Friday, December 08, 2006

Snow: 2 feet, counting

Looks like London is going to be snowbound for a while. We've received between 2 and 3 feet of the white stuff over the last 18 hours or so, and it continues to fall. Squalls continue to roll in off of Lake Huron. We've lived here for ten years, and we've never seen anything like it in this part of the world. Cool!

The city's shut down. The kids have a snow day, so they are, as one might expect, giddily gleeful. Watching them bounce over to the window for a first look at the world of white was a joy to watch, one of those moments where you're glad you became a parent.

I'll work from home because writers with laptops, high-speed wireless Internet connections, remote desktop and a host of other tech goodies can't use the weather as an excuse. In the meantime, if anyone needs a pseudo-scientific explanation of the term "lake effect", e-mail me.

Pictures to follow....

Your turn: What's Ma Nature doing in your part of the world? Want us to send you any snow?

30 comments:

kenju said...

Carmi, if you can get out of there, you are welcome to come and visit us! Today it will be in the high 40's, but by the middle of next week, it is predicted to be in the 60's again. I have only seen 2' of snow once, about five years ago, and it was horrible. I feel for you guys, and I hope you have enough food in the house for the duration.

Anonymous said...

I had some snow last week and loved it. We hardly ever get snow.

Snow days are MADE for the kiddos.

Jean-Luc Picard said...

Fortunately we're well clear of snow right now, and have absolutely no wish for any of it!

Michele sent me.

Anonymous said...

Mmm. It's cold, but not snowy especially, in Toronto. Which is nice on one hand (I can walk around without fear of slipping on hidden ice and things) but not so nice on the other (it's not very pretty. :))

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about snow. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Carmi,

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake-effect_snow for more info.

Richard

Anonymous said...

It was cold yesterday. It's cold today. It'll probably be cold tomorrow.

Please don't share your snow with us, though...it seems to have a brain-damaging effect on our residents. I NEVER see as many stupid people as I do when there's a little snow on the ground.

srp said...

My daughter was raised in the South, a true Mississippi southern belle. She craved snow, whined about not having snow, thought 4 inches of the stuff was a blizzard. Actually, most people in Mississippi think 4 inches is a blizzard, at least they drive like it is.

One spring break she went to western New York for spring break. Here, transplanted Mississippi friends lived out in the boonies, north of Syracuse and east of Buffalo. Syracuse had 11 inches and the closer they got to Redfield the more snow there was. Average for the season was over 100 inches. She sledded on innertubes, rode snowmobiles, built snowmen, shoveled, saw it snow every day she was there from lake effect.

It cured her desire for snow. Completely. Never heard another whine about no snow in Mississippi. Now, she plainly states that she wants warm beaches, mild winters and it wouldn't hurt her feelings if she never had to be in snow again.

But, when it snowed four inches at William and Mary last year, who was the first one out at midnight, building a snowman? You guessed it!

Anonymous said...

MTL has 0 snow but it is oh-so-cold!! I have 2 sweaters INDOORs. Love this weather??? hmmm

Anonymous said...

Well, in Toronto, she's freezing our butts off (comparatively - it's only a few degrees below zero, but we've turned into giant sucks after last year's easy winter).

No snow though. Which is good, because I need boots.

Anonymous said...

Wow, we barely have anything just a short way down the 401 here in Guelph.

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

Chicago got hit with a huge snowstorm last Friday. My 6 floor office was only about half-filled. I was there, of course, and interestingly enough it only took me 40 minutes to get to work in the storm. I left for work at 5:50 in the morning though and I'm sure if I left any later, it would be two or more hours to get there.

Because of the storm, I decided to post some winter drivingsafety tips. I hope this helps people who need it.

Anonymous said...

it's fixin to start raining here on the west coast sometime today and it's expected to continue through the weekend. :( why can't it rain while i am in the office???

Anonymous said...

It is a crisp 40 degrees here this morning. Our temperature is expected to rise to about 66 degrees by noon. The sun is out in all its brillance and it looks like a warm Christmas season for us.

Your post brought back memories of my youth in Minnesota and the delight we all felt when schools were closed because of weather.

I was always jealous of my cousins who lived on farms and took the bus into town for school. If it snowed during the day and the roads closed, they stayed with snow families. Snow families were town people who opened their homes to rural kids. Each kid in the fall was assigned a snow family.

I just thought that was soooo dramatic and I day-dreamed about the wealthy snow family that would want to indulge all my fantasies. Of course being a town kid I just got to go home early. Such is life in the real world.

came by way of Michele

Young Lady said...

we have a good three feet of snow in northern sask. Today its so mild out there, hopefully it will melt

Thumper said...

Until today we've had seriously wonderful, mid-60s (F) weather, nice and sunny...today its overcast and cool and is supposed to rain. But I'll take that over snow anyday.

Snow is Evil. Verrrrry Evil...

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

Well, I was already just here, but Michele sent me, so I have returned.

It's still cold here in Chicago 10-15 degrees fahrenheit. It's supposed to get up to the 30's this weekend, though.

Paste said...

Wet and windy!
Here from Michele's this wet and windy evening.

Jean-Luc Picard said...

I called earlier on this; no snow please!

Michele sent me here.

Jean-Luc Picard said...

Michele sent me your way...again!

OldLady Of The Hills said...

WOW!!! That is a whole lot of Snow, Carmi...I bet your pictures will be AWESOME! I hope you build a snowman with your kids!
Michele sent me today but you know I always love to visit you...!
It is quite warm here today....Bordering on 80 degrees or a touch more, I think....Not too hot and not too cold..My kind of weather! (lol)

Anonymous said...

Unseasonally warm here. I was out in short sleeves today. I wonder if we may have had a Föhn...

Anonymous said...

Friday 12-8-06
Montreal
Temp: (-8C)-clear skies but cold
Chance of flurries
Low (-9c)

Flurries for Sat and Sat night



Jer.

Anonymous said...

Well, some snow would be nice, but snow in Sacramento would be news! However, the Lake Tahoe area ski resorts sure could use a blast. If you would be so kind...

Mike

rashbre said...

Amazing difference in weather, we are still at an unseasonally high 10-13 degrees Centigrade. Warm enough to walk about outside without a coat.

And Hi - today Michele has sent me!

rashbre

Chatty said...

We had our first snow of the season, but it didn't keep me from visiting Carmi!

Michele made me do it!

Anonymous said...

It's cold. Not extremely cold.. only about -11C. but you can send some of that white stuff this way.

It did snow all day today and some yesterday so we do have snow... just not enough of it :)

Thanks!

Catherine said...

No snow here, it is supposed to be summer after all. Though every so often I hear a weather forecast that says "snow down to 500 metres". what? in summer? fortunately I live close to sea level where it is cold with rain squalls. I want some summer weather, but not the summer weather they are having across the ditch in Australia where there are droughts and huge bush fires. Given that option, I think I will stick with cool and greyish

Snaggle Tooth said...

Had the polar blast all day, 8 degrees F (32 is freezing) windchill Temp reported- some snow, another inch, which the strong gales mostly blew away.
Bet you've heard of "ocean effect!"

No work today-yay! Would have to drive if were- no excuses for that place!

Ms Mac said...

My and my big mouth. This morning we woke to snow!

caramaena said...

Ma Nature left the heater on for us, the last few days. We've had 40C plus (over 100F). Today should be slightly cooler though.

Feel free to send us any snow you like - we're also in the middle of the worst drought in years so it would come in handy :)