10 December 2017

Sunday's Weird Weather

So ... December in Alaska. Should be cold and snowy, right?

The jet stream is a funny animal. When it dips low in the Lower 48, bringing snow to the southern states, it rises far to the north on this - the western end of the S-curve - and brings us unseasonably warm air. And rain.

Except we had two months of cold, snowy weather prior to this change, so the ground and roads are frozen. All the rain that's been falling for the last 10 days has turned to ice.

Today, we get more freezing rain, perhaps a half-inch of it, and 40-60 mph wind, gusting to 80. At least, that's the forecast for elevated locations like our homestead here in the mountains. Will we see those winds here? Depends on the direction from whence it comes: we live on a shoulder, south of and below the peak of the mountain we're on. Said mountain is part of a chain which stretches east-to-west. If the wind's out of the north, we may not notice it.

Or we might have another batch of branches and small trees fallen all over the yard. Again.


So our plan for the day was to finally set up all the inflatables in the yard this morning, before the rain moved in. But given the freezing precip which fell overnight, and the winds, I'm thinking it might not be the best day for inflating dirigibles.

Let's face it: those inflatable Christmas-related figures aren't much different from blimps, other than the internal lighting.

But we will probably set the Snoopy-on-a-fireplace out on the deck, as long as the early afternoon weather is reasonably amenable. It could be tied to the railing, providing more stability than the middle of the yard. We shall see.

11 comments:

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

That just sounds very cold and sort of miserable, Reverend.

Ice is the real danger here. People always snicker at how folks around here freak out at a half inch of snow, but inevitably one or two people are seriously injured because of ice.

Rev. Paul said...

TB, it is miserable ... at least for us. We are used to heavy snow, and even blizzards. None of that fazes us very much; it's commonplace here. But rain and ice? Not so much.

Besides, we appreciate the snow, because it levels the frost heaves & fills in the potholes. :)

12Paws said...

Smashing beautiful banner!

Rev. Paul said...

Thank you!

LindaG said...

Definitely different from any Chinook winter we saw there in the late 70s.
It is 63 degrees here today and gorgeous out.
Be safe. God bless. Definitely stay warm.

And maybe share your dirigibles once you get them tethered. ;-)

drjim said...

60 degrees here in Fort Collins, and NO snow.

Rev. Paul said...

Linda, I'll see what I can do. :)

Jim, I bet you're just as unhappy about it as we are.

Old NFO said...

Good luck with the inflatables... :-)

Rev. Paul said...

Thanks, NFO. Turns out, we didn't have time to get to them. Only 4 1/2 hrs of daylight, this time of year. It got too dark & too windy to proceed, by 15:30.

Sandy Livesay said...

Rev Paul,
Winter weather has been strange(even though we're north officially in winter). We've had bad winds here, not as bad as yours. Temperatures have been in single digits, and peak to low 40's.
I'd be worried placing blowup decorations out.

Rev. Paul said...

As it turned out, Sandy, we ran out of time. So nothing got set out. At this point, I'm not sure if it will; perhaps the one we talked about tying to the railing on the deck. :)