Fresh Property Manager’s Landscape Tip Podcast

Hello!

After a bit of a hiatus and reworking, we have a new podcast for you! We have switched up our format to an audio podcast so our production time is greatly reduced and we can regularly get our information out to you.

This podcast is Online Weather Tools for Property Managers to help you stay up on weather events and keep you and your tenants informed on what is happening weather-wise on your properties.

Don’t forget you can subscribe in iTunes (recommended!) or YouTube, or subscribe to our Blog to be alerted when a new podcast appears. (Here is a little video on RSS Feeds.) Lastly, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter for all the really good, juicy updates!

Show Notes:

National Weather Service

Wunderground

MNDOT Traffic Cameras

Conservation Minnesota

MPR’s Updraft Blog

Quercus’ Snow and Ice Management Journal

Feedback? Ideas for info you want? Let us know!

Thank you and have a great day!

Brad

Irrational Exuberance? I think not.

Wow! It is very odd how great 28 degrees feels coupled with blue sky and the recently-downloaded, amazing (500) Days of Summer soundtrack.

In what is normally the coldest week of the year, we are seeing temperatures in the mid-30s for the remainder of the week. One of the most interesting things I read regarding our weather is over at the Updraft blog at MPR called the “Pine Tree Effect.” Northern Minnesota cities are seeing temperatures much warmer than ours here in the cities because our white snow reflects the suns energy and the dark-colored pines in the north woods absorb the energy. Fascinating.

We are geared up for sales season here at Quercus. The calls have begun to our clients to confirm bid lists and be sure Quercus is involved in decisions. Please let us know if you would like proposals for this coming summer.

Be sure to be vigilant in checking your properties this week for slick sidewalks. When we have warmer temperatures the air is loaded with moisture but the sidewalks are still cold and can suck moisture out of the air creating unexpected black ice.

Have a great day…and as my friend Chris Gleason pointed out: only 67 days until spring!!

Brad

Light?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dididumm/3377198125/

Could this be the tiniest bit of light at the end of a long, dark tunnel of brutal cold? Maybe we can finally take Jean out with her new ice skates she got for Christmas?

MPR’s Updraft Blog Post: January thaw likely next week

Christmas Winter Storm Warning

Good afternoon!

The National Weather Service has issued Winter Storm Warnings for us which extends the gargantuan warning area all the way from Denver to Duluth (pink is winter storm warning/blue is winter storm watch).

I love – and cry at – this graphic from the Twin Cities NWS with all the snow.

Current guesses from NWS, Weather Watch (our paid weather service), Paul Douglas at Conservation Minnesota and MPR put us in line from 8-18″ of snow over the next few days. It will begin tomorrow evening and slowly stretch through Saturday midday. The bulk of the snow will come Thursday night and Wednesday along with a possible shot of freezing rain Christmas Eve.

Tomorrow I will let you know Our Plan for how we are handling this snow.

Have a great night!

Brad

Uh-Oh…Major Christmas Snow?

Good morning,

Gooseberry Falls in Winter

We are looking at and watching a major snowstorm that is aimed at Minnesota for Christmas Eve through the day after Christmas. It appears now to be packing a foot or more of snow over those three days. Much can change between now and then, but it’s not a bad idea to start thinking about it now.

Quercus, Inc. provides our snow clients with a bevy of information about future and past snow events. Here is our latest Wrap Up email following Sunday’s snow. You can find more information at Quercus, Inc.’s Snow & Ice Management Journal.

A small event is working its way through the area tonight leaving an inch or so of snow between midnight and noon tomorrow.

Have a great day!

Brad

Fresh Podcast: MPCA Road Salt Education

Good afternoon! We skipped a week because of Thanksgiving, but the weekly podcast is back talking about MPCA’s Road Salt Education. There is a class coming up Dec 9 that is VERY helpful in understanding the effects salt has in our environment. Check it out!

Don’t forget you can subscribe in iTunes (recommended!) or YouTube, or subscribe to our Blog to be alerted when a new podcast appears. (Here is a little video on RSS Feeds.) Lastly, you can find us on Facebook and Twitter for all the really good, juicy updates!

Have a great week!

Brad

EPISODE NOTES

MPCA’s Road Salt Website

2009 Road Salt Symposium Brochure

List of Road Salt Training Certificate Holders (Please consider those who are certified when choosing a snow and ice management provider.)

Snowflakes Explained

I thought this was neat – with beautiful pictures. Most snowflakes are hexagonal but many seem to be triangles…or are they? It is explained in this Wired Article.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/triangular-snowflakes/

Have a great afternoon!

Brad

Updated Winter Outlook

Good Monday morning to all! I hope you had a great weekend – or at least a great Sunday in Minnesota.

We drove to Iowa over the weekend to help my family with harvest but the wettest, coldest (by 4 degrees!) early October in recorded history didn’t allow for any combining to happen.

A couple of months ago I wrote about a couple of winter weather predictions. The National Weather Service has updated its winter outlook with a few tasty tidbits. They are still predicting a warmer winter. El Nino averages 3 degrees warmer than other years. However the precipitation is tough to predict from an El Nino with swings from 17″ in 1984-85 to 84″ in 1991-92. They have solidified their equal chances for above or below average precipitation this winter.

Our fall cleanups are also running far behind schedule this year due to the impressively wet fall. The leaves are finally falling, but yesterday and today have been the first days we have gotten out to work on cleanups and it looks like the rest of the week will be a bust as well.

Have a great week!

Brad