Snow covers the bbq.
More cold predicted.
Happy New Year! See what the New Year brought us? I’m in DuPage county which relative to other places didn’t “get hit”. My mom’s in Lake County. Libertyville supposedly got 16″.
We spent New Years Day retrieving Cosmo from the animal hospital in Aurora Illinois. Driving conditions were icy but the streets were plowed and traffic was light. We were glad to get him back home. He’s now weak, but cuddly. I’m checking our poor diabetic but affectionate fur-lump regularly.
Needless to say he is not going outdoors. Neither is the other cat (though he has the option. The cat door still works.)
(For those wondering: This time it was a bladder/urethral issue.)
Yesterday Argonne National Lab closed for snow. So Jim and I both hovered over the poor fur lump and watched lots of Netflix while petting him. The other cat came by and demanded lots of treats. He would then return to “guard” the cat door in case some other critter braved the snow and tried to take shelter in our house. (That’s how that cat came to be ours in the first place.)
What’s the weather like where you are? I’m hearing rumors parts of Lake Michigan are freezing up this year but still no stories showing ice fishing huts which appeared often in the 70s. There’s still time though. The meteorologists are predicting ‘Dangerous cold moves in after lake-effect snow’.
This weather is giving me horrible 70s flashbacks.
Cold in Huntsville Abalama, although no snow. 17F in the city, but I live on what passes for a mountain in these parts and it’s even chillier up there. I didn’t look at the thermometer this morning so I don’t have a number, unfortunately. I was feeling sorry for myself until I saw the picture of your grill covered with what looks like several inches of global warming. Now I feel much better about current local conditions. 🙂
Some of our snow was “lake effect”. This happens during the earlier portions of winter when the waters of Lake Michigan are warm relative to air that might arrive from the north. The interaction of the moist air over the lake and the cold air result in snow. Given the prevalling wind directions, more often than not, this drops on on Indiana and Michigan, though Chicago (in Cook County) and Lake county being just on the lake also gets some. DuPage county is one county in so we tend to get less, though if the winds blow just right we get some too.
I doubt this lake effect snow could ever make it as far south as Huntsville!!
Later in the winter when the Lake is a bit colder, large snow storms are more likely to occur when air from the Gulf or Mexico heads north and hits a polar mass. Those storms can be big (but often that snow melts quickly.) I think those might bring you snow if the polar air penetrated deep enough, though I image that would be a rare event in Huntsville!
It snows a bit here every couple of years, at least up on Monte Sano. Generally doesn’t last very long. I’m not sure of the meteorology involved. Often it seems like the Monte Sano has it’s own bizarre micro weather system that doesn’t appear to have much to do with the forecasts for Huntsville.
I live in DuPage County also and what I found a bit depressing about the recent snow was that it snowed continuously for 50 hours. The snow was mostly light except for yesterday’s lake effect snow and we had an accumulation of around 12 inches that I am guessing from the depth on my patio.
This morning it is very cold but the sun is shining. I find the cold much more tolerable when the sun is out.
High of 54F today here at Ft. Lurch, Texas. Later will be taking my 90-year-old Mom for a walk at the zoo and we’ll have lunch with the crocodiles. Very cold starting Monday, but we’ll have a warm weekend. My plumbago has survived 6 winters, but I think this one will kill it.
Global warming snow
storms bury lawns with powder
as arctic winds howl
Frigid air, biting,
A foot of powdery snow
As the lawn’s duvet
Family visit in Vermont
17 below and falling
Yet propane still boils
Lucia,
“What’s the weather like where you are?”
.
Pretty brutal today, 15-20 MPH northerly winds, and it never got much above 70F. When my wife went for a walk mid-morning, she had to wear a sweatshirt. I went to the supermarket in the late afternoon and noted there were only a few people (like me) wearing shorts. We will ‘freeze’ tonight at about 52F with a strong breeze. Monday/Tuesday will bring the real cold! (http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=FLZ064&zflg=1) 😉
On a bit more serious note: All this cold in the mid latitudes means the polar regions are probably exchanging a more than the normal amount of air with the mid latitudes, and so are likely well above normal in temperature. Regional cold does not always mean global cold.
SteveF,
Florida. Heh. That’s quite a temperature change from Alabama to Fl. OTOH, Florida has quite a north-south extent!
Lucia,
Florida in winter is actually quite interesting temperature-wise. Everything depends on the direction of the wind. The prevailing wind is from the north-east (Coriolis force on the returning Hadley cell flow) and brings fairly mild air that has passed over the (75+F) gulf stream for a while. Easterly to Southwesterly winds bring truly tropical air (near 80F daytime highs, near 70F nighttime lows). Strong north to north-west winds arrive with each cold front, without ever passing over the ocean, and can be quite cold; we sometimes see temperatures near freezing. But the colder air rarely lasts more than a day or two.
.
The ocean does cool somewhat over the winter, but the time lag is considerable, so our springtime temperatures tend to be cooler than you would expect through late April to early May (and conversely, our fall temps through late November are warmer than you would expect).
SteveF (Comment #122203)-Speaking of the mid-latitudes being cold and the Arctic being warm is perhaps generalizing a bit too much. I appears that last month:
http://models.weatherbell.com/climate/ncep_cfsr_t2m_anom_122013.png
That virtually all of North America, including the Canadian Arctic, saw below average temperatures. With the caveat that the Reanalysis is not constrained by observations in the area, the deep, oceanic Arctic was all above average. Additionally, most of Europe appears to have been warm, including mid latitude areas.
So far, for January:
http://models.weatherbell.com/climate/ncep_cfsr_t2m_anom.png
the situation is even more heterogeneous.
I actually received some amateur weather observing equipment for Christmas, I’ll have to set it up soon so I can start reporting on my extremely local weather.
I can confirm that our winter comes late and our summer overstays it’s welcome.
Of course, most people wouldn’t call what we have here “winter.”
It’s the summers that take forever to end that I think I dislike the most, although some years are better than others. Anecdotal evidence suggests an ENSO connection but I can’t confirm it with data.
So it will be 17 F tonight, above freezing tomorrow and the next couple of days, then back into the deep freeze Monday evening, warming up to the 50s by next weekend. Plus ca change and Donald Trump wears a squirrel on his head.
Eli,
The predictions for Monday is -8F. Good news is they predict a whopping 33F on Saturday, Jan 11. If so, some of the snow might melt. Otherwise, it’s supposedly going to be below freezing until then. (It’s a prediction. So we’ll see.)
It’s not a big problem for me. But the cat is going stir crazy. And yes, Donald Trump seems to wear a squirrel on his head. I, OTOH, have a bag of peanuts to feed the squirrels. Alas, the peanuts drop into the snow and the poor squirrels have to dig.
I give thanks that
(a) we have a good furnace.
(b) we have lots of insulation.
(c) my cats have thick fur.
(d) I own lots of polar fleece, wool, blankets, a nice tv and so on.
“One problem with James Evans example of a haiku is… it is not a haiku. It’s not even a bad haiku. The difficulty is that some people think any series of 17 syllables ‘is’ a haiku, but that is not so. At wikipedia we can read:…”
Just saying.
James Evans,
We’ve discussed haiku a lot here. What are you trying to say?
Meanwhile I will repeat my previous response to you:
A poetry duel?
I search for the kireji.
Most cutting, you were.
Now that haiku is pretty good. Even if you think haikus just stop. 🙂
Propane still boils at -17F, but, unless you’re not using it, how many days at that temperature before the propane in the tank cools to below the below the boiling point? Someone, not me, could probably turn that into a haiku.