Henrico Weather

It seems like some of the smaller cities that aren't quite viable in their stand-alone status, aren't waiting for the rules to change, and are taking it upon themselves to relinquish their independent city status. I see Martinsville and Henry County have reached an agreement for Martinsville to revert to "town" status within Henry County. For these smaller independent cities it makes so much more sense to pool their resources with the surrounding counties than to continue to struggle to be viable with such small population bases. For bigger cities like Richmond, Norfolk, Alexandria, Roanoke, etc., it's going to be a tough nut to crack to get any of them to give up their independent status, not even considering the push back from surrounding counties. https://richmond.com/news/state-and-regional/city-of-martinsville-and-henry-county-agree-on-martinsville-reverting-to-a-town-within-the/article_ccfdc8dc-118e-513c-bb70-ea6afeca7d68.html

It was a nice day to do some urban hiking, with sunny skies and temps hovering around 40. The river was really rocking from all the recent rain. The pattern is slated to be warmer but still wet over the next couple of weeks. No snow in the foreseeable future.

Pic from today..

Another story on it this morning...More "non-traditional" city pairs

This came from one of those click-bait things that frequently pop up in your feeds, that require you to click "Next" through some incessant list of screens, just to get a morsel of information. So, I've saved you the clicks, and just posted the link to the most pertinent screen. This is a slideshow purporting to show the most likely new cities to get an NFL franchise the next time they expand. Don't know who's wishful thinking this is, but they obviously haven't been paying attention to the sports stadium quagmire that is Richmond. Anyhow, here it is for your entertainment.... https://mindyourdollars.com/news/nfl-expansion-cities/3/

Been I while since I posted. Thought I'd offer up a look at the upcoming winter. Most prognosticators are calling for a slightly warmer, slightly wetter than average winter. That's not a high risk forecast based on the trends of the last few winters. You could almost have used a dartboard and come up with that. The forecasters are basing this on a neutral El Nino and La Nina pattern in the Pacific that, downstream, generally produces a bland winter for our area. Not to say that a big snow couldn't sneak in somewhere along the way if the stars align to coincidentally bring some moisture and a cold air blast together over the area but, in general, the overall winter is expected to be mild. Now, a caveat - Long range forecasts three months out are notoriously fickle. Last winter was expected to be colder and snowier than normal, but other than one good snow early, the rest of the winter was as bland as oatmeal. So, you never know. Here's the outlook in maps...

Great observations! Sorry I've let this thread slide a bit. I'll try to update more regularly going into the fall season.

Here's a Google-y thing. But, unfortunately, it doesn't show the extension. Looks like it will just be basically a mirror image of the other side to make it symmetrical.

Hard to believe I actually worked in that building, looking at that dirt pile! Worked on the 17th floor. I remember when 9/11 happened and they told us all to evacuate. I took the stairs for fear of getting stuck in an elevator. Thought it would take me forever to run down 17 flights of stairs. Can't imagine what it must have been like for people to walk down 100 stories knowing their building was about to collapse.

Maybe Legend will open their deck for early morning beverage service!

But, but, but..... THE SCHOOLS!

Interesting. I'm an Assistant Scoutmaster, and this is the first I've heard about it. They usually precede a project like this with a very visible fundraising effort, but I haven't seen anything specific to this. I would guess they would build this out at the Heart of Virginia Council's Camp Brady T. Saunders reservation out at Maidens in Goochland County? Their current headquarters building is at Fitzhugh Ave. just off of W. Broad. But that is an administrative office, and this looks more like an activity related structure.

Are you ready for a return to winter? Friday and Saturday night could bring frost to the area and just to the NW could actually see a few stray flakes Friday night. But this anomaly is confined to North America at the moment, as most of the rest of the globe is currently experiencing warmer than normal temperatures, particularly in the polar regions.

Brown's Island improvement plan... https://venturerichmond.s3.amazonaws.com/Brown's+Island+Improvement+Plan_SHORT+(1).pdf Beautiful enhancements to encourage useage of the area, but I didn't see ANY reference to parking. Availability of spaces is severely lacking on nice weekend days, as is now. If more people were to take advantage of the area, parking would be critically inadequate.

You're in luck! MLB has canceled all their spring training games.

Atlantic 10 Conference cancels its tournament in NYC while VCU and UMASS were getting ready to take the floor in today's game. Virtually all of the major conferences have done the same. The NCAA had announced that its tournament was going to be held without spectators, but several teams have said they are going to withdraw and not play. That tournament will likely be canceled as well. I feel bad for all the kids who worked hard to get their teams to this point, only to have their dreams come to an abrupt end. But the alternative could have been worse. https://www.richmond.com/sports/college/schools/virginia-commonwealth-university/vcu-peppas-fans-dance-through-their-sadness-after-a-/article_3c300ec4-647f-11ea-a05a-53f73e2b3e70.html

Point is, we could have both Richmond's history and character AND Charlotte's vitality. But, sure, let's just wallow in our history and sink to the bottom.

Not really a Richmond topic, but it's close enough and such a treasure that I thought I'd share. I was fortunate enough to take a bunch of Boy Scouts down to the Virginia Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach (Pungo) this past weekend. They offered a "camp-in" program which featured tours and activities leading up to the "Aviation Merit Badge". What an amazing treasure this place is! I hadn't really heard that much about it, but I would consider it a hidden gem. It has a fascinating story and was founded by a larger-than-life man with a passion for WWI and WWII aircraft. There are multiple hangars jammed full of priceless aircraft that you can walk right up to (no velvet ropes keeping you at a distance, like places like Smithsonian Air & Space.) Even more appealing is the staff. Many are volunteers who have flown some of these historic treasures. If you are looking at something on display, they will walk right up to you and tell you a personal story about it. And 90% of the aircraft on display are flyable, unlike the static displays at Smithsonian. They actually take them out and fly them for regularly scheduled air shows, right at their own grass field. So if you are looking for a day trip and are into such things, definitely consider investing in a couple hour drive and make a day of it. See some of my pictures below... https://militaryaviationmuseum.org/

Money, money, money.... https://ggwash.org/view/76485/new-transportation-dollars-will-flow-into-central-virginia-but-what-will-it-be-used-for

Hey, it can happen here. Wouldn't count on it this March, though, the way this winter has gone.

I don't know the details. But a LOT can be extrapolated by the low-ball offer and the laughable idea that the undersized, hulking bucket of rust can somehow be "renovated" to modern standards and capacity. Lipstick on a dying pig.

And this is the kind of garbage, K-Mart style proposals you're going to get, after rejecting the best offer you'll EVER get to make something of downtown Richmond. I sure as hell wouldn't call this progress. This is like rejecting a brand new Tesla and saying, "Oh, well, we'll get a nice fresh coat of paint on that '71 Pontiac, and thump our chests about it."

Well, THAT came out of nowhere! https://richmondbizsense.com/2020/02/24/breaking-news-douglas-development-makes-unsolicited-offer-for-navy-hill-site/

What you are seeing on the satellite image actually existed. They closed off that loop of the interchange a few years back when they built the flyover.