We're doomed

Yes, we have a major winter storm coming. And, if the forecasts all pan out, we are talking about a Storm of the Century. Which is correct since this will indeed be the biggest storm of the 21st century. So, it's not an exaggeration, or a lie, to say that.

Obviously the news has been all over this, the supermarkets are super busy and even Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel is here. So, obviously that means we will get an inch of snow and we'll all be disappointed.

I'm kidding of course. Nobody is backing down from this thing. I've heard that DFW in Dallas is already shut down due to ice and snow and it is all heading this way as the storm intensifies. The good thing is I'm off of work anyway so I don't have to worry about getting there in the morning. They are setting up hotel rooms for people so they don't have to drive home, but I wouldn't take it anyway. I live too close and my mom's house is even closer so I could always stay there if needed. Actually, I did that exact thing on the storm of last century when we received 21 inches of snow.

What are we going to get today? Well, it varies. Here are a couple of charts I pulled up.

In the second one I live within the band that says 18 inches. But that doesn't mean that's all I'll get. It could be more, could be a little less. The forecasts all say at least a foot, which wouldn't be terrible, to two feet, which wouldn't be so good. The worst part, for those going to work, is that this is going to be at it's worst over that late night/early morning hours and the National Weather Service is saying that it may snow so hard at times that the plows won't be able to keep up and road may become impassable. On the first chart it shows that it could snow as much as three inches an hour at time. I'm going to need to get up in the middle of the night to clear the driveway off about three times to keep up.

No matter what we get, we are set in our house. We have food. Jenn can work from home and the dogs will keep us warm. I just hope we don't lose power. We have a fireplace, but it is a wood burning one and we have no firewood and we have never had the chimney cleaned since we moved in 8 years ago. I don't want to die.

I'm planning on putting a ruler out somewhere to measure the snow because I'm a big dork. Hopefully I'll be back let you know how it went.

Oh, and here is a YouTube video from the Chicago office of the National Weather Service. You can see what we are going to get and learn a little bit about classic mid-latitude cyclone formation and what a baroclinic leaf is. There will be a test later.

Cold Mornings

I don't have much too say except that it has been a little chilly here lately. Not as bad as those who live in Minnesota and other more northern states, but when you drive to work and the thermometer says 1, it is cold. And I'm a wimp.

I took this from the parking lot at work. You can tell it is chilly by how much steam is being generated. Doesn't it look cold?

Oh, quick funny story. The other day our son took over my spot in bed after I got in the shower to get ready for work. I didn't know he went in there and neither did Jenn. Well, for some reason Jenn woke up and looked at the clock (I think it was Sunday) and it said 7am, the time that my shift started. So, thinking that it was me, she pushed our son and said, "Mike," trying to wake me up. He sat up and looked at her like, "what's your problem" then went back to sleep.

I thought it was funny.

The First Snow of 2010-2011

We had our first snow this weekend. It wasn't as bad as predicted, but it made some things look nice. See:

There are Elk in the woods here. I guess they are mascots in a way since the town is called Elk Grove. As soon as I went to the fence one started walking towards me. He probably thought I had some food, I didn't and your not allowed to feed them anyway. The Elk should know that by now.

Happy Winter!

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #73: Winter Landscapes

I didn't get a chance to go out and take many photos for Carly's assignment this week. I did get out to take one, though. We had some ice in the forecast this week, and while it can be dangerous to drive in, it looks so coo. It didn't happen though, which is probably for the best.

Here is a shot I took near a small park. I realized later that I should have gotten a little closer to the bridge. Oh well, there is always next time.

Speaking of ice, we did have an ice storm of sorts a few weeks ago, I went out the next day and took a few shots.

That's all I have for this week. Go check out the rest by going through Carly's site.

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #23: Winter Days

From Carly's site:

EMPS #23: WINTER DAYS
It's winter, here in the northern hemisphere, but here in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was 80 degrees yesterday. What's a girl got to do to see some cold weather? Glad you asked. Your assignment for this week is to show me some WINTER DAYS in your neighborhood. Snow, rain, clear, yet icy conditions, bare trees, dead leaves, whatever accurately illustrates a WINTER DAY where you live.

Extra Credit: Show me the current temperature where you live. :)

I know I just posted last week's photo shoot but I need to get caught up with assignments before I go out of town. I don't want to get an incomplete on my report card. So, that means another post later tonight for Karen's weekend assignment.

What do winter days look like here in Chicago? Well, two things came to mind for me right away: Ice and salt. Every car I see looks like it has been covered in a fine ash from a recent volcano explosion. See:

I know it is kind of hard to tell from this photo, but the color of the car is called Ruby Red. It doesn't look like that, does it?

Usually on most houses, especially mine since I forgot to clean the upper level gutters, giant icicles are hanging waiting to spear some unsuspecting squirrel that walks underneath. The have fallen off my roof (no dead animals) but there is still some ice hanging of the edge, just
waiting to fall.

The sky is nice and blue at least!

Oh, today it is 14 degrees right now. It is going to be 39 on Friday. It's sad to get excited about 39 degrees, isn't it?

Now, go to Carly's site and check out the other pictures.

I remember winters like this

As you probably know from my complaining, it's been a little snow and cold here so far. We've had it pretty easy the last several years and I'm not used to this. Maybe I'm just getting old and cranky. No need to respond to that.

I took some pictures. Want to see? Too bad.

This was after our first snow. As you can see this tiny little tree is barely covered to it's lowest branches. I think we got about 3-4 inches here.




Then we got our bigger storm. We were supposed to get about 8 inches but we only got about 4 inches. So, you can see the snow is a little higher on the tree but also, the little bush in front is now completely covered. This snow was much wetter than this first, so it compressed some of the older snow, otherwise it would have been higher.




Over Sunday and Monday we didn't get any snow, but it was very cold (-20 to -30 on the wind chill). Today it snowed again, and we are going to get more later today and tomorrow. Slowly the little bush is getting more covered. Due to the direction of the wind some of the snow is getting cleared away from the little bush. (I don't know why I keep calling it a tree. Also, now only the very top of the other bush is sticking out.


I figure, at the rate we are going, our house should be buried by February. That's not good since Jenn and I are going away then.

I realize this isn't much snow compared to some places, it's just the frequency of the snow that is getting to me. It's like every other day! If I was a kid I'd love it, but I didn't have to drive in it. Or, clear the driveway. Sigh. Yes, I am getting old and cranky.

I need to go shovel now.

Ellipsis Monday Photo Shoot #16: Autumn Meets Winter

Once again I'm posting this at the last possible minute. I need to get my act together. I was thinking I'd post this in the morning or, at the very latest, this afternoon but we were at grandma and grandpa's house last night and the kids got their Christmas gifts. Needless to say, today has been spent opening and putting together toys. I'm exhausted.

Anyway, on to the subject of the photo shoot. Carly wanted us to capture Autumn meeting Winter. You know, snow and leaves, or grass and snow, or something along those lines. The funny thing was that the day Carly posted the assignment our snow melted. Actually, that Sunday we got almost two inches of rain. Luckily the temperature plummeted more than 30 degrees overnight, so we got some ice. And, with the ice, I got these shots:




Here's a close-up of the leaf trapped in the ice.


I thought it was pretty neat to see the leave encased in ice like this. Now we have about six inches of snow so we can't see anything out there. Luckily this assignment came this week!

(Edit: I don't know why the first picture is on it's side. It is not how I shot, or saved, it. And, I don't have time to fix it right now. It's looks normal on Flickr.)

This air is making me thirsty

There is so much salt in the air out here in Chicagoland. Every time I lick my lips it tastes like I've just eaten a bag of potato chips or come out of the ocean. Combine the salty air with the cold, and it makes me thirsty all the time. I wonder if the extra salt in the air can contribute to high blood pressure? Someone should probably study that.

The roads are white, all the cars on the road are white, regardless of their original color, and there is a fine hazy whiteness to the air. That must be good for the lungs, don't you think? There is another snow storm probable Sunday, too. I feel I need to apologize again. I'm sorry.

Uh ,oh...

I think I pissed off Mother Nature. I'm sorry everybody....


forecast

---

Fri	Sat	Sun
Snow	Partly Cloudy	Chance of Snow
26° | 0°	3° | -6°	8° | 0°

From the Chicago Tribune.

Hey Winter

Where did you go? It's early January, it is supposed to be cold, snowy, and windy. Remember? Did Al Gore scare you away with all the Global Warming talk?

Now, I don't like to complain about warm weather in January, I admit that I like it. My wife and I have been able to do some running outside, and it's been nice going out with ten layers of clothes. On the other hand, we shouldn't have tornadoes destroying houses in January, it's just not right.

Also, on a personal note, we have a race early February in Lake Geneva. Are you going to wake up and be all irritated that you haven't been spreading cold and misery, and dump a foot of snow on us? Is it going to be so cold that we can't breathe? Let's make a deal, let's drop the temperature down to the 20's for a couple weeks, maybe a little snow if you want, then you can go away again. Deal? Great!

If you are looking at this Lori, yes I ran on the treadmill. For 40 mind numbing minutes. I tried a new trick where I increase the speed one notch when a new song starts. It helped pass the time a little quicker.