greg g......any of that snow in your neighborhood?

[BobT-47P15]

Saw about snow in upper N Y on tonight's news. Supposed to get down to 23 here overnight. Just cold....no white stuff.

[RobertKB]

I think you are getting the Alberta Clipper we sent your way a day or so ago. It's free and we're glad to get rid of them! We are back to the warm with a high of over 50F tomorrow. Going to fire up one of the flatheads and head out for a run.

[55 Fargo]

Robert Alberta clippers don't travel through Missouri only Manitoba, they get Colorado lows, at least it sounds good.

[55 Fargo]

Bob, it was down to about the same 27 f here in Southern Manitoba, the northern 2/3s of Manitoba is already snowcovered, the snow line is about 200 miles north of here won't be long, looking for a high of only 40 today, but still might sneak in one more ride, in the 47, did go for a short drive last night, the heater and lights worked good........Fred

[greg g]

Just a bit of rain here, maybe Shel got some white stuff. We got a brief burst of grapple. Grapple is a term used around here for small soft hail like precipitation. Calling for scattered snow showers in the AM tomorrow but temp going up supposidely to the 50's over the next few days.

[Don Coatney]

Sixty degrees with fog here in San Francisco. Hope it does not get any colder as I did not bring a coat or even a long sleeved shirt. Fortunately I am working just across the street from the hotel where I am staying.

[Merle Coggins]

Grapple is a term used around here for small soft hail like precipitation.

Sounds like the stuff we call Sleet

[greg g]

Isn't sleet frozen raindrops?????

"Sleet is a term used in a variety of ways to describe precipitation intermediate between rain and snow but distinct from hail."

[Merle Coggins]

I suppose you're right there. So I guess I don't quite understand Grapple. Soft Hail seems like an oxymoron. Is it kind of like little slush balls?

[greg g]

Kinda like those little pieces you get when you break a piece of styrofoam, or maybe small puffed rice. Maybe it is a regional phenominum.

[TodFitch]

Just a bit of rain here, maybe Shel got some white stuff. We got a brief burst of grapple. Grapple is a term used around here for small soft hail like precipitation. Calling for scattered snow showers in the AM tomorrow but temp going up supposedly to the 50's over the next few days.

It is actually spelled graupel, and sleet is different from graupel. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graupel

Graupel is a fairly common form of precipitation in the Sierra before real snow starts to fall. It is of interest because it does not bond well in the snow pack and can become a sliding bed for avalanches. If you are a back country skier this is something you want to know about in the snow pack.

[Merle Coggins]

OK, now I get it. We do get sruff like that here sometimes. I just tend to lump it in with sleet, but I guess it's really not.

[Merle Coggins]

Just found this in Merriam-Webster. You learn something new every day. Now I've hit today's quota

graupel

Main Entry: grau·pel

Pronunciation: \ˈgrau̇-pəl\

Function: noun

Etymology: German

Date: 1889

: granular snow pellets —called also soft hail

[Young Ed]

This is a little too much snow talk for my tastes! Although I probably should be making sure the snow blower will start one of these days.

[TodFitch]

Sixty degrees with fog here in San Francisco. Hope it does not get any colder as I did not bring a coat or even a long sleeved shirt. Fortunately I am working just across the street from the hotel where I am staying.

Even down the peninsula from where you are in "The City" we had fog this morning. Still do although it is thinning out a lot. Had to keep wiping the condensation off my glasses on my bicycle ride into work this morning.

Anyone who doesn't bring a coat to San Francisco doesn't know San Francisco. It does not matter what time of the year either. It might be sunny and 80 degrees here in Sunnyvale but 55, foggy and windy in San Francisco. We always take a jacket along when we head up there. Half the time we leave it in the car but at least it is available if we need it.

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed, they got between 7" to a foot of snow in Upper Michigan yesterday. Better get with it on that snow blower. Dug mine out of the shed into the garage about 3 or 4 weeks ago. Always try to do it in September/early October. Make sure it's running good at that time. That way I have lots of time to fix it if it needs it, before the snow flies.

[Young Ed]

This one should be good. Its only been used once and I know I ran it out of gas after that. But certainly if it was a little older I'd want to check it out more carefully. Mine might still be under warranty too. Wonder how long it was?

[55 Fargo]

Here is the US National Weather sevice snow cover of North America, over half of Manitoba is snow covered, into Ontario, about 4 hours east of here is where my brother lives, it is snowing right at the moment. It won't be long it will be here too, got the snow blower ready to go..........Fred

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed, I never run the gas out of my snow blower to store it for the summer. Just leave what's in tank there. Then the next year I just shake up the blower gas can and add more gas to the tank in the blower. Have to mix my gas with oil. Mine is about 9 years old now and the only thing I've ever done to it is change the spark plug a couple of years ago. That's all I've done on previous snow blowers too, except for one. The drive belt brook on one of the previous ones.

Don't know how long the warranty is on them. However, I usually have to replace mine about every 10 or 12 years. Not because they don't run, but because the salt from the street at the end of the driveway eats up the metal parts. I'm seriously thinking about contracting a plow guy to do the driveway whenever this snowblower goes out.

[55 Fargo]

Norm your machine is much newer than mine, I have a 1973 John Deere 726, I bought from a farmer in Langdon ND. I normally use fuel stabilizer, then top off tank, it runs very good, but I had a lot of problems with the carb the first season, had to replace float and bowl and no problem afterthat.This machine really is too small for my place, should have a quad and blower or blade, as the drifts can get huge, and the driveway is 180 feet long

[Young Ed]

Norm mine is a 4stroke one so no oil in the gas to help keep it fresh. I think I left some in the tank but ran the carb dry.

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed & Fred,

Mine is just a little 5 HP 2 stroker, 21" blower. My driveway is about 100 feet long, double width. Back in the 70's when I bought my first blower, I bought a larger 4 stoke chain driven blower. However, it was too slow to knock out the drifts I get. First time I used it I went through 3 sheer pins and only did about 1 1/2 strips down the driveway. Changing those pins was no picnic since I had to remove guards, etc. to get to it in the cold. Only had that blower for about a week and took it back. That's when I went to the smaller belt driven blowers. I can actually clean my driveway in about half the time my neighbor does with his 8 HP self propelled 4 stroke chain driven blower. My neighbor has the same length driveway, but his is only single width. So.......because of that I like the smaller blowers. It usually only takes me about 20 to 30 minutes to clean the driveway out unless we get about a foot of the real heavy stuff, then it could take me about 40 minutes. However, part of that time is taken up by moving the van out of the way and cleaning it off.

In a light winter I've had mixed in the can as long as a year without any additives like stabil. I just shake the can each time before pouring the gas into the blower tank.

[Young Ed]

Norm mine is a 5hp 4stroke single stage honda. Its the biggest single stage blower made last year. I only used it on one deep snow we got right at the end of the season but I loved it then. I dont have much to do to need one of the 2 stage ones. They do have their uses though. You are right though for the majority of the snow falls the 1stage ones are better.

As far as your sheer pins I bet that was a Sears blower.

[Norm's Coupe]

Ed,

No, the first chain driven blower was not a Sears brand. You were on the right track though. My first wife worked for JC Penny's so I bought it there because she got an employee discount. I think it was an Atlas brand made someplace in Missouri at the time. (that's when Penny's had a hardware department like Sears). That was about 1977 or 78. After that I bought a little 2 1/2 HP Toro, 2 stroke, second one was a Craftsman (same type) 3 HP and the one I have now is a Murray 5 HP. All were about the same size 21 inchers. The one the belt broke on was the Toro, but it was old when that happened so you can't blame the machine.

Only reason I said when this one wears out I think I'll go with a contractor for removal, is because it's getting harder every year to do it with my arthritis. Also thinking about doing the same thing with the lawn cutting when the lawnmower dies.

[55 Fargo]

Mine is a 7hp Tecumseh 4 stroke, 26 inch path, and dual stage, also electric start, have taken done very big drfits with this sucker, a lot of the time the snow is dry and light here, at the beginning of the winter it is usually wet and heavy