Because I am apparently unable nowadays to post about anything other than WEATHER --

[katallison]

It's been raining hard and steady here for, oh, two days or so, which means that, on top of the remnants of Snowmageddon!, we are now having --

"...a memorable flood event," according to some guy from the National Weather Service who apparently thinks flood event somehow captures the ongoing emergency-disaster-AOOOOGAH-RED ALERT! vibe more eloquently than, y'know, flood. Because this is an EVENT we're having here.

Flood events are a time when it is good to be living on a hilltop (as distinct from Snowmageddon! events, or ice storms, when hilltops are not so great).

I-5 appears to be closed both north and south of here; my co-worker K. may be flooded out of her house tonight (poor woman, she just moved here from the high deserts of Nevada and I think is already regretting the change); and I am sending worried thoughts of love and concern out to arallara, whose house is right next to a river in a seriously-flooded city.

(ETA: "Record historic flooding" happening in eight or nine rivers in the area, according to latest news. God, this is painful--last winter's flooding, miserable and destructive as it was, is apparently now being surpassed.)

I am hunkered down, watching SGA reruns, drinking white wine, eating rye crackers, lighting candles, and listening to the wind lash the rain against the windows. If I make it through the next two days, I will have survived yet another First Week of the Quarter (and man, that gets harder every year, as I get older and more tired and jaded and fed up with tearful student freak-outs in my office).

And (I say this tentatively, with some fear) this weekend I may open up a piece of writing that's been in abeyance for a couple of years, and start typing words in. Because last night, after a couple of years of near-silence, the voices in my head started murmuring quietly again, and -- yeah, OK, maybe something will come of it, maybe not.

Comments

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

Good luck on the weather, and of course best wishes on the writing. Things have been unnaturally quiet round here (and my lj flist is likewise eerily quiet!) but that may be because I can't hear *anything* over the cold busily gurgling in my sinuses. Pardon me, running off for more blessedly hot water...

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear about the cold! I'm just getting over one myself, and am enjoying a return to the wonderfulness of unobstructed *respiration.* Hope your sinuses are soon recovered!

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Damn, the PNW is coming up snake-eyes this winter, isn't it? :-( After our one flood scare we're finally settling into a sane, albeit ass-cold winter (fingercross), but...yeah.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

I was very relieved to see that you weren't being flooded again this year. But damn, your temperatures look nasty, and selfishly (since I'm safe on my hilltop) I'll trade pelting rain and 50+ degrees for dry and arctic. At least until the waters curl up around my ankles and hubcaps...

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Cold rain makes my whole skin crawl in misery, so I'll take the tradeoff of nasty arctic temperatures (and goddamn, they're really getting nasty by the end of the week). Though considering how much freezing rain we seem to be getting this winter, talk about the worst of both worlds.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Ooh, ooh, I'll tell you what's even worse than cold rain -- and that's snow-melt-fog. Like, when you have Snowmageddon!, with big heaps of wet slushy snow all over the place, and then the temperature creeps up into the high 30s, so the snow is sort of sullenly and reluctantly starting to melt, but the melting makes the air ever more and more densely damp and saturated with just-barely-above-freezing water vapor, which eventually forms a kind of thick, frigid fog, which is like ice rendered gaseous, and which cuts directly through even the warmest clothing, and goes straight to the bone. Especially on those days when the slatey cloudbank of the overcast sky is about two inches above one's head, and it gets dark by three in the afternoon.

(Not that I have been having any personal acquaintance with such or anything, heavens no.)

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

Uuuuuuuuugh. We got some of that right before the OMG FLOOD WARNINGS! and pouring rain on Christmas week. That and a tornado warning. And it briefly hailed yesterday. If there's a plague of toads and locusts next, I won't actually be a bit surprised.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Tornadoes?? Well--well, dang. I got nothing. (*scuffing toe*)

(I could trade you for a Cascadian Subduction, but it hasn't been doing jack lately, just lurking around in a tsunami-threatening manner. None of these newfangled modern subductions got any get up and GO.)

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

"Tornadoes?? Well--well, dang. I got nothing. (*scuffing toe*)"

I don't think we actually got any, but on the heels of the tornadoes we did get in August and the flooding in September the local newspaper's message board was full of panicky people going, "Oh fuck fuck fuck NO NO NO." I settled for crouching by my window and cursing the very heavens.

"I could trade you for a Cascadian Subduction, but it hasn't been doing jack lately, just lurking around in a tsunami-threatening manner."

I'll see your Cascadian Subduction and raise you a San Madrid Fault, missy.

[lapillus]

I'm glad you're at a suitable elevation. And I hope the voices keep murmuring :)

[katallison.livejournal.com]

I am (very selfishly) willing to trade off the current flooding rains--and 50-some degree temps--for the miserable cold that appears to currently be afflicting the Twin Cities. Hope you and Jackie are keeping warm!

[lapillus]

But cold you can dress for; large scale flooding is much harder to deal with not to mention the mess. ;-)

We're keeping plenty warm, although Jackie is still not quite fully mobile after falling down last week and spraining her right wrist. Admittedly I've been making good use of Midwest Mountaineering, but I should be set even if we dive well below zero. I won't mind when the U is back in session and I can catch more frequent buses, however :-)

[namastenancy.livejournal.com]

Ye gads - Mother Nature is really being a bitch this year. I only hope that some of that water is going into reservoirs to guard against the drought which we will surely have in the summer.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Well, the whole climate-change deal appears to be all about "more extremes," and we are certainly living up to that. I just can't believe how *constant* the rain has been for almost 48 hours now -- hard, pelting, drenching, wind-blown, unrelenting downpour.

[violetisblue.livejournal.com]

The theory is that the greater warmth in the atmosphere in general creates more precipitation which creates more of the extreme rain/snow events--longterm forecasts for the Midwest are a lot more rain/snow in the winter and very hot, very dry summers. People going on about how the massive snowfalls and such "prove" that climate change is bollocks just don't have a clue.

[arallara.livejournal.com]

I am okay! The river never actually floods right where we live--or at least not in my memory. I was at home today (anniversary of Dad's death, took the day off) and I walked down to the river, and it was fucking insane, though. Just raging and churning and frothing, and so close to the top of the banks, and so scarily fast. I heard about the flooding in town, though! I'm glad I didn't have to go in today!

[katallison.livejournal.com]

OMG, so glad to know you're OK! I kept hearing all kinds of emergency declarations about Whatcom County, and was very worried. Big hugs, and thanks so much for letting me know you're safe!

[panisdead.livejournal.com]

Oh good--I was just about to comment saying, "Let us know if you hear from Aral!"

I hope the anniversary day was good to you. Take care.

[china_shop]

Meep! I'm very glad you're okay! *sends heat and chocolate*

[katallison.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (*snuggles next to heat, nomming chocolate*)

[minim_calibre]

I was wondering how where you're at was doing as I checked out the Oly papers for more flood info than we could get in Seattle. I've never seen it this bad in so many places in 30+ years of paying attention.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

The Oly papers are -- not the most helpful info source in the world, alas, but you take what you can get. I don't have any basis for comparison, of course, but this seems pretty extraordinary.

What's especially hard for me to grasp is how *local* the weather is here; there's only been, what, a half-inch of rain up in Everett, and some Seattle friends told me today that they'd just been having typical mild winter rains, whereas down here's it's like PAGING NOAH, BRING ARK PLZ.

[ratcreature]

Good luck! It is kind of disturbing how the "historic" worst weather scenarios happen every other year now, but I guess that's climate change in action that the extremes happen more. :/

[chickwriter.livejournal.com]

Writing: when the voices in your head are a good thing. Yay!

Re: the weather - I am constantly amused when the OMGWEATHER becomes "events" or HUGE NEWS. Srsly, if they just reported it with calm and perspective, people might not get all crazed.

Hang in there!!

[panisdead.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Good luck with your severe weather. We live on top of a hill also, and I have to admit that not flooding (or paying flood insurance) is the best part about it.

[planetalyx.livejournal.com]

Yay, voices! My fingers are crossed.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Oh for the love of Pete. You just can't get any respect, can you?

::shakes tiny impotent fist at weather::

[heresluck]

Oh good lord. I approve of this hunkering-down plan.

And it's nice to hear that the writing wheels are starting to turn again. I think supportive thoughts in your direction!

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Aie! You guys up in the Northwest are getting hammered this year. I shall stop complaining about my weather now. I can't imagine.

Good luck. Hunker well.

[the-shoshanna.livejournal.com]

Good lord, the PNW is seriously getting nailed this winter, isn't it? I am glad you are hunkering down and watching SGA (given your weather, I advise you to watch out for Genii invaders!). Stay safe!

And hurray for voices in your head.

[rhi]

Good luck with both the writing and the weather! We're getting all the rain here this winter that we should have gotten this summer. Even for Memphis, it's been decidedly odd weather.