Winter Weather Advisory

 

We were supposed to stay in Taos until Monday morning, then travel down to Santa Fe for a couple of days. But with a winter storm coming into the high mountain areas, we will head out this morning just to play it safe and go to the Albuquerque, NM, area. We will try to go into a campground a few days early, but since there is no one there to call today, we'll take our chances. I do have a backup plan, though, just in case.

Winter Weather Advisory
Issued: 3:29 AM Nov. 13, 2022 – National Weather Service

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 8 AM MST MONDAY...

* WHAT...Snow expected. Total snow accumulations between 3 and 6 inches across the Tusas Mountains and Upper Rio Grande Valley, and between 4 and 9 inches across the Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

* WHERE...Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Tusas Mountains Including Chama, and Upper Rio Grande Valley.

* WHEN...From 5 PM this afternoon to 8 AM MST Monday.

* IMPACTS...Travel could be difficult. Tire traction will be
reduced. Extend the distance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you. The hazardous conditions could impact the Monday morning commute.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Slow down and use caution while traveling. For the latest road
conditions, dial 511 or 1.800.432.4269, or visit http://nmroads.com.

Death and destruction in Oklahoma

Today's tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma was devastating. Bodies are still being pulled out of the rubble. Only two fatalities was reported in yesterday's tornado that destroyed a neighborhood near Shawnee. Today two dozen third-graders are feared to be dead at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore.  Seven schoolkids were found dead in pool of water. Total confirmed storm deaths as of 8:30 tonight are now at 51. They are classifying today's tornado as an EF-5 and has done as much damage as the one that hit Joplin, MO 2 years ago.

The news station showed the track of today's Moore tornado. Had it continued another 10 miles, it would of hit us. Yesterday's tornado pasted just a couple miles south of us.

UPDATE: After the dust settled, the number of fatalities were corrected to 24, with 9 of those being children, in Monday's storm. Total destruction is estimated at $2 billion being the most expensive tornado damage in US history to date.

TORNADO ON THE GROUND!

Survived today's Oklahoma tornadoes with no damage. The motorhome was pelted by golf ball size hail but no damage.  Lots of damage. People killed. Neighborhoods destroyed near Shawnee Lake. Several tractor-trailers overturned on I-40/US-177 in Shawnee. Two clusters of multi-tornadoes today. First cluster went north of Oklahoma City through Edmond, Arcadia, Carney. Second cluster started just east of Norman at Lake Thunderbird, went through Shawnee, Prague, Paden. This one missed us by only a couple of miles.

 http://www.news9.com/story/22293187/deadly-tornadoes-tear-across-central-oklahoma

Snow

Well we didn't get the 8" of snow here in Oconto as they were predicting like they got in the Green Bay area, but at least we're up here and hopefully it will start warming up before long.

High winds

We were planning on leaving out this morning continuing our trek to Wisconsin for the summer but opted to stay put here in Oklahoma City for another day due to the high winds here in Oklahoma and Kansas. That will give us another day to enjoy the indoor hot tub here at the RV park. It is 1025 miles from Oklahoma City to Oconto that will take us 3 to 4 days to drive.

Spring Snow

We woke up this morning with snow covering everything. Barbie questions why we left the warm southern states for this. "It's all about me being able to work on the boat this time of the year Barb."

Snow!

I had to take Barb back to Alpine today for a followup after her surgery last week. When we came out of the doctors office there was a few flakes of snow. As we drove the 25 miles to Marfa we encountered a little more snow. Then as we headed south out of Marfa for our 60 mile drive back to Presidio, it started to snow a lot harder for about 40 miles. There is a chance of snow in the forecast tonight of snow here in Presidio. I remember it snowed here the day before Christmas in 2004.

This picture was taken here in Presidio on December 24th, 2004.

Historial Flooding

On the 14th of January this year I wrote about taking a workamping job in Fond du Lac County in Wisconsin. Then on the 29th of January I wrote that we turned down the workamping job to go to Menominee, MI instead. We are so glad that we turned down the position because historical flooding in the area this spring has put the campgrounds under water. In order for the campground here in Menominee to start to flood, the water level in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, including the Georgin Bay and North Channel in Canada, would have to rise at least 4 feet. As of today, Lake Michigan-Huron has risen 3 inches over the level at this time last year, which is 46 inches lower than recorded history for the month of June set in 1986. By July 13th, the projected rise in the lake level in another 2 inches.

A raining day in Menominee

It started raining last night and is forecasted to rain for the next couple of days. It's wet and cold but at least we got most of everything setup yesterday except for the satellite Internet. I tried again today but I could never get a signal to lock in. The campground here has Wi-Fi so it looks like we will use it to connect to the Internet this summer. I found and rented a self-storage near by and will start moving things out of our storage in Plymouth, WI this next week and bringing it up here. Hopefully the weather will be good and I'll be able to get the boat up here next week too.

Norman, OK

We finely left Buddy Gregg Motorhome's repair facility and Lewisville, TX around noon today on our way to Norman, OK. We have paid for a one week stay at the Sooner Mobile Home & RV Community while renewing our vehicle tags and visiting our daughter and granddaughters here in Norman.

A hail storm came through around 3:20 this morning which caused damage to both our pickup and motorhome. The hail left several small dimples on the hood and roof of the pickup and knocked holes in both of the air conditioner shrouds, the refrigerator vent cover and one of the crankup vent covers over the bathroom on top of the motorhome. Before leaving I covered the holes with duck tape.

We were also presented the bill for the repairs we had while at Buddy Gregg's, which will lighten our saving's account for awhile. The repairs included replacing the brake shoes on the front and rear axles, resurfacing the rear brake drums, repacking the front bearings, replacing both front tires, replacing the windshield gasket and reseting the windshield, troubleshooting and repairing the generator and replacing the screen door handle for a total price of $3,933.26. We also spent two nights in a motel while the motorhome was inside the shop building costing $141.96. Our road hazard service contract will reimburse us $536.96 for the replacement of one of the front tires.

Tornado Warnings

We have tornado warning sirens going off here in Lewisville, TX. I'm here at the hotel and Barb is just down the street at the mall.

UPDATE: The storm went through the area without causing any damage. There was rotation in the clouds but nothing came down.

Stormy Weather

Late night here in Canton we survived our first severe storm of the year as severe thunderstorms and tornados ripped through Texas. We watched The Weather Channel and a local Dallas TV channel as the storms built up starting west of the Fort Worth area. I also tracked the storms over the Internet connected to weather radar and satellite sites. There were reports of winds in excess of 100 miles per hour and 3 inch hail. I went out and staked down our satellite antennas expecting high winds to hit us. As the storms progressed east the counties to the west of us came under tornado warnings then around 7pm last night the county that we are in came under a tornado warning as Doppler radar indicated possible tornados in the northern part of the county. Then as the squall line came upon us we lost our satellite TV and Internet reception. I set here waiting for the high winds and hail but all we got was a little bit of wind and a brief period of heavy rain. The blunt of the storm damage occurred some 40 miles from here as tornados passed through the Dallas area.

Our boat partners that we have been waiting for has finely left Presidio, TX and we are expecting them here sometime this afternoon. We are still planning on leaving here tomorrow morning heading to Norman, Oklahoma to visit our daughter and 2 granddaughters there for a week before heading north to Wisconsin.

Weather here in Canton today is overcast and windy. The high is forecast to be around 57◦.