It was cold today, as predicted. I got up early after going to bed early and looked outside to see nothing going on. No snow, no freezing rain....so I went back to bed.
When I woke up again it was ice pelleting. I guess falling ice pellets are technically called sleet. They actually provide good traction for walking or driving. Ice pellets are noisy and come down with a tinkling sound.
Soon there was an inch two of accumulated crunchy ice pellets with more coming down, sometimes blown at a slant.
This went on all day. My heat pump and furnace could not keep the house warm and the temp inside slunk down to under 60 degrees. I brought in the space heater from the garage and wrapped up in an electric blanket and wondered how the homeless were even alive, those who did not heed the warnings to get to a warming shelter. Already two have died, I heard on the news, one from hypothermia and another when a tree fell on their RV, sparking a fire.
In Portland, high winds tore through from the Columbia River gorge, taking out trees and signs and blowing sleet around and freezing anybody out in it.
Most places around Portland were in the teens or lower. We were lucky here and stayed in the low 20's. Tonight it may get down to 17 or so.
There are thousands of people without power. Lucky me, I'm not one of them. If I was one of them, I'd simply go to bed, after stuffing hand warmers in socks and distributing them into cat beds. I love hand warmers.
Lucky us here we got ice pellets instead of freezing rain. That is fortunate, in so many ways. We may not get above freezing til Tuesday but I think the tinkling ice pellets and precipitation is over and done with all over the region by 10:00 p.m. or so. Then its just the cold and its not that cold really, I mean, it could be colder. By Tuesday, above freezing, probably back to rain soon. We get so little weather outside of rain or dense fog in the winter, that this was a little exciting.
Even a few days of cold and using the space heaters will drive up the electric bill to terrifying heights. Not looking forward to that.
Turn on sound for this video to hear the tinkle tinkle of falling ice pellets.
I fed the birds outside several times, since the ice pellets would cover what I'd put down in about an hour.
This isn't much of a storm. Many of us had hoped for snow, and maybe for it to stick around awhile. Probably no one wished for teenage temps, high winds, or ice pellets. Since we rarely get any of this stuff, we don't have equipment or heat systems that withstand it well. Ah well, its at most three days of cold and then back to whining about rain.
See ya then.
Stay warm, stay safe. And I hope you keep your power.
ReplyDeleteWe had no power issues around here. We're so lucky we had ice pellets and not freezing rain. Thousands without power around Portland, largely due to their high winds and falling trees.
DeleteAs I read I thought ice pellets must be hail, but listening to the clip, they don't sound like hail at all.
ReplyDeleteAre what you call handwarmers things that come in a packet and once exposed to air heat up and can last for 24 hours?
They are interesting, the ice pellets, and the sound is rather pleasant to me--the tinkling, like a million tiny bells. Yes, those are what I'm talking about with handwarmers. I keep them on hand all the time, as they can assist with cats after surgery. I put them in a sock or small pocket of fleece inside the traps with them. They love them that way. But I put them in socks for the cat beds too, or slip them into my pockets or socks to stay warm, when its cold. Or I put them in a plastic bag under a water dish, to keep it less likely to freeze.
DeleteWe got your snow. I don't think our heat pump has been off at all today, but the house is staying at the set temperature.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why the house is so cold, probably the bad ducts. Temp inside is in the 50's today. I know the ducts are rusted and at least one has disintegrated but my brother can't come redo them til spring. There was a water under the house issue when he bought the place which isn't good for ducts over time.
DeleteHow much snow did you get? I have friends in Ridgefield. I hope they are doing ok.
DeleteWe've had a little snow, but mostly cold rain and high winds. There has been a fair amount of flooding and trees down. Luckily, we've been okay.
ReplyDeletePortland really got hit with bad winds, with the cold, but not much snow. I really wish we had gotten snow here. I do love snow.
DeleteGood luck getting that ice off of your car windows!
ReplyDeleteHa! The locks are frozen too and I may just leave it til Wednesday when our temps are supposed to return to Oregon normal.
DeleteStay warm. I'm glad your power stayed on.
ReplyDeleteMe too!
Delete~hugs~
ReplyDelete