Showing posts with label precipitation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label precipitation. Show all posts

07 May 2014

Hard Rain In Harlem

Over the past few years, there seem to have been fewer rainy or snowy days than in previous years.  However, it seems that whenever we get precipitation, it falls longer and harder--which means, of course, that we get more of it.

At least, that is how I have perceived local weather patterns.   I've talked to a few people--both better- and less- informed than I am--who say they've observed something similar.

Today I came across some maps and charts that confirm my observations.  Turns out, the weather pattern I've described is most pronounced in the part of the US in which I live, but prevails everywhere else in the US with one exception:  Hawaii.



Now, that might sound good for cyclists:  If you have one deluge and weeks of dry weather, you can wait out that rainy day--unless, of course, you don't mind the rain.  I don't, as long as it's not cold and I can see where I'm going.

But, as the study that produced the data I've included indicates, such a weather pattern is bad for cyclists--and everyone else.  All right, cycling isn't mentioned, but I can tell you one problem this weather pattern presents for us:  more flooding.  You see, when precipitation is less frequent, the ground dries up and is less able to absorb whatever rain or snow comes along. That is why the deserts of southwestern US experience "gully washers":  When it rains, it pours, and when it pours, the water simply runs off into the nearest ditch, canyon or any other low-lying piece of real estate.  

I don't care how much coverage your fenders provide or how sealed your bearings are:  You probably don't want to, and shouldn't, ride in such conditions.  Not even if you're riding fat knobby tires. 

The phenomena I've described also explain why, at the same time, much of the US has been experiencing record-breaking droughts.  In fact, nearly all of the US from the Rockies westward is in a declared state of drought:  In fact, even some policy-makers are saying that parts of Texas, Colorado, Nevada and California may be in a permanent--or, at least a mega---drought.

And that, dear readers, can pose bigger problems than how we will fill our water bottles, hydra-packs or whatever hydration systems we use.

The reason why heavy precipitation and storms are coincidental with drought is that most places are not only getting warmer; they are experiencing record one-day temperatures and heat waves.  Here in New York, we have had at least one day in which the temperature exceeded 102F (39C) in each of the past three summers; before 2010, we had gone more than three decades without experiencing such heat.  

05 December 2010

Winter Now

From Utility Cycling




It is undeniably winter now.  Or, at least, it feels that way.  The winds of yesterday doth blew today. Hey, I'm teaching a Shakespeare play in one of my classes.  You have trouble with Shakespeare's language, you say?  All right:  Ou sont les neiges d'antan?


What made today really strange, though, at least climatically (No, that's not the word you thought it was!), was the fact that the temperature varied almost not at all.  It felt that way and the recap I heard of the day's weather said as much:  High temp 34 F; Low Temp 30; clouds but no precip; wind speeds from 20 to 30 mph.  Not a day fair and excellent, as the Bard would say.


It's time to get myself out of denial.  Time to take out the wool gloves, the wool shirts and such.  The week I'll spend in Florida will be a mere interlude:  the cold will precede and follow it.  


At least there hasn't been any sleet or slush yet.  I don't mind the cold, and I don't mind precipitation. Both together, though, can make for miserable cycling and can be simply depressing.  Fenders and the proper clothing make such conditions endurable, if not enjoyable.  


I'm not about to stop riding, though.  I never have gone on "winter break" unless I had some health issue or another that prevented me from cycling.  That hasn't happened often, and has never kept me off my bike for more than a couple of weeks every winter.  


At least winter rides make hot chocolate and soups taste really good!