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Author Topic: Weather phenomena  (Read 290245 times)

Offline fritzkep

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #285 on: January 21, 2009, 06:37:46 PM »
On Monday, when I was not at work because of the holiday, there was a light dusting of snow at Dulles Airport. It was still there when I got to work today, and had not sublimed much before late afternoon. At home, 20 miles to the east and closer to the heat island of the city, we had no precip at all.

Werd ich zum Augenblicke sagen, "Verweile doch! Du bist so schön..."

Online killersmom

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #286 on: January 21, 2009, 08:25:03 PM »
And Daly City? Or is that just clouds and gloom?

Just clouds and gloom Fritz!
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Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #287 on: January 21, 2009, 09:17:00 PM »
Michael, when they showed my local news here tonight, they said most of coastal southern & central California was getting rain this evening.  Is is true?
Hope so....sounds like any little bit of moisture you can get there will be beneficial.

Actually, the only reason they mentioned it is if the front holds together as it moves east, we could possibly get 4-5 inches of snow here next Monday.  That would be cool,
as we have had very little snow so far this winter season.

Hmmm....well, that's going to take my getting Lyle or Jimmy to post over here to be certain.  The rain here petered out.  I shouldn't have carried my umbrella - that would have guaranteed heavy rain....

From the weather reports I've seen it looks like it's going to rain tomorrow, but it isn't raining now - and is only raining part of the day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.... :-\

Plus, I don't know if you know this, but it doesn't really help much if it rains in the southern part of the state.  The rain 'bank' is in the Sierra, in the watershed of the American river.
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Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #288 on: January 22, 2009, 12:31:10 AM »
Okay...for those of you really into weather...here's our local doppler radar:

http://weather.cbs5.com/auto/kpixV3/radar/radblast.asp?ID=PIX
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Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #289 on: January 26, 2009, 01:52:04 PM »
Charlie, this is the kind of story I was thinking about earlier when I was talking about people dying because of the cold - this gentleman wasn't homeless, just old and poor.  It's a warning for those who have older friends in cold climates - that's to be sure:

93-year-old froze to death, owed big utility bill
15 mins ago

BAY CITY, Mich. – A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.

Marvin E. Schur died "a slow, painful death," said Kanu Virani, Oakland County's deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy.

Neighbors discovered Schur's body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City Times reported Monday.

"Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning."

Schur owed Bay City Electric Light & Power more than $1,000 in unpaid electric bills, Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told The Associated Press on Monday.

A city utility worker had installed a "limiter" device to restrict the use of electricity at Schur's home on Jan. 13, Belleman said. The device limits power reaching a home and blows out like a fuse if consumption rises past a set level. Power is not restored until the device is reset.

The limiter was tripped sometime between the time of installation and the discovery of Schur's body, Belleman said. He didn't know if anyone had made personal contact with Schur to explain how the device works.

Schur's body was discovered by neighbor George Pauwels Jr.

"His furnace was not running, the insides of his windows were full of ice the morning we found him," Pauwels told the newspaper.

Belleman said city workers keep the limiter on houses for 10 days, then shut off power entirely if the homeowner hasn't paid utility bills or arranged to do so.

He said Bay City Electric Light & Power's policies will be reviewed, but he didn't believe the city did anything wrong.

continues:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090126/ap_on_re_us/frozen_indoors;_ylt=Aoel3P7bHZ3b_s0YRf1oBl4DW7oF
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Offline huntinbuddy

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #290 on: January 26, 2009, 03:09:30 PM »
A sad, terrible thing to happen.  Hope he has younger family, they get a greedy-ass lawyer, as most of them are;  and go after the power company big time there in Bay City.
Life is worth living fully. Live each moment like you are going to die tomorrow.

Offline BayCityJohn

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #291 on: January 26, 2009, 04:23:56 PM »
I didn't know Mr. Schur but I do know the neighborhood. I used to live just a few blocks away, and my friend Josie lived right around the corner.

This isn't a sparsely populated rural area, it's one of the nicest neighborhoods in the city, and I'm sure all of the neighbors knew Mr. Schur.

I'm not surprised that it was Mr. Pauwels that found him.  Mr. Pauwel's father used to check on my mother back in the early 70's when she was pregnant and my father was in Vietnam. And I remember once around that same time when there was a gas leak in the neighborhood late one night and Mr. Pauwels Sr. went door to door to warn us.

Offline BayCityJohn

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #292 on: January 26, 2009, 07:28:22 PM »
Charlie, this is the kind of story I was thinking about earlier when I was talking about people dying because of the cold - this gentleman wasn't homeless, just old and poor.  It's a warning for those who have older friends in cold climates - that's to be sure:


I wouldn't assume he was poor. Like I said this is a fairly nice neighborhood in Bay City.

More likely that he was totally alone in the world and wasn't able to handle his own finances anymore.

Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #293 on: January 26, 2009, 07:40:06 PM »
Charlie, this is the kind of story I was thinking about earlier when I was talking about people dying because of the cold - this gentleman wasn't homeless, just old and poor.  It's a warning for those who have older friends in cold climates - that's to be sure:

I wouldn't assume he was poor. Like I said this is a fairly nice neighborhood in Bay City.

More likely that he was totally alone in the world and wasn't able to handle his own finances anymore.

Yes, John, but if you read back further in the thread we were talking about people who freeze in the winter and homelessness was mentioned.  Hence my qualifier when I posted this article.
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline huntinbuddy

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #294 on: January 26, 2009, 07:53:38 PM »
I think it's terrible when we live in the wealthiest country on the planet and we have people who freeze to death in the winter....and others who die from heat related illnesses (Chicago comes to mind) in the summer months.
I can understand it to some extent as we discussed earlier when there are some who for mental reasons or whatever, refuse to accept assistance.  But to have a public utility do this to anyone is unacceptable.
Life is worth living fully. Live each moment like you are going to die tomorrow.

Offline dejavu

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #295 on: January 26, 2009, 08:01:38 PM »
Whatever, it's just very sad to think of this happening to a 93-year-old.  Less than 32 degrees indoor temperature?  Awful.

Maybe someone from social services should have been alerted about the what the power company was doing.  I don't know what the answer is, but someone else should have been looking at this case before it was too late.
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Offline BrokenOkie

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #296 on: January 26, 2009, 08:04:24 PM »
Utility companies here offer an option for 3rd party notification if bills go unpaid.  Of course, customers have to make that option, but it could certainly help to prevent this type of tragedy.

Offline BayCityJohn

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #297 on: January 26, 2009, 08:18:23 PM »
Yes, John, but if you read back further in the thread we were talking about people who freeze in the winter and homelessness was mentioned.  Hence my qualifier when I posted this article.

Yes I've read the thread.

What I was trying to say is that he probably had money in the bank. I'm referring to the poverty of loneliness.

Quote
The poverty of loneliness and isolation and alienation — having no one to call, no one to visit, no one to tell you where to get help or to help you get it; no one to care whether you're alive or dead.
(not sure who wrote this. I got in in an email from my aunt)




Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #298 on: January 26, 2009, 09:30:49 PM »
What I was trying to say is that he probably had money in the bank. I'm referring to the poverty of loneliness.

Oh!  Well in the weather thread I talk about the meterological cold - not the ontological cold.  Sorry for misunderstanding.
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Offline BayCityJohn

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Re: Weather phenomena
« Reply #299 on: January 26, 2009, 10:03:21 PM »
It seems to be a popular story around the net today, and I hear a lot of people saying his relatives will probably sue the city.

And they probably will.

The relatives who probably haven't seen him in years.