Daily Archives: January 10, 2017

Colorado, Minnesota, Weather +Climate

Snow Eaters

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Winter                                               Cold Moon

“Duluth spent about 63 hours below zero from Tuesday night to Friday afternoon, Embarrass hit 37 below zero Friday morning and wind chills across the Northland nosed 40 below zero over the past week.

And the arctic blast isn’t over yet. A wind chill advisory remains in effect until noon Saturday for all of the Northland, with wind chill values into the 30s below zero.” Duluth News Tribune, January 6, 2017

Just an example of why Minnesota came in number 1 on a recent list of worst winters. It’s why the winters here in Colorado, which came in 47th on the same list (seems off to me, but, hey), can seem almost a different season than the one 40 years in Minnesota acclimated me to.

This week has featured both snow and snow-eaters. The snow has not been much, less than an inch, plus flurries today, though last week’s snow freshened up and plumped up our snow cover. Then, we get the chinooks, the snow-eaters.

These ferocious winds can reach 90 mph and exceeded that outside Colorado Springs with 113 mph blasts whipping a fire through a suburban neighborhood. Chinooks are creatures of the mountains. This illustration explains them very well.

chinook

In the instance of Shadow Mountain we are on the eastern, lee side, of the continental divide, the right side in this illustration. When the circumstances are right, the winds begin to fall down the lee side, gathering speed and warmth as they plummet toward the plains (adiabatic heating), also losing moisture as their temperature rises. Thus, the snow-eater.

We’ve had two long instances of chinooks this week, one tentatively underway right now. The lodgepoles dip and bend. Near their tops the trees look like they’re wrestling each other. Anything not nailed down blows away. The piles of snow melt. Note that this is not the solar snow shovel, but a separate phenomenon. Just another way in which Colorado winters differ from the sort experienced in Duluth over the last few days.

Family, Health, Weather +Climate

Bringing You to Up To Date on Shadow Mountain Doings

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Winter                                                                           Cold Moon

The cold, just a bit of thickness left. The knee. Stiff in the mornings now, but becoming more supple. P.T. this morning at 7:30 am. Work. Still not back, though soon, maybe even today. Sleep. Sigh. Episodic and mysterious.

This new knee has been a difficult thing. Much more difficult than I imagined. Still, the positive elements of it have begun to assert themselves. It will take time to get my muscles back to their pre-surgery, pre-arthritic knee level, but that’s o.k. I have time.

I see my internist, Lisa Gidday tomorrow. She asked me to come in. Didn’t say why. It’s always a little disconcerting when your physician asks to see you. I’ll find out soon.

Kate’s in a much cheerier place now that the endoscopy came back normal. If momma ain’t happy, then nobody’s happy. She has Bailer Patchworkers today, a sewing group that meets at the Bailey Public Library. Very close to the library, but across 285 to the south, is The Happy Camper. Kate’s sewing days often end in a drug run. I’m getting another couple packages of Cheeba Chews, Indica (a strain of M.J.).

Ways the divorce creates upset. Through Jen’s lawyer Jon has been told that he can’t go to the Pontiac St. house to get the remainder of his things until closing. The kicker with this is that Jen has moved out to a condominium and no longer resides there. The restraining order specifically mentions the house, however, and without her permission he can’t get in. Frustrating. To put it mildly.

We had some snow last night, about an inch, similar amounts expected over the next couple of days or so. The cold has gone. Winter is firmly resident now, but in that peculiar Colorado way of snow, then melt. We had chinooks, snow-eaters, yesterday. These are warm winds that roll down from the continental divide toward the Great Plains. We’re in the way. Gusts up to 90 mph. More on them in a later post.