Sun - April 6, 2008

Contrasting Spring Vistas


As a follow-up to last week's snowy scene, compare today's view.

Since the snowfall featured in my last entry, we've had several days with high temperatures above 50F, so there was little snow left this morning. Below are the photo from last Monday and one of nearly the same area today. I rather prefer the snowy scene. It was just beginning to rain when I took today's picture, so things were especially dreary. We may get yet more snow tonight and Tuesday, but the lows are scarcely expected to dip below freezing this week, so little of it will last. Over the next few weeks, spring will show its glory as green emerges in the grass and trees, but for a while things will be mostly rather drab.


Posted at 03:03 PM     Read More  


Mon - March 31, 2008

Spring 2008!


The sunny South has no monopoly on scenic springtime vistas!

Janice has posted some lovely spring photos from Atlanta: flowers, green leaves, green grass. But spring here in Minnesota can also be beautiful. Here's a picture I took just this evening.


Beautiful, pure white snow on the trees, on the ground, in the air! It's been snowing all day, and it's expected to continue through the night, right into April. Of course, spring snow tends to be heavy, wet and short-lived. It also tends to make lots of people cranky, but I just love it (as long as I don't have to drive much).

Posted at 07:22 PM     Read More  


Wed - April 4, 2007

The Flurries that Blow in the Spring, Tra La


Bring memories of chillier times...

With apologies to Gilbert...and Sullivan, too (as if they'd be reading this blog)!

The snows of early March have been gone for some time. In fact, on March 26th, temperatures here reached into the 80s F. But April is upon us now, and last night we got a new dose of snow. It didn't amount to much here, but more northerly parts of Minnesota got several inches. I could say we had only a dusting, but it came with stiff winds, so it was more like a blasting of snow. The temperature this morning was 17 F, with a wind chill around zero. The chill will remain through the week.

Some people, eager to enjoy the splendors of spring, find these wintry relapses annoying. I count winter and spring as my two favorite seasons, and that may be why I prefer these unsteady transitions. Winter doesn't give up easily, but spring eventually prevails. And in due course winter returns. I would like it to be so, at least as long as I'm here to enjoy it.

Posted at 06:45 PM     Read More  


Fri - March 2, 2007

Snow Obsession


Lots more snow in the last 48 hours!



This photo of the back of our house may give you some impression of the amount of snow we now have. What a difference a week makes! Last Friday there was scarcely any snow at all, but two storms have now dumped maybe 20 inches here--though it's hard to gauge due to drifting, and it's still snowing a bit.

I'm thrilled. Even most Minnesotans don't get as excited about snow as I do, and I don't think I can even explain why it cheers me so. I'm not much into winter sports (or any sports), though I've certainly done some sledding, cross-country skiing, and ice skating over the years, and we'll probably do some snowshoeing this weekend. It helps that I have a short commute--little over two miles--so I don't usually need to drive very far.

I just like snow. I like the look of it falling--or blowing. I like the way it utterly transforms the landscape. I like the wind-sculpted shape of snow drifts, and the way sticky snow can cling to trees. On clear days, I like the blue shadows, and the way snow sparkles in the sunlight.

Of course, snow can be inconvenient and even dangerous. But snowstorms are certainly among the gentlest of natural disasters, and in all but the most extreme cases, they are not much of a threat if you can stay inside.

Posted at 07:55 PM     Read More  


Fri - February 23, 2007

A Winter Storm for the Weekend


It looks like Minnesota is finally getting a good dose of snow!

Minnesotans are bracing for a good old-fashioned winter storm. The wind has been blowing hard all day, and some snow has started falling here in the Twin Cities this evening. According to the forecasts, the snow will continue right through the weekend, tapering off Sunday night or Monday. Though the temperatures will stay mostly in a moderate range of 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit, it looks like wind speeds will be in a corresponding range of 20 to 30 mph much of the time.

Fortunately, I don't expect to have any very compelling need to go anywhere, so I can stay home and enjoy the storm if travel conditions are as bad as the forecast suggests. Peg is scheduled to work at the library both Saturday and Sunday, but we'll see whether the library even opens!

Last winter we bought snowshoes. We used them only once, just to try them out, in snow that didn't really require such equipment. Maybe now they will actually prove to be useful.

Of course, weather forecasting is still an imprecise enterprise, so who knows what will actually happen? Assuming we don't lose contact with the outside world, I'll try to post an update or two as the weekend goes on.

Posted at 08:35 PM     Read More  


Sun - January 21, 2007

In Need of Snow


Jim likes snow, but Minnesota hasn't been getting its share this winter.

I like snow. Sure, it's cold, and it can be sloppy, treacherously slippery, deep enough to impede most ground transportation, and heavy enough to break tree limbs or to collapse buildings. But otherwise, what's not to like? It falls gently out of a blank sky, swirling in the wind's least eddies, and blows into gracefully curved drifts. It transforms the brown landscape. When the sun comes out, it is dazzlingly white, with sparkling facets. It prolongs the dusk and brightens the night. It allows us to create snow angels, snow sculpture, snow forts and snowballs, and to enjoy skiing, sledding, and snowshoeing.

It's snowing here today, cheering me, as it always does. Here in the Twin Cities area, the historical average annual snowfall is about four feet, and we'd typically have seen about half of that by now. But this year we've seen very little snow. A total of less than six inches had fallen before today, and we had only two or three inches on the ground. The weather has been both warmer and drier than usual, we've seen some rain in place of snow, and the small amounts of snow that fell in November and December quickly disappeared.

Many parts of the country have had major problems from winter storms this season, and I don't wish that on anyone. I don't really need storms dumping a foot of snow or more in a day, and freezing rain holds no attraction for me. Minnesota has often been protected from ice storms by virtue of temperatures that stayed well below freezing most of the winter. Unfortunately, the climate trends seem to be removing that protection, and also taking away our traditional snow.

Maybe you can help us out by reducing carbon emissions.

Posted at 10:10 AM     Read More  


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