FWIS3

I couldn't find a weather thread with a keyword search, so here it is.

Winter's here. We got a snowstorm with predictions of over a foot, but only about 4" at my place. The track shifted north, and about 20 miles north is where they got a foot of snow!

I'm fine with the snow, just not this early. I'm not ready to hang up my bike yet. But even this 4" isn't melting soon because we are dipping way low for the next couple weeks--single digit and even subzero lows, and highs in the 20s. 40s are normal for this time of year!

I hope there is a late November/early December thaw so I can get some more bike commutes in. Or I could just invest in a "fatbike" as I learned yesterday the bikes with snow tires are called! The problem is that the road on my commute is covered in potholes to start, and then it is hard to clear so it tends to get caked in packed snow which then develops its own potholes. It's a tight road with rush hour traffic including regular buses. I would only be comfortable riding it with dry pavement.

Kids are loving it though. For Rooster, being less than 2 years old the last time there was snow, this may be to her a first experience in it. Immediately she did what all kids do with something new--tried to see what it tastes like!

For good measure, I've thrown in a Halloween picture. Rooster and I hybridized each of our intended costumes, and went as Cat-stronauts!

Awww, how cute. Hope you indeed get the thaw because damn, Nov 11 is early for this stuff! Hope you guys don't get a repeat of last year!

I don't recommend fat bikes in winter btw just because even if you can get through the snow you can still slip on ice very easily. Not fun, and downright dangerous in traffic.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be a winter biker--for now. However, when my new museum is less than a mile away, I may reconsider. I'll have to see what is the least painful in subzero temps--a 20 minute walk or a 5 minute bike ride. The traffic between house and museum is pretty minimal, and there is a sidewalk along the major road.

70 and sunny the last two days. Highs in the 30's predicted the next few. Hello fall and winter.

It's about two degrees above freezing, and a thunderstorm is passing through. How does that even work?

Strange times we live in.

Rommie wrote:It's about two degrees above freezing, and a thunderstorm is passing through. How does that even work?

Strange times we live in.

I was in snow-thunderstorm once. It was on a night hike in one of our local parks, with a naturalist. It was snowing very hard, and every once in a while the cloud deck would lighten for a second or two and we would hear a muffled rumble. We weren't even sure what it was at first, and then realized it was snow-thunder.

Three days before Christmas in Minnesota, and the ground is green and I'm carrying an umbrella. What? We had January in November, and now we're having October in December.

We got our first ice skating session of the season in, and Rooster's first time ever! She loved the whole experience, even if she spent most of it crawling around.

Now the rinks have melted and not skatable, but that should be short lived. It will get below freezing again soon. I just don't know if there will be a white Christmas. Not that it's very important to me--I just wish there were enough snow for sledding and skiing!

You can't ski in Minnesota silly- it's flat!

Speaking of skiing, arrived last night in lovely Telluride, Colorado for our annual family ski trip, and straight into a blizzard. If it was just snowing I wouldn't mind and I'd go skiing, but the wind is blowing hard! Thanks but no thanks... got an article due Jan 5 anyway, so I found the local cafe to work in.

Bro and dad went out today anyway, because they are insane. Dad too insane for his own good- four years ago when we were last here he hit a mogul wrong, which led to his tearing a nerve a month later, which ended in a few months of excruciating back pain. Thing is he still thinks he's an 18 year old when it comes to skiing, in a 68 year old body, and won't listen to us telling him otherwise... By this point bro says it's obvious he'll eventually just do the same thing again, but I hope it doesn't come to that.

That's not the baby I had dinner with!

Thumper wrote:That's not the baby I had dinner with!

Nope, not a baby anymore! Now in preschool, turning three on the next equinox.

But she's still as squirmy as ever at the dinner table.

Today for the first time in what feels like forever there is this huge glowy yellow round ball in the sky.... Good thing too... I was beginning to think I was going to grow moss on my ass....

Well guys guess what, my brother and I had this amazing plan to spend NYE in San Francisco w friends, but it's a wash. We are currently in Colorado and reliant on flying out of a little airport named Montrose, via Denver, and after one cancellation yesterday we showed up at the airport to be given a bunch of awful and worse options, and opted instead to just return to our parents who are here through the weekend and try again Jan 1.

I mean not a bad place to be- I get to go skiing another day!- but a shame to not see some friends tonight. And "Operation Spend NYE Without Parents for the First Time Ever" has failed spectacularly. (I like my parents, I really do, but I'm so tired of NYE with them, making a big deal out of staying up to midnight when I do it every night anyway.) Ah well, life happens when you make other plans right?

Improvise, adapt, overcome.
Got pretty cold here the last day or so. Won't get above 20 today, but nice and sunny.

Some colder weather here finally. Snow on Tuesday morning closed all the schools. Then the threat of cold temps and wind chill closed them all today. It was -7F out my bedroom window this morning. All the kids are home. Will stay this way for a couple more days, back up into the lower 30's by the end of the weekend. So finally a little bit of winter weather.

Thumper wrote:Some colder weather here finally. Snow on Tuesday morning closed all the schools. Then the threat of cold temps and wind chill closed them all today. It was -7F out my bedroom window this morning. All the kids are home. Will stay this way for a couple more days, back up into the lower 30's by the end of the weekend. So finally a little bit of winter weather.

You're welcome for sending it your way!
It hasn't gotten really cold yet. No double digits below zero for the air temperature! There is still time left in the season, though!

Thank You.

Thumper wrote:Some colder weather here finally. Snow on Tuesday morning closed all the schools. Then the threat of cold temps and wind chill closed them all today. It was -7F out my bedroom window this morning. All the kids are home. Will stay this way for a couple more days, back up into the lower 30's by the end of the weekend. So finally a little bit of winter weather.

Same down this way. Snow closed things Tues (college opened at 10am, couldn't get within half a mile of campus to park), cold temps closed things Weds (college open), and closed the world again Thurs (-7 when I left the house at 8, got to school, parking garage empty, found out school not opening until noon, at least I could hit the lounge and snooze until the comp lab opened). this is a tad more brisk than I'm used to -- I think it was a good idea to shell out that $10 and have those three kids shovel the walk. I'da done myself an injury doing it myself.

At least I'm trying to stay warm. After class tonite, I'm going home and making a hot dinner (not usual for me). A combo pasta/chili/rice one pot special with some onions and cheese in it, spooned out of a big travel mug in front of ye olde tube sounds nice...

Yeah, but shoveling will keep you warm.
Windy as F*** this morning.

Thumper wrote:Windy as F*** this morning.

Flat?
Flip?
Fawn?
Four?
Flop?
Feet?
Fans?
Fido?

Thumper wrote:Yeah, but shoveling will keep you warm.
Windy as F*** this morning.

It was so windy here this morning that during a gust I experienced a scary thing I'd never experienced before- I was pedaling forward pretty fast, but the bike started also just going to the side! Took a few seconds to stop by which point I was almost off the bike path; at least I wasn't being blown in the direction with a canal on the side...

Swift wrote:

Thumper wrote:Windy as F*** this morning.

Flat?
Flip?
Fawn?
Four?
Flop?
Feet?
Fans?
Fido?

It was quite windy this morning with strong gusts. Rommie almost got blown into a ditch riding her bicycle. I almost got blown into a 5ft concrete Jersey barrier driving my 5000lb truck.

Not much accumulation of the white stuff around here, winter did arrive this week with colder temperatures. Windchill has been in the mid -20's C the past couple of days. Today it's -17C but bright, wearing shades outdoors today.

Rommie wrote:

Thumper wrote:Yeah, but shoveling will keep you warm.
Windy as F*** this morning.

It was so windy here this morning that during a gust I experienced a scary thing I'd never experienced before- I was pedaling forward pretty fast, but the bike started also just going to the side! Took a few seconds to stop by which point I was almost off the bike path; at least I wasn't being blown in the direction with a canal on the side...

In grad school, Northwestern (just north of Chicago) I was blown off my bike and into a parked car. Kinda freaked me out--if it were the other direction it could have been into a moving car!

A number of years ago my step dad was walking across the property with a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood when a sudden gust of wind picked him and plywood up and he sailed across the yard for about 20 feet before he could let go of the panel.

Friggin' wind has not abated all weekend!

Really messing with my sleep schedule. Lots of rattling window panes and the flight path for one of the busiest airports of Europe now goes over my apartment. Also not cycling anywhere for now cause I'm not an idiot (I did briefly on Saturday, and it was intense), so it takes longer to get places.

Dutch winter sucks.