Every year?
I thought winter was about over, but no. We're getting another few inches today and tomorrow. During the brief break when the unplowed streets dried out enough to walk on, and most roofs were nearly dry, I took a good look at the situation.

My roof categories still hold true from earlier judgment.

Winners and losers:

(1) Winning ugly, blue tarps remaining from previous windstorms. Blue plastic won't let even one snowflake stick. Those roofs gained another chance to get fixed.

(2) Winning pretty, Cape Cod and bungaloid types with occupied attic and relatively steep roof. Threshold is 45 degrees, angle and temperature. Those houses never held more than two inches of snow, thus never formed ice dams or carried a heavy load.

(3) Losing with no surprise, metal structures like carports and garden sheds. A lot of them have collapsed.

(4) Losing with some surprise, the low hip roofs described before. Theory says those houses should be ideal because the entire roof is uniformly cold. Theory is fucked. Those houses were solidly dammed, and many are still about half full of snow.

I notice a lot of busted gutters and a few oddly crushed edges on low hip roofs.

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The latest storm seems to confuse the forecasters. Weather Bureau** issued an Advisory implying 8 inches, but their daily prediction looks more like 3 inches, and Weather.com sees about 2 inches. [Later: Weather.com was right. Maybe an inch or two. The Bureau took down their Advisory.]

The 8-inch advisory brought the usual comments in news articles. This one caught my attention because it ignorantly compares with the Plains:

This is winter in the Inland Northwest. Don't like it? Leave. Otherwise, prepare for it. Enjoy it. Be glad we don't get devastated by floods or tornadoes EVERY YEAR. I'll bet land is REALLY cheap there..and not much snow.

Well now. Floods and tornados every year?

I lived in Kansas and Okla for the first 35 years of my life, 1950-1985. In those 35 years I saw ONE flood and TWO tornados. (Manhattan tornado 1966, Enid flood 1973, Enid tornado 1974.) None of them affected the houses where I was living at the time.

I've lived in Spokane for 26 years now. Experienced two firestorms, three major windstorms, and maybe four serious snow years. The fires didn't QUITE reach my house, but the wind and snow did some damage each time. Would have been worse if I hadn't taken the precaution of removing all trees in 2011.

Conclusion: Damaging weather is a LOT more every-year-ish here, MAINLY because Spokane insists on keeping and replanting killer trees. Okla gets a lot of straight wind in thunderstorms, but the wind doesn't do much damage because there aren't any pine trees. Deciduous trees get automatically 'pruned' by the constant wind before they grow large enough to smash a house.

Are the prices really cheap? In some towns but NOT because of weather. A quick Zillow scan shows Manhattan is tremendously expensive. Wichita, Spokane's twin, looks about equal to Spokane. Ponca is cheap right now because Conoco (the only major business) left town. Enid is NOT cheap because Enid has diversified business.

I'll admit to being tempted by Ponca's prices. I could get a much better house there for $40k, sell this thing for $40k, and still live without a mortgage. Probably won't do it ... too many other variables. I'd definitely need a car, which would raise expenses considerably.

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** I shouldn't be too hard on the Weather Bureau. They have managed to obey Trump guidelines perfectly. Their twitter feed has remained COMPLETELY FREE of Gaian ratshit ever since Jan 20, which must be a white-knuckled strain like constantly repressing a cough. Strain for them, refreshing for the rest of us. It's easier to TRUST their information when it's not contaminated and confounded by theocratic lies.

Labels: Carbon Cult, defensible spaces

  ¶ 8:18 AM