghani said he would postpone a trip to neighboring Iran to try to help with the recovery.
‘‘I can’t leave my countrymen and my home alone right now,’’ Ghani said.
Afghanistan has suffered through some three decades of war since the Soviet invasion in 1979. But natural disasters such as landslides, floods, and avalanches have also taken a heavy toll on a country with little infrastructure or development outside of its major cities. Environmental degradation has worsened the problem in the north.
Among recent major natural disasters in Afghanistan was a massive landslide in May that killed hundreds. Some estimates suggest that 2,700 people died, although there has never been a definitive count. Another landslide in 2012 killed 71 people.
See: A Landslide and Flood of Afghanistan Articles
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It's been a bad winter in Afghanistan, too.
Time to let go of the anger for today.
NDUs:
Walsh pushes hike in fees for failing to shovel snow
Well, you can start by fining yourself. What absolute gall.
After city crews leave, the space savers return
How long until fists or shots are fired?
I'm done horsing around with this update.
