Category Archives: Weather +Climate

Weather +Climate

What Kate Leaves Behind On Her Trip To Denver (Grandkids)

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Spring                Waxing Seed Moon

Weather guy in the Star-Tribune tried to cheer us with the news that at no time in April has the temperature fallen below zero since record keeping began.  Only in Minnesota would that be seen as a good thing, or maybe better, something you’d need to know.  April!

Today has a bright morning sun, clear blue skies and well below freezing weather.  This is the same kind of weather we had for a good long while back in February although the temperatures were colder.  The mulch in my garden still has ice, but the ground is clear.  Another cool week ahead of us.

Those of us in Anoka County might find the Rum overflowing this week, at least according to NOAA:

.DAY ONE…TODAY AND TONIGHT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR EXPECTED ALONG MANY RIVERS AND STREAMS ACROSS CENTRAL AND WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA…PARTICULARLY THE MINNESOTA AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS AND THEIR TRIBUTARIES. REFER TO THE LATEST FLOOD WARNINGS…STATEMENTS AND OUTLOOKS FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.

Here’s their weekend forecast, too:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 43. North northwest wind between 6 and 8 mph.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 27. North northeast wind around 6 mph.

Saturday: Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Northeast wind between 5 and 9 mph.

Saturday Night: A 30 percent chance of snow, mainly after 1am. Cloudy, with a low around 29. North northeast wind between 10 and 15 mph.

Sunday: A 20 percent chance of snow. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Breezy, with a north northeast wind between 15 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24.

GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

Snow and Bytes

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Spring          Waxing Seed Moon

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.” – Galileo Galilei

The snow has come and now melts.  I have installed a monitor for the gateway which means I have two up now.  This seems like too much, but screens have become cheap.  This new one cost $179,  a 20 inch high def flat-screen.

The next phase of all this work is to split the load between the two computers and connect up the exeternal hard-drives in a way that makes sense.  I’ve looked into partitioning the large drive in the Gateway–640 gigs–and the 1 terabyte Seagate external, but have not decided on whether I want to go that route or not.

My other hard drive was full and the external, Maxtor drive, has filled up, too.  This makes the Dell slower and more cranky.  The Gateway came in at $500 even, so adding a new computer was not a big cost plus its faster and has a much bigger hard-drive than the Dell.  Right now I’m loading Starry Night Pro Plus onto the Gateway.  I’ll be able take its 11 gigs off the Dell once its on the larger hard-drive.  This will  make this machine quicker and more responsive.  That’s under way as I write.

GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

Bytes and Flakes

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Spring (?)      Waxing Seed Moon

The sky has a rippled layer of cumulus from horizon to horizon, gray and low hanging.  The dewpoint is low and the barometer has taken a turn straight down, anticipating the oncoming storm.  Out on the South Dakota Minnesota border where Blue Cloud Abbey sits on the Coteau Hills a blizzard has visibility down to a quarter of a mile.

The current prediction from NOAA:

SPECIFICALLY…AREAS AROUND OLIVIA TO BUFFALO TO CAMBRIDGE
MINNESOTA WITH HAVE LOCALLY TWO TO FOUR INCHES BEFORE THE SNOW
TAPERS OFF TO FLURRIES OR LIGHT SNOW TUESDAY NIGHT. AREAS AROUND
NEW ULM TO THE TWIN CITIES WILL HAVE LOCALLY ONE INCH…POSSIBLY
AS HIGH AS TWO INCHES IN THE NORTHERN SUBURBS OF THE TWIN CITIES.

My gut tells me we’ll get more, but this evening will tell.  We had winds of 20 mph around 2 p.m. and they’ve kept the bell ringing here all day.

After a bit of a rocky start my new computer and I are on the way to becoming friends.  We can now communicate.  Feels good to get it up and functioning.

GeekWorld, Weather +Climate

The Snow, Man. Cometh.

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Spring             Waxing Seed Moon

Right now the barometer has a gentle slope up, winds are in the 2-3 mph range and the sky overcast.  The weather folks at NOAA have changed their advice:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA…AND WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN. .DAY ONE…TODAY AND TONIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS WEST CENTRAL AND CENTRAL SECTIONS OF MINNESOTA TODAY WITH THE SNOW BECOMING HEAVY TONIGHT. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS FROM 6 TO 10 INCHES ARE LIKELY BY TUESDAY MORNING ALONG AND WEST OF A LINE FROM DAWSON TO ALEXANDRIA. IN ADDITION…EASTERLY WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH TONIGHT CAUSING BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. NEAR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT FOR AREAS NEAR THE SOUTH DAKOTA BORDER. FARTHER EAST AND SOUTH…A WINTRY MIX OF SNOW…SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN IS EXPECTED TONIGHT FROM REDWOOD FALLS AND NEW ULM THROUGH THE TWIN CITIES AS WELL AS ACROSS WEST CENTRAL WISCONSIN.

Once again into the breech.  I’m going to turn on my recalcitrant new computer and see if I can make it humm.

Politics, Weather +Climate

The Little Legislature That Could

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Imbolc             Full Moon of Winds

Kate tweaked her neck at work.  Ouch.

The temperature has gone below zero one more time, -4.  I heard on MPR today that the National Weather Service averaged all the highs and lows across the country.  This winter was .5 degree warmer than last year.  Not here in Minnesota, or the Upper Midwest, but highs in the Southwest and West balanced us out.

The little engine that could has begun to huff and puff its way up the halls of the Minnesota Legislature.  There’s a lot of I think I can, I think I can, I know I can, I’ll try going on over there.  Unlike the children’s book however, this is a massive moving body with many interchangeable parts.  I’m pulling for it to get up the hill.  We all  need it to make it.

The cold weather can leave us now.  The proud Minnesotan part of the winter is over; we’ve made our stand, yet another successful one, but now it’s time for a little warm weather.  Coming Saturday I understand.

Art and Culture, Asia, Weather +Climate

Can’t Get No Satisfaction

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Imbolc        Waxing Moon of Winds

Even now the winds continue as winter and spring continue their tug of war.  Seasons do not just give up here, seasonal ground has to be earned.

Two China tours today.  I left dissatisfied with my work on them.  My work was not as crisp or as engaging.  I may need to go back to themes and questions, which I have largely abandoned.   These were  senior high kids and there was a certain amount of boy/girl silliness with the girls in front and the boys in back, moving away.  Still, at my best I keep the kids engaged and today I didn’t.  Room for improvement.

My first asmat tour is next Friday and I have work to get ready for it.

Otherwise, tired.  Headed upstairs for a nap.

Art and Culture, Politics, Weather +Climate

The Moon of Winds Delivers

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Imbolc        New Moon (Moon of Winds)

The moon of winds has already begun to deliver.  We’ve had gusts up to 15 and average windspeeds of up to 5.6 mph.  All the air and clouds running before a snow storm coming to us from the west.

The legislative situation has begun to pick up speed.  I’m not sure what all the momentum will do when it hits the wall of the new revenue forecast, anticipated to raise our state deficit by some billions more.

Two China tours tomorrow.  I’m doing my 8 dynasties tour for these Chinese language students from Highland Park High School in St. Paul.

Off to Costco.  No, not again.  Never made it Tuesday.  Gotta go today.  The dogs need food.

Aging, Weather +Climate

Cabin Fever and Feeling Old

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Imbolc      Waning Wild Moon

I know this will continue a down refrain from the last couple of weeks, but I want to talk about it anyhow.

One of the more problematic parts of getting older lies in the corrosive nature of normal problems.  That is, today and this last week I have felt slightly sick, unwell but not moving outright into a cold or the flu.  This may be, probably is, a hangover from the vertigo of two Mondays ago, but I find it hard not to ascribe it to generally decreased vigor.

When I went to the  capitol on Tuesday, I was there from noon until 4:00 pm or so.  By the time I got home I felt completely worn out.  Yesterday at the continuing education at the Art Institute the thought of waiting from 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. to do a walk through of the Asmat exhibit found me on the way home.

A certain shuffle in the walk necessarily accompanies vertigo, since rapid movements often tripped the spinning/nausea cycle.  That shuffle, the tenderness and care with which I held my body, made feel only months away from assisted living.

As I write this, a more plausible explanation than age occurs to me.  Writing has a consitent therapeutic value, something I appreciate about it.  I’ve been inside and hunkered down since late December, only venturing out for Sierra Club, Art Institute, Woolly Mammoth or sheepshead events.

The cabin fever that can strike us  Minnesotans during this time has been noticeably absent from me this year.  I thought I’d beat it with interesting and varied activities.  Nope.  This tunnel vision, feeling like life has no breadth, comes from the inside life.  It also creates the old guy feeling of a life with no pizzazz and no energy, then reinforces it with whatever examples the environment offers:  vertigo, feeling a bit off.

There.  Now I have to get ready to go the Institute.

Aging, Politics, Weather +Climate

When The Bell Tolls, It Tolls For Tor and Celt and Morgana…

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Imbolc   Waning Wild Moon

Our Arcosanti bell has rung and rung today.  A north wind has blown in at speeds up to 24 mph.

Kate bought this bell quite a while ago on a trip to see her father.  When she brought it back, we had just experienced two Wolfhound deaths, I believe it was Celt and Scot.  I suggested we hang it and let it be a memorial bell for all of our dogs.  And so we did.

My day at the capitol yesterday wore me out.  I remember when I would go to the capitol and be there all day, sometimes until late in the night.  Geez.  It’s a long drive in to St. Paul, so I’m going to limit myself to one trip in a week for right now.  As the weather warms and the session gets more action oriented, I may go in more.

It’s important to be there from time to time, to take the pulse of the place myself for the Sierra Club blog.

Art and Culture, Weather +Climate, Writing

Life-Long Learning

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7oaks250Imbolc    Waning Wild Moon

My weatherblog has been up for almost a month now at the Star-Tribune Weatherwatchers site.  The weather has not been interesting.  It has been either really cold or not so cold.  Little snow.  No storms.  Some days gloomy, some days not.  It taxes me metaphorically to comment.  I never appreciated how difficult attending to relatively stable conditions could be.  It makes the whole concept of news make a lot more sense.

I began yesterday a protracted period of study.  I need to get up to speed on the Sierra Club’s issues for the blog.  I have a special tour for Annie to put together, a piece on textiles and crafts.  In order to learn more about the weather I’ve decided to devote the next two or three weeks to cloud research since the type of cloud helps make the blog more weather savvy.

After my wondrous sheepshead night last week, I’ve also decided to read my two sheepshead books and see if I can pick up some tips for my play.  A big one:  14 trump, not 13.

On March 15th I have a presentation I’ve titled American Identity in the Time of Obama.  Work to do on that one, too.