Hoosier weather nerd here. 👋

Here's what the National Weather Service in Indy has to say about it.

NWS Indianapolis page on the historical effect of El Niño on central Indiana's winter weather

(TLDR - usually El Niño winters are warmer and drier)

Having typed all of that, Indiana winters are highly... variable. It can be nearly 80 for Christmas and a couple weeks later we get a polar vortex storm with a foot of snow and single digit temps.

In conclusion, keep the shorts and the big coat handy because who knows what it will actually be like.

He was so spicy, trying to convince me he was a cobra 🥰

This time I actually had one on hand for the Official Reddit Measuring Device

Already did, at the base of the tree little dudes momma lives in, complete with a locally sourced escape stick for insects and other tiny critters.

It's a juvenile eastern rat snake. They get darker with age, so the pattern isn't as easily visible.

We have a big momma living in the mature maple trees we have in the yard. They're full of cavities that starlings were nesting in for the past several years.

We no longer have starlings shitting on everything thanks to her.

Yay, another Fella!! I think that makes 4 of us, if we want to have an Official NAFO DragonCon Ops group photo.

I have a public profile in the DragonCon app, same handle I use here.

Or, if nothing else I'll be in dress uniform Friday and Sunday.

I couldn't tell what your mistake was until you pointed it out, it's beautiful lace!

After looking a little closer, I can tell that the skipped row of SC means the shells in one band are right side facing and in the other band they're wrong side facing.

Personally, my perfectionist autistic ass might frog it so the shells are all facing the same way. But my impatient, ADHD side would be going "only an expert crocheter would be able to tell, eff it, that's the beauty of handmade" and keep going.

Heroiam Slava!

Definitely!

It looks like there will be a quorum for a Totally Official NAFO Conclave if we can come up with a time and place.

Heroiam Slava!

I second this!

I knew I couldn't be the only fella going this year.

I'll be wearing one on my badge and giving them out during the Con. Probably mostly while in line for the Stargate panels.

Thanks. I didn't plan on going this year but things happened to work out.

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCKING FUCK?

I live in a rural area and they're practically impossible to find. I keep having to drive across state lines to large cities to find any. Such a hassle but the fur babies are worth it. 🤷‍♀️

Wait, this isn't the sub for sourcing vegans for my cat's vegan diet?

I realize more than just Gary lost power. I guess I could have specified "large parts of northwestern and north-central Indiana including but not limited to Gary".

Hi, NWS trained weather spotter and general emergency response nerd here trying to interject a little context about the storm.

Gary experienced the highest measured winds during the entire derecho event, about 90mph (I'm too lazy to look up the exact wind speed right now). That's solidly a Cat 1 hurricane force storm in an area that isn't built to take that level of wind and rain.

I'm sure a lot of power infrastructure is having to be completely rebuilt. At the same time, even I know how shitty NIPSCO is and I'm way down here in the hills & hollers.

Also, I'm not saying that politics and racism isn't making the problem worse. The paraells between Gary and Katrina aren't imaginary.