Hi fans of Anything Goes. Help me test a new feature we're working to roll out on the first anniversary - videos embedded right in the forum! I am looking for users to let me know their experiences in trying this service out. Keep scrolling down through the thread until you find the message in red!
The winter that wasn't now is in western and central New York. Here in Rochester, we've been getting snowed on almost daily because of frigid air crossing the relatively warm waters of Lake Ontario, which creates intense bands of lake effect snow which can leave an area sunny and clear and total blizzard conditions just a mile or two down the road. Thankfully, we're not in the communities east of Lake Ontario where things are starting to get extremely serious, even for those folks who are used to the lake effect snow machine. More than 100 inches of snow have fallen in Oswego county in the last ten days, and just consider this: in the past two days, snow has fallen at a rate of five inches an hour, virtually 24 hours a day. Today alone, up to three feet or more of snow is expected to fall and there is no end in sight.
With that much snow on the ground, eastern Lake Ontario areas have been essentially shut down, although folks across our area are notorious for being able to navigate through weather that would paralyze a city for days. But with snowbanks well over 20 feet high, new problems are starting to appear, including communications and power issues. The data center for our Internet service provider is adjacent to Syracuse and the snow piles have gotten so high, they are starting to near power transformers and both power and telecommunications services are starting to fluctuate. We haven't lost connectivity yet, but parts of the state between Syracuse and Albany are starting to experience real issues.
Locally, the constant winds and lake effect have been brutal for me out on my power walks - I've fled to area malls on a few occasions. Winter is back, and I'm getting lots of exercise from walking and the constant need to shovel the driveway.