Synchronicity

National Weather Service:

MUCH OF CENTRAL NORTH CAROLINA HAS RECEIVED BETWEEN ONE AND THREE INCHES OF RAIN SINCE LATE SUNDAY MORNING. AN ADDITIONAL TWO TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN WITH LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS MAY OCCUR TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT...MOST OF IT FALLING IN A RELATIVELY SHORT TIME FRAME. THIS ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL QUICKLY RUN OFF FILLING CREEKS AND STREAMS TO BANKFUL OR POSSIBLY OUT OF THEIR BANKS. ALSO THE POTENTIAL EXIST FOR WIDESPREAD HEAVY RAINFALL. IF THIS OCCURS OVER AN URBAN AREA...FLASH FLOODING WILL QUICKLY OCCUR.

* WHILE MUCH OF THE REGION HAS EXPERIENCED A SIGNIFICANT DROUGHT...THIS AMOUNT OF RAINFALL...ESSENTIALLY A MONTH S WORTH...IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME...WILL QUICKLY RUN OFF. SOME OF THE HEAVIEST RAINFALL MAY OCCUR EARLY THIS MORNING...MAINLY ACROSS THE SOUTH AND EAST...AND AGAIN TONIGHT AS STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CROSS THE REGION. SOME OF OUR MOST RECENT FLASH FLOOD DEATHS HAVE OCCURRED WITH HEAVY RAIN EVENTS
IMMEDIATELY AFTER A PROLONG PERIOD OF DRY WEATHER. MOTORISTS SHOULD AVOID KNOWN AREAS THAT FLOOD DURING HEAVY RAIN EVENTS WHILE OUT AND ABOUT TODAY AND TONIGHT.

Herald-Sun:

The would-be developers of a massive, Meadowmont-plus-sized residential and commercial development on the eastern edge of Durham want the City Council to exempt their project from a pending move to widen required stream buffers.


. . .

Construction has yet to begin, but Zumwalt and his clients are worried that Durham officials could throw a kink in the plan by doubling the size of the buffers they require around many streams.

That would come as part of an effort to beef up the environmental-protection standards of Durham's "unified development ordinance."

Simplifying the matter somewhat, officials now require a 50-foot-wide buffer strip along each edge of the streams in and around the project site. A proposal to widen that to 100 feet is making its way through the drafting and review process.

The change is supposed to leave more vegetation intact to help filter pollutants out of runoff, and bring Durham's standards for protected so-called "perennial streams" more in line with those of other communities in the area.

Zumwalt's clients, however, maintain that the change would undermine their plans. They want a five-year exemption so they can go ahead under existing buffer standards.

Widened buffers and other changes officials are considering "will result in a considerable loss of developable land," translating "directly into a greatly reduced number of residential units as well as reduced commercial and office floor space," Zumwalt said in a letter explaining his clients' request.

It's a pretty simple equation - more impervious surface = more runoff = more pollution.

In economic terms, it's an unpriced externality that developers pass on to the community, or as we like to say around the Dependable Ranch, socialize the costs, privatize the profits. Adding "$500 Million" to the tax base increases municipal revenues by about $5.5 million a year or so, nowhere near enough to meet Durham's existing financial responsibilities for cleaning up Jordan and Falls Lakes.

I have no doubts, though, that most of our current crop of elected officials, especially the clown show that is our County Commission, are incapable of seeing past that "$500 Million" figure.

Also worth noting is the continuing trend, first commented upon a couple of years ago during the extended drought, toward wet and dry seasons in North Carolina and the southeast region. It appears to this casual observer that that's becoming the norm rather than the exception.

Continue reading Synchronicity

Deep thought

Looking like those rain barrels may not have been the best investment, after all.

Continue reading Deep thought

Deep thought

There are going to be a lot of acorns this fall.

Continue reading Deep thought

Snowy beach pictures

These kinda speak for themselves. The last few are from this year's snow-covered Gloucester Mardi Gras. More mardi Gras pictures and a few others later.

Continue reading Snowy beach pictures

The inverse square rule of snow

The amount of fun generated by any snowfall decreases in accordance with the square of the number of snowfalls during the season.

To wit:
Snowfall #1 = Xfun
Snowfall #2 = 1/4Xfun
Snowfall #3 = 1/9Xfun
. . .
Snowfall #n = 1/n2Fun

So, how are things in Philadelphia these days?

Continue reading The inverse square rule of snow

Bodice ripping winds to follow

Continue reading Bodice ripping winds to follow

Deep thought

If you thought the potholes were bad last year, wait until you see what this round of precipitation and freeze/thaw cycles brings in a month or so.

Continue reading Deep thought

Deep thought

The reason for turning your headlights on in bad weather is not so that you can see better, it's so that the rest of us can see you.

I thought they knew that in New Jersey.

Continue reading Deep thought

Mythical creatures

Spotted in Durham today.

Note the trail of sand left behind by the nocturnal yellow crawler seen slinking away in the distance.


I believe this one was scurrying back to its den after sucking up a meal of dirty slush on Roxboro St.

Continue reading Mythical creatures

Seriously?

Schools are closed again on Wednesday?

Wonder what the total cost in lost wages, productivity, and sales happens to be from this little six inch snowfall on Friday?

Continue reading Seriously?

School access fail

Leon Street, in front of Brogden Middle School, 5 pm Monday.

From city of Durham press release prior to winter storm, 1/29/10:

The City’s plan of action for clearing or reducing hazards on city streets is prioritized in the following order:
• Bridges and overpasses throughout the city.
• Major arterial streets within the city.
• Streets to essential health facilities, police and fire stations and critical community facilities.
• Routes to two City fuel sites.
• Streets within the central business district.
• Clear access to Durham Public Schools.
• All residential areas with priority initially to passage of emergency vehicles and then to all traffic.

As a friend noted, if we get any kind of weather the rest of the week, it'll be next Tuesday before the schools open. My understanding of DPS policy is if there's any ice on a road that has to be traveled by a school bus, all schools are closed.

I couldn't imagine being a working parent with a job that didn't pay me for my time off this week. Even with paid time off, having to use your vacation or sick leave in the middle of winter just to watch your kids because the schools aren't open would truly suck.

Continue reading School access fail

Just wondering

In light of the just received press release from the city that garbage collection is suspended on Monday, and bulky item collection suspended for Tuesday (a decision has not been made regarding regular garbage pickup for Tuesday), surely someone from the city or county has run numbers to determine the lost sales tax revenue from not being able to clear roads for a minimum of three days after a minor snow event. More broadly, is there an analysis of lost productivity due to working parents having to stay home with their school age kids because schools and day care centers are closed?

UPDATE: Duke & Gregson were in pretty good shape tonight. Roxboro was patchy but acceptable. Foster Street? You've got to be kidding me. That's the north/south streets in my neck of the woods. Markham and Trinity? Gonna be a bitch in the morning after 10 hours of sub-20 degree cold.

Continue reading Just wondering

Snow plow fail

Leave aside for the moment the neighborhood streets that will never see a plow during this storm. Let's also ignore, while we can, the three walks past untrafficked major thoroughfares like Roxboro Street in the past 24 hours without seeing a single plow. Overtime for plow drivers probably isn't in the city's budget this year.

What i'd like to know is how hard is it to train the plow drivers not to drop loads of rock salt & sand like big brown turds in the road, and spread them out over the ice where they can actually do some good?

And let's not mention the use of plowed snow to block access to southbound Mangum Street from Markham Ave., shall we? It's one thing to block in someone's driveway or street parked car. That's the price you pay for a cleared street. But seriously, blocking access to one street with snow plowed from another? Come on Mr. Bonfield and Mr. Bell. Do we take any time at all to train the guys who are responsible for keeping our streets clean?
UPDATE: Pic of Mangum Ave. from Saturday:

photo by Summer Puente

Continue reading Snow plow fail

I hear it's snowing

Continue reading I hear it's snowing

Weather event!

City of Durham sez:

To further prepare for tomorrow’s forecast, City employees will begin today distributing a salt-brine solution on high-traffic bridges and overpasses throughout the city limits as well as in the downtown area. Salt-brine solution is a salt and water mix that is sprayed onto the roadway surfaces before snow and ice begins to fall, helping to prevent accumulation from bonding to the road surface.



“We are pre-treating certain high-traffic roads throughout the city,” said Michael Balzarano, superintendent of the Street Maintenance Division of the City’s Department of Public Works. “We hope that the combination of the salt-brine solution and salt-and-sand trucks we have ready to roll will keep our roadways passable.”



The City’s plan of action for clearing or reducing hazards on city streets is prioritized in the following order:

· Bridges and overpasses throughout the city.

· Major arterial streets within the city.

· Streets to essential health facilities, police and fire stations and critical community facilities.

· Routes to two City fuel sites.

· Streets within the central business district.

· Clear access to Durham Public Schools.

· All residential areas with priority initially to passage of emergency vehicles and then to all traffic.

Also, stop at the grocery store to pick up the last of the bread and milk.

Continue reading Weather event!

Bread and milk

I'll be at the grocery store this afternoon. Can i pick you up anything?

Continue reading Bread and milk

Thunder?

Man, did i pick the wrong time to get sick. Was that really thunder i heard at 6 am? Y'all know what that means, right?

Continue reading Thunder?

Amazing

Amazing storm today. I counted three lightning strikes within 100 yards of the back door this afternoon.

Amazing that anyone would leave a dog outside in that kind of weather.

Even more amazing that Durham doesn't seem to have either the resources or the authority to take a dog away from someone as unqualified to have one as that.

Continue reading Amazing

Checking the calendar

Is it really mid-July?

Felt like a delightful October morning when i left the house.

Continue reading Checking the calendar

Not just Durham

Guardian:

Parents, business leaders and education campaigners last night condemned the decision to close 8,000 schools across the UK yesterday even though the snowy conditions gripping the country eased in some areas.

The anger was most acute in cities where every school was shut. Birmingham and Bradford closed all their schools only to find that the weather was nowhere near as severe as had been expected, a move that left thousands of families struggling to cope with emergency childcare.

Jim Knight, the schools minister, said he hoped all schools in Britain would reopen today and warned that if classes were cancelled too quickly the message that every lesson counts would be diluted.

. . .

Privately council officials admitted it was embarrassing that heavy falls did not materialise but in public, the Local Government Association defended the decisions, arguing that parents preferred to know early whether schools were opening. All schools in Surrey were closed, along with more than 100 each in West Sussex and Kent and dozens in London, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

Denise Craig, policy manager for the West Midlands Federation of Small Businesses, said: "Small businesses are disproportionately hit when the schools close because many of their workers are parents forced to take a day off to look after children."

Margaret Morrissey, of the Parents Outloud campaign group, said: "We are giving children the message that when things get difficult you should just stay at home and have fun."

Although i have to confess i've never heard a school superintendent, principal, or senior administrator quite make the claim that they were concerned that "the message that every lesson counts would be diluted," if classes were canceled. At least, not in North Carolina.

Continue reading Not just Durham