That Good Virginia Clay, and Ida

 Along Reston Parkway near Town Center there's a project underway, trying to squeeze in a turn lane between the existing roadway and the buildings.  For some reason instead of just putting in a roadbed maybe 12 inches thick, they've been excavating several feet down, perhaps to run some utility pipeline or something. 

They had a small road roller, maybe 4 wide, sitting in the excavation on Tuesday. I drove past it today--the good red Virginia clay at the bottom and sides of the excavation was holding the water Ida dropped when she passed by. The water was up to the axle of the roller, likely 15 inches or so. I'm impressed by the ability of the clay soil to hold the water

At our plot in the community garden about 1.2 mile south of there our rain gauge showed 4 inches falling between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, most during a thunder storm which I heard and went back to sleep again.   This year National Airport has been wetter than average while Dulles has been several inches below average. Ida dropped more rain on us than on Dulles, which only got about 2.5 inches. 

Ice on the Mississippi

 Am I remembering things.  Just caught a snippet of news about ice on the Mississippi, near Natchez I think, along with a statement it was interfering with shipping and was rare.

Seems to me I remember that the Mississippi used to shut down in the winter, at least upper reaches, because it was ice covered.  

Though I might be conflating the Mississippi with the Great Lakes.

Snow Days?

 Reston got maybe 3 inches of snow, more to the north and east of us.  The TV news is running their usual scroll of schools which are closed  I'm not clear whether these are all schools doing in-person teaching, or whether the snow is impacting remote learning.  I know there's been speculation the experience the pandemic has given us with remote learning means no more snow days, but has that become a fact?

Snow Days

About 28 inches here in Reston.  That's enough I think that our usual snow plow (pickup truck with blade) won't be much use.  The cul-de-sac has cars on both sides.  Usually the plow can scrape snow to the ends, leaving a ridge behind the cars that you have to shovel.  With this much snow I don't think the approach will really work.  We'll see--I remember an early snowstorm, maybe late 70's, where we waited and waited until finally a front loader came in.  That may be necessary this time.

The ethics of snow are interesting--to dig out your car you can either throw the snow into the drive path behind the car or carry it to the front of the car.  The first hurts the rest of the people in the cul-de-sac, particularly those who live further up the cul-de-sac, making it harder for them to get out.  The second hurts the back.

So far I've seen two four-wheel drive vehicles, one pickup, one jeep, make it out to the road, both after significant trouble; two other four-wheel SUV's  tried and failed to make it out.  Wife and I are reconciled to being house-bound for another day.

The Good of Polar Vortexes

Walt Jeffries at Sugar Mountain Farm rather blood thirstily identifies a major major benefit of the current polar vortex.  (Joel Achenbach at the Post has the proper fogey attitude towards new-fangled concepts, like polar vortex.)

What's the benefit?  Below the break

Colorado and Rainwater

I was surprised to learn that collecting rainwater in Colorado is mostly illegal.  (Hat tip: Life on a Colorado Farm.)  I knew the West had different laws on water than in the East, but not this.

The Weather Gods Don't Like Obama

Apparently the heat and drought reduced our GDP growth this summer because of reduced agricultural production, just as our warm weather reduced it last winter because of lower usage of energy for heating.   Strange.

[Update: see Prof Roberts at Greed, Green, and Grain on the reduction in GDP.]

Weather Forecasts for the Sun

Seemingly we've progressed to the point where we're doing weather forecasts for the sun, at least that's how I read this MSNBC report.

Unbelievable Weather

Went to Lowes for landscaping blocks today.  They've got their tomatoes and peppers for sale.  I want to yell: it's too damn early.  Yes, the high today was 80+ (85 according to my car) and the leaves on the trees are opening.  But we've had frosts in early May, a good 6 weeks from now.  So there's a good probability of a frost.

The Glories of Spring

Just pausing to note the warm spring weather, the trees are starting to bloom (red maple and now I think the pears?), the crocus and daffodils are blooming (why can't the breeders come up with a daffodil which can bloom when crowded?), the birds are around.

I wonder if those raised in suburbs and cities are as conscious of the seasons as on the farm.  I suspect not, poor souls.

The Solar Decathlon and the Weather

Several colleges are participating in the "Solar Decathlon", a contest to build green housing within a set of constraints, with the model house erected on the Mall, or this year in West Potomac Park.  U of MD won the architectural award.  This year since Tropical Storm Lee went through earlier this month the sun has been in little evidence.  That's unfortunate, because many of the features of such houses depend on reasonably sunny weather, which the DC area usually has in September, but not this year.

Do Only Old Trees Fall in a Hurricane?

I used that generalization today in an chat, but I suspect I might be wrong. When old trees fall they damage things, when young trees fall they don't.  I say that because the tree that fell closest to our house (about .25 miles away) was about 5 inches in diameter.