Category Archives: Weather

Blizzard of the Past

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We haven’t had a genuine blizzard this year, just layer after layer after layer of snow accumulation so that the end result, as of today, which was sunny and cold, looks a little post-blizzard. But not quite. The snow’s spread too evenly, unlike the weird drifts you see after strong winds.

In early 2011, we had a real blizzard, which of course I mentioned in passing. But I took more pictures than I posted three years ago. The miniature Matterhorn pile in front of our back door, nearly as tall as I am, was especially annoying. On the other hand, I liked the curls of snow on the roof.

Blizzard11.3The ornamental wooden bridge near the deck became completely impassable. As it is now. Contrast with this. Not that anyone except the dog ever crosses over it.

Blizzard11.2Deep snow can be fun, if you don’t have to shovel it. Three years ago, Lilly didn’t help me dig out. This year, she has been, especially if she wants to borrow the car.

Blizzard11.1Hard to believe it all melted in about a month. Hard to believe the snow we have now will likewise go away. At this point, you forget there’s a ground under there.

Yooper Snow

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More snow again last night. What is this, the Upper Peninsula? Which brings to mind a song by Da Yoopers.

My car didn’t actually get stuck today, but I can appreciate the line, “I shovel and I shovel and I shovel that snow.”

Da Yoopers bill themselves as “the #1 hunting, fishing, beer drinking comedy show in America.” They also operate a spot call Da Tourist Trap in Ishpeming, Michigan, up in the UP. If ever I’m there, and it’s a distinct possibility, I’ll buy some postcards or something just to support regional comedy.

Something I didn’t know till I looked it up today: Anatomy of a Murder was filmed in Ishpeming and surrounding area in 1959.

Midwinter Stasis

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Here’s a picture of my back yard from early January.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAnd here’s one from early February.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt’s been a snowy winter so far. Maybe a record, or near a record, but I’d have to look that up, and don’t feel like it.

When I heard last week that Pete Seeger died, it was a sad moment, but only a moment, since I didn’t actually know the man. I only know him from his recorded voice, films, two live appearances in Tennessee in the mid-80s, and what little I remember from reading, many years ago, the 1981 biography How Can I Keep from Singing: The Ballad of Pete Seeger, by David K. Dunaway. I’ve long had an unusual interest in Pete Seeger for someone my age.

Ninety-four is a good run. More than most of us get.

How Many Watts Was Byron?

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Not so cold today. By that, I mean just above zero F. The garage door opener started working again — luckily it had been stuck open — and the dog spent a little more time outside. By the weekend, I understand, temps will be above freezing. Which means meltage and then ice hazards when the refreeze comes. Winter’s a gas, that’s for sure.

Before the snow started to fall on New Year’s Eve — the snow that’s the bottom layer of our two feet or so now — I was out buying a few things and acquired a pack of 60W incandescent bulbs. Just to have some around for those few fixtures left in which we use them.

I read about the phase-out of 40W and 60W bulbs in PCMag, and the article assured readers that, “For now, though, just understand that no one will be taking away your light bulbs, only that you’ll see fewer incandescent ones in stores through the next year.”

That’s no fun. Time to start Internet rumors about squads of government hit men going around smashing incandescent bulbs. People believe less plausible things about the government, after all. (I Googled “Byron the Bulb” and the bit I wrote nearly seven years ago is on the first page.)

Subzero

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The National Weather Service and its ilk weren’t kidding about how cold it would be today. According to the NWS itself in its all-cap style (a leftover from teleprinter style?):

* A PROLONGED PERIOD OF DANGEROUSLY COLD AND POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING WIND CHILLS WILL OCCUR THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING.

* TEMPERATURES…‌LOWS 15 BELOW TO 20 BELOW ZERO THIS EVENING THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING.

* WIND CHILLS…‌35 BELOW ZERO TO 45 BELOW ZERO THROUGH MIDDAY TUESDAY. THESE FORECAST WIND CHILLS ARE THE LOWEST IN NEARLY 20 YEARS.

* FROST BITE AND HYPOTHERMIA CAN OCCUR IN A MATTER OF MINUTES.

All day, despite abundant sunshine, the cold seemed like it was pressing on the walls of the house, reaching its icy fingers into the small crevices under the doors, frosting some of the windows, impairing the glow of the compact florescent bulb on the back porch, interfering with the operation of the garage door opener, causing problems with our broadband service, and inspiring the furnace to switch on constantly. The good old gas furnace, boon of modernity.

As expected, no one had to go to school, and we got calls in the afternoon confirming that no one would on Tuesday, either. The mailman made it, though I wouldn’t have been upset if he’d skipped the day. The garbageman and recycle truck driver didn’t make it. It was too cold even for the dog. She’d dash outside for a minute, do her business in her favorite patch of back yard – buried pretty deep now – and hurry back.

The Snows of Yesteryear Are Still Around

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On New Year’s Eve 2013, snow started to fall in northern Illinois. Nothing dramatic, just steady snow that kept coming down, well into the new year. Good thing I didn’t have anywhere in particular to go around the turn of the year. For her part, the dog had to be content to bound around the drifts in the back yard.

Payton Jan 2, 2014It’s been snowing on and off since then, like a slow-motion blizzard. Word is that temps will be significantly subzero tomorrow, as low as it’s been here in 10? 20 years? Both schools have called off classes.

I’ve read that it was down to −27 °F in January 1985, the record low. We’re not expected to break that record tomorrow, but it’ll be unpleasantly close enough. Glad I wasn’t here for that low. Someone who lived through it once told me that when the temperature got back to zero, it felt almost warm.

Cold Tuesday, Clutch, Dog ‘n’ Tree

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This from today’s Chicago Tribune: “The temperature [this morning] dipped below zero overnight at O’Hare International Airport, the earliest that has happened here since 1995… The temperature fell to one degree below zero around 12:55 a.m., according to the National Weather Service. That’s the earliest subzero readings here since a low of minus 4 on Dec. 9, 1995.”

Those are two-fisted Fahrenheit readings, not any namby-pamby Celsius, either. Remember last winter, when it didn’t seem to get cold at all, with little snow? Not this time. So far. More snow is supposed to fall in the wee hours tomorrow.

Open questions: Is Clutch Cargo enjoying some kind of vogue among hipsters? Otherwise why is the Music Box Theatre, a fine revival and arts house on the North Side of Chicago, screening five episodes of the show on Friday?

Yesterday, girls decorating the Christmas tree. Today, a snap of dog and tree.

Payton+Tree

She hasn’t shown much interest in the tree, unlike certain other trees during her walks. I figure dogs have their own holidays, which somehow have something to do with epic events in the history of smell.

Im Cabaret, Au Cabaret, To Cabaret

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What’s winter up North without a spot of snow? Last winter, that’s what. So far this winter — which seems to be under way, despite what people say about the solstice marking the beginning — has more snow than last. At least, we got some today.

The dog likes to run around in it.

On Saturday, Lilly and I watched Cabaret on DVD. That movie and I go back a long way. In fact, I was taken to see it with the rest of my family when it was new, though I was too young to understand much of it. Since then, I’ve seen it — four? five times? It’s one of my favorite musicals, though technically I suppose it isn’t a musical, but a drama with a sort of Greek Chorus. We had the soundtrack on LP and later I got it on CD.

Some time ago I saw Cabaret on the stage, and more recently read The Berlin Stories, which count as the source material, though it’s remarkable how different all the iterations are. For instance, I remember working my way through Christopher Isherwood’s stories and thinking, when is Sally Bowles going to show up? She does, in one story. In the greater scheme of the narrative, she’s one of a number of passing characters. Well drawn and with some the elements of the later Sally, but not the main character she’d ultimately become. If I were a completist, I’d look into the ’50s movie I Am a Camera, but I don’t have a particularly strong urge to do so.

Lilly had something of a 16-year-old girl reaction to the film. Which is only reasonable. She didn’t like the fact that by the end of the movie, Sally and Brian weren’t together any more. But they weren’t right for each other, I said. No matter, that isn’t the ending she wanted. She reported greater satisfaction from Catching Fire, which she saw on Saturday night with her friends and assorted millions of others. Wonder which entertainment will stick with her longer.

Armistice Day Snow

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I’m the only one that’s going to call yesterday’s snow the Armistice Day Snow of 2013, but I’m peculiar that way. The name echoes the Armistice Day Blizzard of 1940, but of course yesterday’s event wasn’t nearly as severe, or unexpected. The Minnesota Historical Society remembers 1940. So does Ludington, Mich.

Or call it the Veterans Day Snow of 2013. It was strange to watch snowflakes blow by and the ground whiten up this early.

The view from the back door.

The dog didn’t mind the snow.

Thought so. She’s an Illinois hound, after all, and her coat has been noticeably thickening in recent weeks.

Wacky Packages Are Definitely Non-Edible

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Gray all day and then rain into the night. Light, steady rain that helps bring down the colorful leaves. On Sunday, under cerulean skies, diligent neighbors were outside collecting leaves. We weren’t so diligent, but I have a rationale (rationalization, perhaps). If you rake leaves on November 2, they’ll be more by November 9, and more still on the 16th. Best to wait.

Maybe in 20 or 30 years, raking leaves will be passé anyway. Leaves are just biomass nutrients for next year’s lawn, after all – which will be left uncut by right-thinking householders to save energy and encourage prairie restoration and wildflower cultivation to keep bees alive. I know I would skip lawn mowing if it meant saving the bees; I’m eco-minded that way.

Speaking of things that are passé, while digging through my desk recently – it often sports stacks of papers waiting for attention, because the only papers that need attention right away are slips payable to me, slips with information about how much I have to pay someone, and occasional personal letters or postcards – I found an early 2013-14 school year letter from Quincy Adams Wagstaff Elementary School.

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Birthdays are important to children and we want our students to be recognized on their special days…. Due to the rise in food allergies nationwide, and to promote healthy dietary choices and dental health, your child will be allowed to bring non-edible [their emphasis] birthday treats only…

The days of buying doughnuts for your kid’s class, in other words, are over. I don’t remember that we were entirely consistent about that, but during Lilly’s time at the school, and at least once for Ann, I remember going to our local doughnut shop early and getting three dozen doughnuts for the class: a mix of glazed and chocolate frosted, I think.

The letter continues —

Some ideas include:

Stickers

Bookmarks

Pencils/erasers

Fun items found at dollar stores

Donating a book to the classroom library in honor of your child

We are confident that these types of fun items will be just as enjoyable for classmates to receive on your child’s birthday…

Signed, the principal and the school nurse.

I’m not confident stickers or pencils or especially a donated book will go down as well as doughnuts, but I’m also slow when it comes to the latest in child psychology. Come to think of it, trading cards might be just the thing if they were along the lines of the perfectly juvenile Wacky Packages. I remember a few of these from junior high, even though I never bought any myself.