Being very cold

[Mortblanc]

Aghhh!

The pole must have shifted back! Much warmer today.

This morning is declared a channel 5/9/12/14/19/48/64 (basically every channel on the TV) emergency weather alert day. It is raining and the wind is blowing.

Apparently that is enough to declare an emergency and recommend everyone seek shelter.

No tornado, no gale force wind, just rain and a stiff 30kph breeze.

What wussies!

[Mortblanc]

OK here you go folks, I am going to win the weird weather contest or bust a gut trying!

April 16, 2018.

14:00, 0c degrees and snow is falling!

And not just a little snow, it looks like a blizzard out there!

[Straight Shooter]

This may appear a stupid question MB ,but are these weather patterns the norm for your neck of the woods ....or unusual anomalies ? i am hearing that crops are being disrupted all over the globe (alternative media ! ) if true we can expect shortages along with increases in the cost of fresh vegetables , grains and fruits ....lately we have noticed empty shelves ( in all super markets ) no matter what chain .....enough at least for us to notice it but little enough not to unduly worry ....at the moment .

[CharlesHarris]

Sporadic, short-lived spring snowstorms are the norm for the central and northern Appalachians in early April.

Although after April 15 (tax day) it is unusual.

[Mortblanc]

What CH says is the norm. It just seems spring will never come this year for some reason, but it is a mental lapse to feel spring is late.

Snow in April is not unusual, nor are freezing temps, it happens every year. We do not plant here until Mothers' Day and everyone seems to forget that. We can have killing frosts right up to that date. MD is 13, May this year, so a sudden last frost is still up to a month ahead of us.

You do not put your garden in early here because it will die. Simple as that. No poly tunnels or hot boxes are going to keep your seedlings alive in our late snows and deep freezes.

As for world wide famine and scarcity, I don't think so. It is the WEATHER, it does not run on the German railway schedule. Never has, never will!

It is just a normal winter and everyone needs to get over their "winter will never end" depression. You folks have had your first real winter in a decade over there, so expectations of world wide famine, crop failure, and plague have kicked in due to being imprinted in your collective memory.

Your empty shelves are probably due to a trucker strike in New Deli or a flood on the Amazon. There is also that thing that happened during that last snow storm scare where all the milk, bread and eggs disappeared (a world wide phenom), it might take some time to restock due to that.

You might want to do an quick inventory of what items are short, home grown or imported?

[Straight Shooter]

Thanks Charles, MB.

[MaryN]

No problems here on the Fens. Warm, sunny day - a mite windy, but what the hell. All supermarkets stocked to the hilt. No sweat.

[CharlesHarris]

Currently snow flurries here, but no measurable accumulation. Expected high temperature 5 degs. C.

[Mortblanc]

(17 April 2018, 19:48)CharlesHarris Wrote: Currently snow flurries here, but no measurable accumulation. Expected high temperature 5 degs. C.

And here I am today with sunshine and 20c with only a light breeze and only 100 miles west of you.

I was contemplating the difference within 24 hours on the way to lunch this afternoon. I never left the house yesterday and was out in shirtsleeves today.

Snow and freezing yesterday and everyone out mowing grass today.