What a rush!
Jan. 29th, 2008 07:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoWell, the good news is the heat pump system is working again. All it took was adding some water to the geothermal loop and bringing the pressure back up. The tech says he maintains another installation like ours and it needs a water transfusion about once every three years. This is the first time we've had to do ours, and it was installed eight years ago. Water does escape from apparently closed systems, I know. I have to top up my waterbed mattress a couple of times a year. It has no apparent leaks, but still loses water slowly somehow.
Today's weather here in Illinois has been altogether remarkable. This morning we had temperatures in the 52°F range. By about 1:00 pm fog was forming, and it got very dense. Then about 2:45 the fog disappeared in a matter of seconds and the thermometer began to drop. In just 15 minutes it was down to 38°F. At 3:00 we had a brief but heavy shower of cold rain. By 4:00 pm the temperature was down to freezing and still dropping.
In the course of the afternoon, in the state of Illinois alone, we had a tornado watch, a severe thunderstorm warning, a wind chill advisory, a blizzard warning, a winter storm warning, a flood warning, a high wind advisory, and just about everything else possible except for a severe heat warning and an earthquake. When I left work at 5:00 pm, the temperature was well below freezing, my windshield had an eighth of an inch of ice that needed scraping, and the road surfaces were becoming dangerously slick as the moisture from earlier in the afternoon froze.
We now have very light snow falling and howling winds that are probably gusting to 50 mph or more. And it's getting really cold. The predicted low for tonight is -2°F. That's a drop of over 50 degrees F. in an eight hour period. I've restarted the woodstove because even working at full efficiency our heat pump requires assistance at that low a temperature. Tomorrow is supposed to be bitter cold, but by the weekend we'll be above freezing again. This roller coaster stuff is not typical, believe me. I don't remember ever seeing anything like it, and the largest temperature drop in a short time that I've ever experienced was still less than 30 degrees.
Today's weather here in Illinois has been altogether remarkable. This morning we had temperatures in the 52°F range. By about 1:00 pm fog was forming, and it got very dense. Then about 2:45 the fog disappeared in a matter of seconds and the thermometer began to drop. In just 15 minutes it was down to 38°F. At 3:00 we had a brief but heavy shower of cold rain. By 4:00 pm the temperature was down to freezing and still dropping.
In the course of the afternoon, in the state of Illinois alone, we had a tornado watch, a severe thunderstorm warning, a wind chill advisory, a blizzard warning, a winter storm warning, a flood warning, a high wind advisory, and just about everything else possible except for a severe heat warning and an earthquake. When I left work at 5:00 pm, the temperature was well below freezing, my windshield had an eighth of an inch of ice that needed scraping, and the road surfaces were becoming dangerously slick as the moisture from earlier in the afternoon froze.
We now have very light snow falling and howling winds that are probably gusting to 50 mph or more. And it's getting really cold. The predicted low for tonight is -2°F. That's a drop of over 50 degrees F. in an eight hour period. I've restarted the woodstove because even working at full efficiency our heat pump requires assistance at that low a temperature. Tomorrow is supposed to be bitter cold, but by the weekend we'll be above freezing again. This roller coaster stuff is not typical, believe me. I don't remember ever seeing anything like it, and the largest temperature drop in a short time that I've ever experienced was still less than 30 degrees.
