Monday, December 26, 2011
Weather watchers Bobby and Suzy have a fast-growing fan base
Starting your own weather service seems a bit like creating your own mail delivery – the kind of thing only new countries and millionaire businessmen do. Bobby Martrich and Susan Haberacker are neither but they managed to launch the “Lehigh Valley Weather Patrol with Bobby and Suzy” 11 months ago and have seen it grow by great gusts. The Weather Patrol, which issues forecasts from its Facebook page, has more than 4,300 fans. Its popularity has encouraged Martrich and Haberacker, both 35, to move the Weather Patrol to its own web site in January and sell advertisements to offset costs and make money for their labors. The business partners plan to drop their names from the title when it moves to www.lehighvalleyweatherpatrol.com Even after…
Sunday, November 13, 2011
What’s their prediction for the upcoming winter?
Have you seen them yet? Those fuzzy, reddish-brown and black caterpillars that crawl around on the ground in the fall. Sometimes their colors blend in with the falling leaves and they are hard to spot. People in Old Zionsville have found some woolly bears crawling along walkways and driveways. They have been spotted crawling across the roads and some alleys since September. The woolly bear caterpillar—with its 13 distinct segments of black and reddish-brown—has the reputation of being able to forecast the coming winter weather. It is the larval form of the Isabella tiger moth. According to almanac.com, the medium-size moth, with yellowish-orange and cream-colored wings spotted with black, is commonly found in northern Mexico, throughout…
Monday, November 7, 2011
If anything could have gone wrong, it did.
It was Monday, Oct. 31. We should have been crawling out of bed into a nice, warm suite about 50 miles away. But, we awoke to a cold house in Upper Milford Township and the third day without power. The Oct. 29 snowstorm altered our vacation plans. Instead of packing and loading up the car on Sunday, we surveyed the damage to our trees and shoveled over 15 inches of the white stuff. There was no word when power would return—PPL was overwhelmed with calls. So we stayed home hoping for information (or to have the power on) by the next day. Monday morning my husband and I began our vacation by going to Zion’s Lutheran Church to wash our hair and brew some coffee—they regained electric sometime Sunday night. We then proceeded to visit a friend…
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Here's the story of what our family went through during the recent historic snow storm that rocked the Emmaus Patch.
I can still remember the day I drove by the two-story white farmhouse in Vera Cruz with the for sale sign in front. It was late spring and there were flowers in bloom everywhere. “Wow,” I thought, “That place looks like paradise.” I was on my way to work, and running late as usual, so I kept driving. One the way home, I looked a bit more. Oh my! There’s a creek next to the house. And a barn…and that cute little building must have been an outhouse. And, the trees…look at those BIG beautiful maple trees. Fast-forward about three years. Past summers of muddy children frolicking in that creek. Past the installation of the tree swing in that giant silver maple. Past the addition of the Belgian sheep dog to our clan. Past the power outage and …
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
The "Powerless People" have survived. Primitive conditions conjure creativity and perseverance among Lehigh Valley residents.
Here we are facing yet another catastrophic event in the history of the Lehigh Valley. If it’s not earthquakes and hurricanes, it’s an unprecedented October snowfall cutting power to approximately 300,000 customers throughout the region for days. The snow began to fall Saturday morning and continued through the night. As I watched it accumulating on our newly planted trees, I became distressed. For two years we’ve nurtured those maples, cherries, oaks, sweet gums, blueberry and lilac bushes, and one silly storm wasn’t going to take them from me. My kids and husband thought I was losing my mind as I rushed out every couple of hours to "shake the trees." They laughed and teased me, but in the end they called me the “Tree Savior.” I’m happy …
Independent contractors from West Virginia took a short break in parking lot at Zion’s Lutheran Church to talk to Emmaus Patch Monday night.
Two linemen who drove 11 hours to the Lehigh Valley to assist PPL Electric with its efforts to restore power to the region following Saturday’s unusual October snowstorm took a moment to speak to Emmaus Patch in the parking lot of Zion's Lutheran Church about what the past few days have been like for them. Both men, independent contractors from Western Virginia, near the Tennessee border, drove about 11 hours to get to Upper Milford Township. They didn’t know each other prior to their trip to Pennsylvania, although they actually live about 30 minutes apart. Both men said that they have been working around-the-clock since arriving in the Lehigh Valley, a number that they put at 15 hours and counting when they spoke to Emmaus Patch at about …
Monday, October 31, 2011
About a dozen or so residents from Upper Milford Township take advantage of the hospitality of Zion’s Lutheran Evangelical Church Monday. Residents who need to spend the night are encouraged to bring pillows and blankets.
About a dozen or so Upper Milford Township residents are getting a reprieve from the dark and cold today, thanks to the hospitality of Zion's Lutheran Church, 5901 Kings Highway South. And, that hospitality will continue for the duration, according to Rev. Martin Milne, Zion's Lutheran pastor, who says that those in need of a warm place to sleep should bring pillows and blankets with them since the church has no cots. The families seeking shelter in the church today are enjoying a lunch of hot French onion soup made by Milne, and taking advantage of the the church's Wi-Fi to access the Internet and order things like propane heaters and generators. Since power returned to Zionsville and Old Zionsville Monday morning, Milne decided to open …
Saturday, October 29, 2011
It's snowing in the Emmaus pumpkin Patch.
Well, the weather forecasters finally got one right...sort of. The snow started later than they originally predicted, but it's falling now. An October 29 snowfall is unusal, to say the least. And, pretty, against the backdrop of the fall foliage. Here's what things looked like at Emmaus Patch HQ at about 8 a.m. Upload your fall storm pictures so we can see what Hallow-Winter looks like where you are!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
National Weather Service says 4-6 inches could hit this weekend.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
It’s less than midway through autumn, but weather forecasters are saying we may be in for some snow on the pumpkin Saturday. The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for Emmaus, the Lehigh Valley and points north and east. The watch calls for up to six inches of snow in the affected areas, particularly in higher mountain elevations. However, the weather service forecast for Emmaus is only calling for about an inch of snow to fall starting late Friday night and into a chilly Saturday when the forecast high temperature is only 41 degrees.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Respondents to an online Patch survey say district should make-up September "snow day" on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Students in East Penn School District will be heading to class on the Monday after Thanksgiving if the respondents to an online Patch poll get their way. The poll question, included in an Oct. 3 Patch article about the school district's decision to make up one of two September snow days today, asked: “Should schools in East Penn be open on the Monday after Thanksgiving?” Since then 1245 Patch users have participated in the poll, with 1213 respondents, or 97 percent, selecting the answer, “Yes. The district should save its snow days for the winter months.” Two percent of those who took part in the online poll (32 respondents) chose "No, it's the opening day of deer season," as their answer. The poll results are not scientific. Class is in …
40.537169
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East Penn School District Administrative Offices
800 Pine St, Emmaus, PA
/articles/poll-result-east-penn-should-be-open-on-thanksgiving-monday
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Lyle Richardson
9:09 am on Wednesday, December 28, 2011
in this case they can be wrong i don't mind if they predict lots of snow only to get none. Keep up the great work.... more ›