After almost 5" of rain this week, there is a lot of water flowing over the dam in Woonsocket along the Blackstone River !!!

Wet few days ahead

The winter weather continues as we receive about 3" of new snow overnight that, thankfully, changed to rain. Rain total is now over 2", what a snow event this would have been if the temp held a couple of degrees colder. Now we await the next system Friday, which should bring us rain, but the exact track of the system still in a bit of doubt and watching closely. It will be a strong system with high winds also.

Structure Fire Woonsocket, RI

House Fire on Unity St, in Woonsocket, a couple of streets up the hill from home. Appears to be heavy fire damage on 2nd floor. No known injuries. The brisk winds surely make operations difficult for the firefighters.

Woonsocket Snowfall Totals

October: 0.5"
November: 0.0
December: 27.9"
January: 16.3"
February: 7.9"

Total Through 2/18: 52"

Atlantic Hurricane Names for 2010

It will not be very long before the seas warm up and the Atlantic Hurricane Season begins, here are the names to be used for the 2010 season:

Alex
Bonnie
Colin
Danielle
Earl
Fiona
Gaston
Hermine
Igor
Julia
Karl
Lisa
Matthew
Nicole
Otto
Paula
Richard
Shary
Tomas
Virginie
Walter

Another Storm

Well, it is winter, and it is February, and there is another storm brewing. Looks like a good snowstorm Tomorrow, with near Blizzard conditions of heavy snow, high winds and poor visibility. A foot of snow not out of the question at this time, forecast will be refined as the afternoon progresses, but if you need to make preparations this is a good time. Below is an excerpt from Weather Service discussions:
MAIN FORECAST CONCERNS REVOLVE AROUND SNOW AND WIND POTENTIAL FROM
POTENT COASTAL STORM WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

1130 AM UPDATE...

WE WILL BE EXPANDING WINTER STORM WATCHES NORTHWARD TO INCLUDE THE
ENTIRE COUNTY WARNING AREA WHICH INCLUDES SOUTHWEST NH. THE 12Z
NAM/GFS AND UKMET HAVE CONVERGED ON A SIMILAR SOLUTION WITH SURFACE
LOW TRACKING VERY CLOSE TO THE 40N/70W BENCHMARK. VERY HEAVY SNOWFALL
IS LIKELY FOR THE BOSTON-PROVIDENCE CORRIDOR AND POSSIBLY WESTWARD
INTO CT. SOME MIXING IS LIKELY FOR THE CAPE AND ISLANDS. WE WILL HAVE
MORE DETAILS BY MID AFTERNOON. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOLLOW BELOW.

STRONG CLOSED UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL RACE TOWARD THE EAST COAST AND
ENTER THE ATLANTIC AROUND THE DELMARVA ON WEDNESDAY. THE WILL AID IN
INDUCING RAPID CYCLOGENESIS WELL TO THE SOUTH OF LONG ISLAND WHICH
WILL RESULT IN A MODERATE SNOWSTORM FOR MUCH OF SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
TO THE SOUTH OF THE MASS PIKE. OVERALL...FORECAST RATIONALE HAS NOT
CHANGED MUCH FROM PREVIOUS DAY SHIFT...SO THEREFORE THE FORECAST
HASN/T CHANGED MUCH. THE POSITIONING OF THE MID LEVEL LOW AND IT/S
ASSOCIATED FORCING MECHANISMS WILL DETERMINE HOW FAR NORTH HEAVY
SNOWFALL GETS. THIS IS STILL IN QUESTION AS THERE REMAIN DIFFERING
MODEL SOLUTIONS. OVERALL...WE LIKED A GFS/SREF/GFS ENSEMBLE BLEND THE
BEST.

Snowstorm

Today marks the Anniversary of the Blizzard of '78. While this is being posted, the Mid-Atlantic states are being hit by a major blizzard. Received word of a friend, Kevin, down in MD. A weather fanatic and frequent poster and contributor to weather boards, his electric power is down, almost a foot of snow, high winds, and the indirect report that the house is cooling down. Hope he, and everyone in the snow belt is safe this weekend.
Here are a few random photos to commemorate that week so many years ago, it was a time when neighbors really became "neighborly"

Toyota Recalls

Not being a Toyota owner, it seems strange to read about the newest problem affecting the Prius and braking systems.
Here is an excerpt from the news article this morning:

The company says it made a change in the 2010 braking system last month to correct cars in production. The company has not made a decision about cars on the road.

If they know there is a problem, they have hopefully found a fix for the problem, why are they NOT extending this to car on the road ???
Just a thought, but one would think with 120++ complaints, and the current recall of almost 5 million other Toyota's, they would be front and center on recalling and repairing the Prius.
Time will tell.

February, Often offers a tantalizing hint of warmth !!!

The good thing about February is that the sun is beginning to quicken the pace at which it is making is way to the high point in the sky. Even on a relatively cold day like today, 29 degrees, one can finally believe that the sun is a warm object, LOL. But, like every February, the Atlantic is just about at its coldest so any storm coming up the coast probably would be a snow event. Oh, I forgot, there is a storm coming up the coast, on Saturday and actually another one forecast for next week. Hopefully, the forecasters are correct and the low pressure system will race out to sea after dumping a major snowfall on the mid Atlantic states Friday Night and Saturday. Looking at light amounts here in Rhode Island, but a wary eye to be kept on such a system !!!
From a February, a long, long time ago, 1978, as we mark the Anniversary of the Blizzard of '76 in a couple of days. This shot is from the Providence Journal, and shows Interstate 195, at the Massachusetts/Rhode Island border. Guess which side Rhode Island is, LOL things have not changed very much, but hopefully, this weekend will NOT bring a repeat.