Yup, another Snow Day

Greetings-

We had another round of winter weather come through Tuesday here in my part of Kansas.  This storm has dumped about a foot of snow here.

Kids are getting another snow day on Wednesday.  This gives them a 5 day weekend before Valentine's day as the school is having P/T Conferences on Thursday and Friday of this week.

The picture is one that I took late last night of our front sidewalk.

It's very pretty outside this early morning, but the beauty hides danger.  The roads are just awful out there tonight.  Stay home unless you absolutely have to get out in this mess.

Until next time,
-Bill-

The Blizzard of Oz

Greetings-

The snow storm is winding down here in Kansas and things are just a mess.  Here in Central Kansas, things aren't as bad as they are to the south and east, but it's still nasty outside.  Right now, the temperature is 6° F and the wind chill is -17° F.  The wind is blowing the snow around and piling up some pretty impressive drifts.

No school again tomorrow for the kids.  They are happy, but I'm about to throw them outside.  It's been too cold to go outside and play, so they've been stuck inside where their favorite entertainment seems to be a game called "Let's Annoy Dad".

They better have school Thursday or I'm going to make them go up to the school anyway.

Until next time,
-Bill-

I am not the creator of the above image.  If you know who did create it or where it originally came from, let me know so that I can provide proper credit.

My Mother-In-Law

Greetings-

Today, we got the news that my mother-in-law slipped and fell on patch of ice last night and broke her leg right above her ankle.  She had to have surgery today to get a pin put in her leg so that it will heal correctly.

She made it through surgery fine, but I must ask all of you to keep her in your thoughts as she begins the healing process.  My wife and I would really appreciate it.  Thanks.

Until next time,
-Bill-

The Snow!

We finally got our first snow storm of the season here in Salina.  I can't believe I was so excited to get snow.  It's cold and miserable outside!  What was I thinking?

The kids sure enjoyed their day off from school today, though.

I don't think there is an undisturbed patch of snow anywhere in the yard.  They were out pulling a sled around, throwing snow at each other, and having a wonderful time.

It looks like the snow is done falling for a while and I actually caught sight of the moon in the west.  Unfortunately, it's supposed to be very very cold and breezy for the next couple of days and that means dangerous wind chills.  If you have to be outside, make sure you are bundled up.

Until next time,
-Bill

Winter Weather

I love the winter time.  I don't know of many adults that look forward to snow days.

Kansas is about to be hit with a pretty decent winter storm starting late tonight and lasting through Monday.  So far the computer models that the local news stations have been using are predicting anywhere from 5-8 inches of snow in my area of Kansas.

I'm shivering with anticipation of the clean feeling that a blanket of snow brings to the world outside my door.

Hopefully, I'll have some good pictures of the snow storm later on in the weekend to share here on the blog.

Also want to say to all the folks here in Kansas to be careful when you have to travel this weekend.  If you don't absolutely have to go somewhere why don't you stay at home grab a big cup of your favorite hot beverage, and watch the world go by from the comfort of your living room?

Until next time
-Bill

Global Warming My A$$

Yesterday, on what was the coldest day of the season so far, the heater in the house started acting wonky and not putting out as much heat as it should. This morning, Mrs. Bill called the gas company to have them come out and take a look at the heater to make sure we weren't going to go up in a big giant fireball, and they found that the burner had a very large amount of rust on it and in the jets, so they turned off the heater and told us to get ahold of a repair man ASAP.

Mrs. Bill called the landlord this morning and spoke to his wife about the situation, and we got a repair man out here with a quickness. "Handy Manny" cleaned out all the rust and soot out of the burner, and got things fired back up. Before the repair guy got here, it was 9º F outside and 50º F inside. Awfully hard to type with numb fingers. Right now, though, the temperature inside the house has risen to a balmy 52º F and the feeling is beginning to come back in my fingers.

Where's that global warming when you really need it?

Severe Weather Season

Those of you that know me well, will know that I am fascinated with all types of weather phenomenon. Spring in Kansas is a veritable treasure chest of weather. My favorite type of weather is severe storms. Wind, hail, thunder, lightning, tornadoes, etc.

Today in my area of the state, we are under a tornado watch. A tornado watch means that conditions are ripe for the formation of tornadoes. More specifically, wikipedia says that a tornado watch is:
"issued when weather conditions are favorable for the development of severe thunderstorms that are capable of producing tornadoes. A tornado watch therefore implies that it is also a severe thunderstorm watch. A tornado watch must not be confused with a tornado warning."

Right now, there is heavy rain and very small "pea-sized" hail that is falling at my house. For those of you that don't know what hail is: "Hail is a form of precipitation which consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice (hailstones), 5 mm–50 mm in diameter on average, with much larger hailstones from severe thunderstorms^[1]. Hail is always produced by cumulonimbus (thunderclouds), and is composed of transparent ice or alternating layers of transparent and translucent ice at least 1 mm thick. Small hailstones are less than 5 mm in diameter, and are reported as SHGS. Unlike ice pellets, they are layered and can be irregular and clumped together."

Do any of you like severe weather as much as I do, or am I just a complete weirdo?