Mardi Gras Cold

[Riley Smith]

This time of year is a roller coaster in Dixie. Rain, cold, wind, sunny, 5 hours of nice weather, and repeat. If Mother gets her corset in a snit, you can include ice, snow, tornadoes, and lightning during this time too. At present it is rather nice if a little wet, temps in the 60s w/ not much wind. That wind component makes a HUGE difference in temps with the humidity factored in but the cold usually doesn't last very long. A day or two.

What this means for yours truly is that dressing for one situation, aka messing about in the shop, is entirely different than say, replacing pieces of the steps on the beachfront. A whisper off wind the cold water there and you're hunting sleeves, wishing for long johns, and finding a sunny spot. If you live long enough, you realize that all this occurs about Mardi Gras time and try to be prepared for it if you celebrate. I've come to know that not much boating activity is going to happen, either.

On that note, my son-in-law took the skiff out the other day after a north wind. He'd invited me and I'd decided it was too chilly for my blood. There was little water in the bayous and conditions were....trying. Meanwhile I had fished on land and caught a few bass and was at home with the next cup of coffee before he even launched   

[Frank B.]

I find it hard to believe we live in the same state or maybe we don't.  There is the Coast and there is the rest of the Sip.  I would trade for this coming week.  We find ourselves in the middle of the EXTREME area for risk of significant ice storm followed by thirteen days (that's as far as the forecast goes) of low temps below freezing and most of the high temps are following suit. We've already had at least that many days this winter which in my Lat/Long coordinate makes it the coldest winter in the thirty-five I've lived here.  There are no propane cylinders, generators, stove fuel, firewood to be had, and bread, milk, and all manner of produce are gone too.

I'm prepared, we can close off the rest of the house and move into the den, have enough firewood, lanterns and camp stoves and propane heaters if the power goes out which it has in every past ice storm of this magnitude. Unlike hurricanes you don't have to worry about food preservation, just stick it outside.

My biggest concern is not getting off track in the salvage Rad. treatment cycle.  I told those girls that I have a Subaru Outback and can come get them to come to work. Or they can leave the keys to that Rapid Arc machine under the mat with remote and I'll come in a drive it.    They were not too keen on that idea.

[Riley Smith]

There used to be a sort of joke in the boilermakers about it snowing in Rolling Fork. Well, if you watch the winter weather ofttimes there is a line at Rolling Fork where the snow starts. Yes, we're lucky on the coast that most of that stuff is kept up north!!! And I've ALWAYS been a proponent of the Gulf Coast seceding from Mississippi as a whole. We consider the rest of the state hopelessly backward and ill-suited to tell us what to do.

[Frank B.]

LOL, as one who has lived in both regions for significant spans I can say there is plenty of that "hopelessly backward and ill suited" to go around.  However, all of the staff folks who worked for me in Tupelo were either Ms State or a few Ole Miss grads.  They asked me one time why Southern Miss could not fill their stadium for football games, a Saturday required function in the North.  I had to think for a minute where I was when I lived on the coast.  I finally answered that most fall Saturday late afternoons that I was not working I was probably anchored at Ship Island on my sailboat listening to the game on the radio. That, I think, is a significant cultural difference. 

We got lucky regarding the storm and did not lose power.  The local power association peaked at 9K outages Saturday night and as of this morning there were 3.2K left. Those guys do great work. I do have a couple of days of downed tree cutting to do, but I needed some firewood anyway.   

[Riley Smith]

I'm glad you didn't get much damage. And still got power! My friend from Oxford sent me a video with the sound of the timber breaking near her house.I remembered when my mother told me of a long ago ice storm when the timber breaking sounded like a war. Ice storms laugh at puny mankind. And yes, I heard Rolling Fork mentioned 🙂

[Frank B.]

Rolling Fork, I have some less than fond memories.  I moved to Tulsa OK in 1980, and for the eight years I lived there we came back to Gulfport about three times a year, mostly around holidays.  Typically the drive would have us cross the river from Arkansas at the north bridge and come down highway 61 to Vicksburg.  Rolling Fork is right in the middle of that leg and, despite the fact that there was normally no traffic for miles in either direction, they would always have a speed trap.  So I get stopped for going ten over and the trooper said call this number when you get back home. I did and got the JP for Rolling Fork.  When he found out I was a Mississippian living in Oklahoma all he wanted to do was talk OK football particularly as it related to Marcus Dupree. I spent 45 minutes on the phone with this guy, thinking hey we're becoming best of friends maybe I get off. About then he says, "Well that will be $XX mail it to this address.  From then on I came down 65 on the Arkansas, Louisiana side, never saw a trooper and never got ticket, in fact hardly ever saw anyone.  As a bonus, the town of Tallulah, just north of the Vicksburg crossing, has some really nice Christmas Decorations on Brushy Bayou which passes through the center of the town.

[Riley Smith]

That Woodie Guthrie line about "the Mississippi darkness" definitely applies to that area below the bridge on Hwy 61. We've driven that several times on a job in Little Rock. Way back before the white man, the places you are traveling were underwater at times, when the river raged. There are indigenous mounds all along there and on up the river, too. There is even a place called Panther Burn. Flat delta land and economically as poor as a snake. It's a long way to the Gulf Coast from there. Right past the bridge into Arkansas a few miles, one of the farms with a small airstrip had the hanger doors open one evening when I went past, and inside was a Staggerwing Beech radial engine bi-plane. I'd never seen one in person before. And never saw it again.

[Riley Smith]

That ice storm was a major event! There is tree damage akin to a Cat 5 there in some places. Add to the problem of no ice clearing infrastructure and power outages and it gets very difficult. My friend Renee is still without power although some of the interstates are open. The chainsaws are going to be talking for a while.

[Frank B.]

Yep, really bad, Some sections of interstate 22/55/269 still closed. My SIL in Oxford lost power for four days and when she got it back they shut off her water, multiple line breaks and pressure problems from the number of homes forced to drip to protect their systems. I offered to come get her and her husband, think that Subaru Outback could do it, but she didn't think I could get closer than a couple of miles from her house. To make matters worse a new front, dry at least is coming in tonight dropping temps into the low teens.  National guard out doing rescue for the stranded who are in harms way.

Kinda the way I remember post hurricanes without having to stand in line at the ice house.