Month of December 2023 (Nat’l Avg $3.248)

Discussion in 'The Daily Grind' started by Gord, Dec 1, 2023.

  1. EdwinTheMagnificent

    EdwinTheMagnificent Legend In His Mind

    Today , 44 deg F in Naperville , 46 in Elk Grove.

    Very helpful wind SSW 14

    33.4 miles, fcd = 51.7 MPG

    The tank I bought last Thursday has 54 miles left.
    I have a longer commute tonight as IO am going to a concert
    in the other side of Aurora tonight. I can fill up tonight,
    or tomorrow.
     
    Gord, litesong and BillLin like this.
  2. litesong

    litesong litesong

    9:55AM....I saw a patch of blue sky, just 5 minutes ago. Today, lesser chances of rain, specially into the afternoon. But, the walk to the Senior Center has the greatest chance of rain. So umbrella will accompany me. That patch of blue disappeared, replaced by low clouds & even lower clouds to the north.

    PS, 10:47AM....Raining hard right now. Rapidly decreasing chances of rain in 15 minutes.....hopefully for my walk to the SC. We'll see.
    PS I, 4:45PM....Yes, rain chances did decrease.....AFTER I almost got to the SC with the umbrella. & of course, while at the SC there was no rain. & of course, walking back to the apt., there was rain. My umbrella is coming in handy, specially for those times, it's predicted NOT to be raining. :p
     
    Last edited: Dec 9, 2023
    Gord and BillLin like this.
  3. litesong

    litesong litesong

    Been raining for 6+ hours. Looks like it'll continue till at least tomorrow. Radar indicates a hole in the rain clouds over our area, but the rain continues. Cooler than the warmer raining & flooding we had a few days ago.Therefore, snow in the mtns should stay there & not add to any possible flooding just from the rain below 2500 feet. We'll see.

    PS, 10:32 PM....Rain continues to fall, now for over half a day.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2023
  4. litesong

    litesong litesong

    5:30AM.... Tho predictions are that rain is only about 50%, I can see rain falling with binoculars, close under the parking lot lights. There is some wind, too. If it has been raining thru the night, it has been raining for 19 hours. Prediction states the rain is falling to the teens & will stop. Later, when I walk to the library, I'll look at the lower stream from the apt. complex over-view., maybe even see the river slough, further up-stream.

    litesong....reporting from the rain center.....again. :p
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2023
  5. litesong

    litesong litesong

    6:05AM.....Low single digit chances of rain now, later rising to high single digits. All cloudy, with a bit of sun later. When I go to the Senior Center, I'll go see if the bottomland is open yet & walk that way. Yesterday, the stream was running strong, but lower, & the slough between the river & stream was quite weakened, more than I expected. Logs had been pile-driven. Other logs were placed for fish habitat, had been badly flooded out & driven downstream. I thought they had placed the logs improperly, didn't use any really heavy chains to secure them & that the planners had screwed up. & that is what happened.
     
    Last edited: Dec 13, 2023
  6. EdwinTheMagnificent

    EdwinTheMagnificent Legend In His Mind

    Today , 31 deg F in Naperville and 32 in Elk Grove.

    Wind WSW 9

    33.4 miles, fcd = 48.7 MPG
     
    Gord, litesong and BillLin like this.
  7. litesong

    litesong litesong

    Don't think we got to freezing this morning. Ah don' know. I was in Retirement Mode & sleeping. But, it's 41degF right now at 10AM. Supposed to get to 47degF this afternoon, but it's still foggy.
     
  8. EdwinTheMagnificent

    EdwinTheMagnificent Legend In His Mind

    I'm still working towards buying a new car.
    Now it's a Prius LE. I know , it's a unicorn.
     
    Gord likes this.
  9. litesong

    litesong litesong

    If I was working, I'd still stay with my 10+ year old Elantra. What doesn't need fixin', keep goin' with it. Your Honda Fit doesn't need any fixin', does it?
     
  10. EdwinTheMagnificent

    EdwinTheMagnificent Legend In His Mind

    The Fit is just fine , except for poor fuel economy.
    But hey , it's winter in Chicago.
     
    Gord and BillLin like this.
  11. MaxxMPG

    MaxxMPG Hasta Lavista AAA-Vee Von't Be Bach

    That's a classic CleanMPG point of view. High 40s to low 50s is poor fuel economy. :) I guess I should return that Brodozer I bought you for Christmas.
    Interesting that I parked at the office this morning and the summary screen showed just over 52 and I thought the same thing - but it's the winter cold. 31F and running on Blizzak tires and needing to use the defroster for a minute or two to deice the windshield. But it's still beating the EPA even at temperatures that keep Frosty in the solid phase.
     
    EdwinTheMagnificent, Gord and BillLin like this.
  12. litesong

    litesong litesong

    Ah, your definition of "poor fuel economy" is anything under 50MPG. You must be in the CleanMPG crew, & specifically in "Wayne's Wing"!
     
    EdwinTheMagnificent, Gord and BillLin like this.
  13. litesong

    litesong litesong

    3:40AM.....After 2 days of no rain here in the Salish Sea(Puget Sound) area, the bottomland is still closed. Now at a predicted 68% of rain, with binoculars in this early morning darkness, I can see very light rain under the parking lot lights.
    4:15AM.....Rain chances increase to 99%. Only about 3+ hours of rain are predicted till 8AM, then tapering off to the teens & single digits by noon.

    PS….Yes,the predictions were accurately depicted.
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2023
  14. litesong

    litesong litesong

    Tiny chances of rain on the Salish Sea(Puget Sound) today & temperatures will near 50degF. Not too bad, as Earth’s northern hemisphere nears the beginning of Winter with the sun only half a solar diameter north of its furthest southern reach & at an Earth latitude that is 480 miles further north of New York City's latitude. Who can say El Nino.....& of course, Global Warming. Early weather predictions for the Pacific Northwest did say we would have a warmer winter than normal & that appears to be what is lining up for the region. Of course, latter December, January & February are ahead. Not sure, but I think the past decade of Januarys here have been fairly good. & February for the past 40 years, often delivered a respite from the Winter dreariness with some nice warming days. When I was younger, I didn't pay much credence to February. Despite my inattention, some good warm February days in the last 4 decades, really started becoming noticeable! Yes in mid-February, the sun is actually close to 11 sun diameters higher in the sky at noontime than at Winter's beginning.

    PS, 6:15PM.....43degF right now. Predicted to be 38degF by 11PM tonight but not to freeze tomorrow morning, with no rain & highs again near 50degF tomorrow afternoon. One effect of Global Warming(& GHGs) is that evening & nighttime temperatures into early morning temperatures do not drop, as much as might be expected if observations are considered from a century & more previously.
     
    Last edited: Dec 16, 2023
  15. litesong

    litesong litesong

    Yes, the prediction that this morning wouldn't freeze looks to be on-track, with the present low 34degF. Does seem that the last month has experienced little temperature drop thru the night & several times, even temperature RISES. As a kid, I remember thinking that it would be nice if our family lived further to the south....Oregon maybe. With the decades of warming temperatures, instead of me going to a warmer climate, the warmer climate has come to me.

    Hope to have a nice walk to the church breakfast later, with near 40degF temperatures on my way back to the apt. Nice day ahead.

    PS....Ha, it predicted above freezing temperatures this morning, but I saw frost on parked car windshields & even found one slick spot on my walk to the breakfast.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2023
  16. litesong

    litesong litesong

    7:45PM.....Already 34degF, but continuing weather predictions is only 32degF will be touched at 7AM tomorrow morning! Well, if its anything like this morning's not freezing prediction for this morning, it'll probably freeze in the morning & not just a little bit! We'll see.
     
  17. litesong

    litesong litesong

    5:54AM....Yeah, now it went to 30degF, well before 7AM & O% chance of rain. Thin fog right now. By this afternoon, its predicted to rise to 50degF. Hopefully the fog will disappear fairly soon.

    PS....At a clothes give-away yesterday, I found a cool pair of Dr. Scholl's work tennis shoes, nearly new! They look to be sturdy. Wearing them around the apt, they are comfortable, even including multiple depth built-in Dr. Scholl's gel pads in the upper & lower heel padding! We'll see if they give 1000 miles of wear, beginning with this Winter weather. Tho a half-size longer than my "normal" size, using thick socks(also got at the give-away) & tightening the shoe strings should provide real pleasure this Winter & beyond. Will keep these Dr. Scholl's for the street & drier weather. Anyone else familiar with Dr. Scholl's shoes? Appear to NOT be as expensive as some tennies that attract the "got to impress my buddies" crowd.
    As the Hyundai Elantra gave me driving comfort, I've found several tennis shoes that similarly give me well-being. Trying to stay away from the bottomland which is yucky, muddy & slippery in some places now. Don't need to injure myself for the approaching Winter days. Already jumped across a little bottomland stream that was running during the recent flooding. Shouldn't have done that & walked back around the loop. But I didn't hurt myself.

    PS I.....Went for a walk. The Dr. Scholl tennies are pretty good, specially with the heavy socks. I'm set for the Winter. Get a bite of lunch, then go for a walk in the bottomland.....avoiding the slippery mud. Rain coming late tomorrow.
    Later: the Park personnel smoothed out & added a bit of sand into the remnants of the muddy debris left on the trails from the flood & temporary sloughs. After the rain tomorrow, we'll see how the "repairs" hold up.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2023
  18. litesong

    litesong litesong

    5:45AM.....41degF this morning, ranging to a high of 48degF. Single digit rain possibilities right now moving up to mid-60% by 5PM. Maybe the rain will be light, we'll see. Radar indicates that rain system on the ocean is moving northwards, with only a small component of the motion towards & piling up on the mtns. If the system continues north, maybe that is why rain predictions are not at 100%.

    Should be an OK walk to the Senior Center for a good lunch of chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, carrots, & pineapple.

    My phone states that my daily walks have been 3.5 times further in 2023 than 2022. IF I can afford to buy an EV, I'll exclusively charge for hours on medium speed L2, in places I love to walk. I'll have the best of both worlds....1) driving, & 2) walking.
     
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2023
  19. BillLin

    BillLin PV solar, geothermal HVAC, hybrids and electrics

    Pileup on I-94 in Michigan. Hope you're not out that way, Edwin.

    My sister was going home to TN right after the recent small aircraft highway landing outside of Asheville, NC. She was stuck there till late at night, just a hundred miles from home.
     
    Gord likes this.
  20. litesong

    litesong litesong

    Hey, hey, what about me! I've been on I-94.......
    .........
    .......
    about 40 years ago.
     

Share This Page