Category Archives: weather

by | January 14, 2014 · 2:21 pm

“Sixteen Tons”

After a relatively balmy stretch, at least by mid-winter Minnesota standards, today’s snowfall created commuting problems. Three inches of snow for us is inconvenient but not insurmountable. I was quite puzzled when Bloomington Public Works dispatched a front-end loader and a dump truck to clear the end of the cul-de-sac. The chorus of “Sixteen Tons” popped into my head:

“You load sixteen tons, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt…”

It is probably true in more ways than one. Snow removal keeps my muscles in a regular state of short-term lactacid oxygen debt whether I use the snow thrower or a shovel. Gasoline for the snow thrower is an added expense. The people who feel “I owe my soul to the company store” endured slow travel and bone-headed drivers who think they have special dispensation from the laws of physics. Today’s snow was fine and granular, ideal for blowing and drifting. The forecast is for falling temperatures and gusty winds to replace moderate temperatures and snowfall later today. Many of the people who endured a tedious commute will need to find alternate parking because of the Snow Emergencies declared in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Even they will feel like they moved sixteen tons of something by bedtime this evening. I am sure that the “something” is not suitable for family friendly reading, but my Norwegian ancestors would probably start saying “fee-da” about now.

We are entering the “endurance” phase of winter. Groundhog’s Day (February 2nd) is exactly half-way between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox, but the middle of January is when our average highs and lows are at their minimums. It can, and does, get beastly cold in February. Lucy’s birthday was February 5th and there were about as many -20°F days as +40°F days in the time I was with her, but the longer days helped make enduring the chill bearable. This year’s Polar Vortex adventure was, with luck, our coldest period of the year. We have had the first seasonal  January thaw and could see another by this time next week. Our temperature swings will make people more prone to upper respiratory infections and asthma attacks, so some parents add pediatrics duty at home to their work load. We just need to endure and spring will be here eventually, and hopefully not mercilessly waylaid like last year.

I have a friend who suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder, which has the appropriate abbreviation SAD. Most of us can grumble about the weather and can “gut it out”; people afflicted with SAD can become moody and depressed. Being stuck in a windowless cubicle farm with the requisite yellow-green hued fluorescent lighting exacerbates the symptoms. The sunnier and warmer weather last weekend was a welcome break. Today’s snow, cloud cover, and wind chill not so much. Every day burdens become sixteen tons heavier with SAD. It pays for us to be nice to everyone, for we do not know who is battling a disorder.

Two quick lasts of arctic air might be on tap for this week, with snow and seasonal temperatures in between. Next week’s forecast hints at seasonal temperatures. There will be a couple of days of hot chocolate for me and ethanol-free gasoline for the snow thrower. Give your special someone a meaningful hug and feel your sixteen ton burden grow lighter. For my friends baking in Australia, I would be happy to send some of our -5°C weather your way in exchange for your +35°C weather. DHL still delivers Down Under, don’t they?

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Filed under music, rebuilding, weather

by | January 9, 2014 · 4:29 pm

Cabin fever

Our brush with the Polar Vortex of 2014 is finally behind us. Unseasonably cold weather coupled with unseasonably brisk winds created several days of people staying home, schools closing due to dangerous wind chill, disabled vehicles, black ice on roadways, frostbite injuries, and dozens of YouTube videos of people tossing boiling water into the frigid air creating instant clouds. Here in the Twin Cities, we were lucky that the temperature did not go as low as the early forecasts of -35°F. It was cold enough bottoming out at -22°F, especially with a wind chill of -45°F. The metro area was very cold, but it did not set a record low during the cold snap.

Car washes are quite busy today, even though the temperature is only 21°F (it started out at -13°F this morning). With the sun shining brightly, the ice on the roads is melting especially on the asphalt surfaces. I have fresh deer tracks in my front yard and earlier today a fox trotted across the street with a squirrel dangling from its mouth. The crows had another tussle with the barred owl that is becoming a semi-regular in the neighborhood and the cardinals are pairing up and eating the berries off the viburnum bushes. Even the critters get cabin fever.

The latest weather forecasts is another “good news/bad news” forecast. The good news is temperatures are to remain seasonal for the next week or so, giving furnaces and urgent care centers a reprieve. The bad news is there are several chances for either snow for freezing precipitation along with gusty winds. It remains to be seen if any significant precipitation occurs. Forecasts change quickly, and people’s attention spans are short enough to forget the inaccuracy of earlier predictions. Next week heralds in the lowest average temperatures of the year and the days are getting longer again. Winter could still be as lingering as last year, but for now we are all looking forward to warmer weather. Gardening catalogs are appearing more frequently in the mail. Baseball spring training begins in less than five weeks and we are under 90 days until the Twins home opener. A little hope goes a long way….well, the Twins are still going to have a losing season, but there may be improvement over the past three years of 95+ losses per season.

Try to get outdoors for a bit if your weather allows it. Both hemispheres are seeing some moderation from either bitter cold or blazing hot temperatures. The creatures are quite entertaining even if the humans are not. Give your special someone a meaningful hug or three and cure that cabin fever quickly!

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by | December 30, 2013 · 11:39 am

An old-fashioned Minnesota winter?

I heard someone on the radio refer to our current cold stretch as “an old-fashioned Minnesota winter”. I know this is not the case. Anyone who has parents or grandparents who grew up in the upper Midwest between 1920 and 1970 knows this is a comparatively mild winter. Those brave souls walked to and from school, eleventeen miles uphill for both trips, in hurricane force blizzards, with wind chills approaching absolute zero, guided only by the northern lights and birds frozen in mid-air. Their house keys welded to door locks from static electricity discharge and snow drifts would approach the size of mountains. Cars and people functioned with a 50/50 mixture of alcohol and water; well, many people skipped the water part. People trying to converse outside would gather their clouds of breath and thaw them by the fire so the sound would melt out. Ah, the good old days. This current cold spell ain’t nuthin’, we can get through it. It always seems like someone has lived through much tougher times and is eager to let everyone know how good it is now in comparison.

All kidding aside, there were some legendary blizzards and cold snaps during those decades. Wild temperature swings like the one the Twin Cities metro area experienced last Friday into Saturday occasionally happened. We set a record high of 47°F Friday afternoon and less than twelve hours later we were at -3°F. The Armistice Day blizzard of 1940 was one deadly example. Some of the southern Minnesota blizzards in the 1960s buried cars in driveways and left snowdrifts up to the bottoms of barn roofs. Houses were snowbound up to the second story windows. County and township roads were impassable for days. Power lines and poles snapped in the ice and wind resulting in power outages lasting over a week. Living in an area where the weather goes from delightful to dangerous in under four hours taught us to pay attention to the twice-per-day weather forecasts and learn to read clouds and wind direction for hints. All the fall canning efforts paid off when snowbound several months later. Flannel bedding, stockpiles of wood or fuel for the stove, and board games helped with getting through the coldest days.

Bitterly cold temperatures created unique problems when living on a farm with livestock. Outdoor water tanks would have a foot thick ice covering in the morning, so the livestock would stay in the barn until the temperature would rise to positive digits during the day. We knew it was cold outside when we walked into a cattle barn and saw hoarfrost on the cobwebs. The cattle stayed warm and enjoyed their catered meals and running water. Silage does not have much moisture in it, but there would be times the silo unloader could not grind through the concrete-like crust. This necessitated a climb into the silo with a sledgehammer and silage fork to break the crust up and toss it aside. The world looked so different when peering though an opening while thirty or more feet above the ground. The cattle were much happier when the weather warmed and they could go back outside. So were the humans. The outdoor tanks would still freeze over and needed some tender loving care with a splitting maul. I was so happy when we installed electric tank heaters, even if Dad was the one who mostly took on that task. I never recalled a cow getting its tongue stuck to a metal surface during a cold snap, yet people seemed to accomplish this occasionally in real life. So why do we use “stupid cow” as a derisive term?

Is this an “old-fashioned Minnesota winter”? It is too early to tell. Areas in northern Minnesota have experienced a double-whammy of bitter cold and heavy snowfalls already. In the metro area, there have been some disconcerting power outages in areas other than mine, but those seemed to be quickly resolved. Most furnaces are wired directly into a breaker box and have electronic igniters and electric blower fans. No electricity means no heat, and there is no way to hook up a portable generator to a furnace unless a generator panel is installed. Houses with gas ranges have an advantage, albeit a dangerous one with carbon monoxide build up. Frozen pipes are a likelihood if the power is out for more than a couple of days, so a faucet has to be turned slightly on to keep the water moving. Snow removal in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Edina is dismal as usual, with narrowed washboard streets abounding. The Vikings will not win the Super Bowl this year keeping a 54 season streak intact. Perhaps this is more of a typical Minnesota winter rather than an old-fashioned Minnesota winter.

Many of you are enjoying record warmth, especially in Australia where this summer appears to be another scorcher. Others are experiencing a mild winter. Whether you are basking in sunshine or freezing under several layers of winter outerwear, take the time to give your loved ones a meaningful hug and let them know you care. Just don’t regale them with stories of winters gone by. Eye rolls and head shakes don’t generate that much warmth, though they may appreciate the hot air.

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by | December 16, 2013 · 6:22 pm

Charge it!

The recent cold snap has put a steady drain people, places, and things. People expended energy staying warm and removing snow. Snow removal budgets took a moderate hit with the ice and snow events last week. Vehicles bore the brunt of collisions and dead batteries. Dead batteries and car repairs added to the season’s financial drain. The longer nights make many people sluggish.

Cold weather also seems to put a charge in combs and doorknobs. Removing a sweater in a dark room results in a brief fireworks show. Sliding headlong into a solid object creates another fireworks display. Shaking hands can almost knock both people across the room. I remember one time I kissed Lucy without touching a metal object first. Her yelp of pain ensured I dissipated the static charge before touching her after that.

Car batteries come in a multitude of sizes and capacities. Cold weather reduces the effective capacity of a battery along with thickening up lubricants. I am trying to replace the battery in my car and am having difficulty finding a replacement, which no doubt adds to replacement cost. Even though the car is only five years old with very low mileage, it has a puny factory battery with a three-year lifetime. Another round of sub-zero weather may head my way for the holidays and I’d rather not hook up jumper cables in “can’t feel my face after ten seconds” weather.

Like a car battery, people also need recharging. Many of us build our lives on a “three-legged stool” of career, finances, and family (which can mean close friends in the case of a single person). If any one of these three areas is missing or out of balance, we experience heightened stress. Stress is physically and mentally draining. Careers are fickle especially in an impaired economy and are usually well outside our control. Finances are easier to manage but are subject to unforeseen events. Some families are dysfunctional or are emotionally distant. In a balanced life, we can recharge from each of the three areas although not at equal percentages. Some people have more stability in their careers and will draw most of their recharge from that. Others are financial wizards that can squeeze the optimal value from a dollar. Most of us have strong and supportive families.

How to recharge may change with age. For example, I was more career driven in my early 20’s, finance driven in my late 20’s, and family driven starting in my 30’s after I married Lucy. The important thing is figuring out how and when to recharge.

The holiday season is usually filled with hustle and bustle. Holidays affect work deadlines with increased workloads, decreased numbers of people in the office, or both. Work can also affect family gatherings if someone cannot get time off to make a trip. Shopping affects finances and free time. Planning family gatherings and outings sometimes seems like herding amphetamine abusing cats.  We try to make the most of our situations and get the maximum amount of happiness we can get.

Take time to recharge and enjoy some time with people who care about you. It will help to recharge you. Don’t use a credit card if it is whimpering, skulking, or smoldering from the last shopping excursion. Remember your priorities and from where you draw your strength. Give your special someone a meaningful hug, but please touch a metal object first!

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by | December 3, 2013 · 8:06 pm

“You can fool all of the people some of the time…”

Relax, this isn’t a political rant, even though I am borrowing a line from Abraham Lincoln. It isn’t a complaint about Comcast’s lack of a Service Level Agreement for household Internet users since that was my last posting. It does sum up the frustration in the Twin Cities area about the rapidly changing weather forecasts for the next several days. Local urgent care centers are seeing an increase in whiplash injuries from people doing double-takes at the uncertainty of the snow line.

Between 5:00 am and 5:00 pm today (December 3), the forecast for my area went from less than an inch of snow to somewhere around five inches. There is now a Winter Storm Warning in effect because the snow line has moved about 100 miles farther south than originally estimated. Winter weather is more complex than summer weather when it comes to estimating precipitation amounts. In the summer, the primary precipitation is rain, with hail distantly (and thankfully) in second place. A 1°F temperature shift in the summer rarely affects precipitation quantity or type. In winter, that 1°F swing means the difference between plain old rain, freezing rain, or heavy and wet snow. Barometric pressure also subtly affects the freezing point of water.

Coping with impending lousy weather is stressful. Some people rely on television shows to help relax, but the broadcast networks are all in reruns already. Others hope to get out-of-town and head to a warm beach. Frozen precipitation causes delay problems and cancellations. Judging by the number of recipe and food picture postings on Facebook, others are coping by calorie loading. The old saying “Life is uncertain, eat dessert first” certainly applies.

I have not heard from my usual partners-in-crime what the “over/under” is for the difference between actual snowfall and forecast snowfall. My football forecast went into the tank when the Vikings won on Sunday, and I do no better than the weather wonks on the local TV stations at predicting the weather. My guess is there will be more freezing rain than snow and tomorrow’s commute will be miserable, at least for my end of the metro area. I hope those of you who must commute tomorrow depart from and arrive at home safely.

Our snowfall ending is also the end of average temperatures for at least a week. We could have four days of below zero lows (-18°C) Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday nights. By next Wednesday, the high temperature may stay below zero for the day. Homemade chili sounds like a good way to battle the cold weather. A little habañero sauce rather than chili powder and substituting ground turkey for ground beef should help with the calorie count. I know it will help with sweating off the calories. So will using the snow blower and shovel.

My Internet service is stable again. The new cable modem was defective. That still does not explain why I was having service problems for three days before the new cable modem arrived. It certainly appears a software update sent by Comcast caused the issue.

Give your loved ones a meaningful hug, stay warm, and stay safe. Faithful readers are hard to come by!

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