Do You Need to Keep the Tissues Close?

Winter thaw means it’s time to deal with another beast of weather’s burden: spring allergies. As the temperatures begin to rise and plants begin to blossom, they bring with them the all-too familiar sound of sneezes and sniffles.

Approximately 40 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies and see a surge of symptoms in spring. “Allergy and asthma patients already have a chronic sensitivity to things like pollen, mold and other airborne allergens, but they can also be more susceptible to rapid changes in temperature and moisture,” Dr. Clifford Bassett, an ambassador for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, said in a statement. “A blending of the winter and spring means these patients are at risk of multiple symptoms simultaneously.”

According to experts, this allergy season will be particularly harsh thanks to the brutal winter weather that preceded it. ”What we’re seeing is the snow cover is starting to melt in surrounding areas, and what that does, that puts mold spores into the air,” Dr. William Reisacher of NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center told NY1. “And many people who are sensitive to mold, and even not sensitive to mold, react when mold spores are high.”

Baby, it was cold out there this March!

What spring?

Many parts of the northern and eastern USA took a serious chill pill in March, and several places probably will record one of their 10 coldest Marches.

"Several cities in the Upper Midwest, Great Lakes and northern New England are flirting with a top 10 coldest March," says Weather Channel meteorologist Chris Dolce. "It's a huge turnaround from two years ago in March 2012, when many of these same cities saw their warmest March on record."

Dolce reports that Burlington, Vt., and Caribou, Maine, are seeing their coldest March since weather records began. (Burlington's weather records began in 1884 and Caribou's in 1939, according to the National Weather Service.)

Despite what happens in the final days of the month, both cities are likely to see top 10 coldest Marches.

Other cities that have been unusually frigid in March include Green Bay, Wis. (fourth coldest), Buffalo (fourth), Detroit (sixth) and Chicago (eighth). Most of those cities should remain in the top 10 regardless of temperatures this weekend.

Nationally, according to data from the National Climatic Data Center, 2,071 record low temperatures have been set this month, compared with 242 record high temperatures.

 

Post Winter Mold Alert!

One of the biggest issues raised after a wet, stormy winter is the resulting mold that can grow inside affected buildings. It can grow on walls, in furniture, and just about anywhere else water was able to reach. It’s common to see black mold growing up sheet rock walls which is known to produce a toxin very dangerous to human beings.

When flooding does cause mold growth in the home, homeowners are faced with the choice of dealing with it themselves or hiring a professional. Remediation can be a difficult and tricky task if you don’t know what you’re doing, so consider hiring a licensed professional to do it for you. All molds must be thoroughly removed or it will continue to grow unabated. If you decide to handle it on your own, make sure you’re thorough.

 

Remediation can usually be completed in a matter of days, if not sooner. Unfortunately, in many cases it leaves the home being stripped pretty clean in any areas that were affected. This means you will be installing new drywall and carpet, possibly replacing furniture and appliances, and more or less starting over in those specific rooms. If you have a flood insurance policy check with your insurance company to see if mold damage is covered. If so, the inconvenience of the whole episode will probably

Scientist Predicted Washington Hillside Failure in 1999

A scientist who documented the landslide conditions on a Washington hill that buckled last weekend in a massive mudslide warned in a 1999 report filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers of “the potential for a large catastrophic failure.”

The Seattle Times reports that report was written by Daniel J. Miller and his wife, Lynne Rodgers Miller. Daniel Miller told the newspaper, “We’ve known it would happen at some point.”

Daniel Miller studies land formations and their changes. He also documented the hill’s landslide conditions in a 1997 report for the Washington Department of Ecology and the Tulalip Tribes.

He says he returned to the Snohomish County hill in 2006 within weeks of a landslide that plugged the north fork of the Stillaguamish River and was startled to see new homes being built.

Snohomish County Executive John Lovick and Public Works Director Steve Thomsen said Monday night they were not aware of the 1999 report. Thomsen says a slide of this magnitude is “very difficult to predict.”

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