We'll have rain move through later this afternoon or evening. It's been highs in the upper 40's for the last few days but moving up to the mid 50's for the next week or so.

unseasonably mild weather going on here. we have had a stretch of sunny days which is never a given
here in the copper country. temps have been in the low to mid 30s for the most part. many of you would
not be happy with those temps, but for here, it is a bonus. there is enough snow on the ground for the
snow mobilers, and the ski hill, but we are way behind on snowfall to date. seven day forecast doesn't show
much in the way of snow. january is often a 100 inches of snow month. i am certainly not complaining. just
enjoying it while it lasts.


keith

The really cold stuff is bottled up in Siberia. It will likely get loose at some point before winter is done.

https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/UEEE

Woke up this morning freezing my tail off.
Windows wide open and the heater off.
I have no idea what I was thinking.
Took forever to warm the house up.

First day of sunshine in well, I can't remember... Maybe 3 months?

Haven't looked outside in a bit and when I did to my surprise it is snowing big time.
I don't see this very often.

My son and daughter are just outside of College Station, north of, and it is snowing there, sticking too. 44 degrees here, not very likely we will get any snow.

I have had cats that loved this weather.
Not Smokey.
She came running back in.
It's still snowing.

Rare photo of the back yard.

I hate to break it to you Worth, but that's not what people call "snowing big time".
My place looks about the same at the moment. It's what we call a 'little bitta'.

What’s all that white stuff?

Hottest day for quite some time here, 35C or 95F. Going to be 10C/18F cooler tomorrow then back up for Wednesday

Bower wrote: ↑Sun Jan 10, 2021 9:25 pm I hate to break it to you Worth, but that's not what people call "snowing big time".
My place looks about the same at the moment. It's what we call a 'little bitta'.

Snowed all day here.
A real rare event.
Trust me I know what a blizzard is.

If snow is rare there, please stay off the road if you can [mention]worth1[/mention] . I've seen what a lot of pileups you folks can have, who are not prepared to plow or sand the roads on the rare time it snows. Very very dangerous!

When I lived in New. England, there was a enormous mechanized cavalry of plows loaded with road salt that would be out at the first sign of any accumulation. It would be stupid to invest that kind of money into a fleet of plows if it only snows once every five or ten years. Therefore, we have a dump truck or two that drops a little sand on the bridges and overpasses and just try to hunker down until it all melts, which is usually in a day.

My daughter was at the deer and hog lease and it snowed there and driving back into the city was pretty treacherous. It’s not so much people don’t know how to drive on icy roads here, it’s just our roads don’t get the salt and plow treatments like up well north where snow and ice is just part of the winter routine. No one can drive on hard iced over roads, snow is better so long as it hasn’t frozen solid and be compacted too much.
But, I remember the comments when I lived in Massachusetts about “ well, you are from the south so you must not be able to drive in the snow” “sorry, hate to burst your bubble, but I can drive just as good as you in the snow, it’s not exactly rocket science is it.”

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:09 am But, I remember the comments when I lived in Massachusetts about “ well, you are from the south so you must not be able to drive in the snow”

I lived in Calgary, Canada for a year and got that kind of comment a lot. Funny thing though--during/as a result of the first sizeable snowstorm that winter, there were 140K accidents in a city of about 700K over one weekend. Apparently even Canadians get out of practice over the summer. By the end of that winter my wife and I were pretty fearless on snow in our Corolla. Not so much on ice--that's the thing the Yanks and Canucks never really get and don't really understand. Santa Claus can't even drive on that stuff.

Actually you can drive on ice.
I drove all across the state of Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle on ice back in 1978 headed to California..
Speed around 30 to 40 miles an hour.
My car was covered in ice.
And it was a long straight interstate.
Mountain roads and sharp corners would be a problem.
It was very treacherous but I was raised driving on it and snow..
My truck has a posi track and there would be no way without ice tires.

TXTravis wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:20 am

karstopography wrote: ↑Mon Jan 11, 2021 8:09 am But, I remember the comments when I lived in Massachusetts about “ well, you are from the south so you must not be able to drive in the snow”

I lived in Calgary, Canada for a year and got that kind of comment a lot. Funny thing though--during/as a result of the first sizeable snowstorm that winter, there were 140K accidents in a city of about 700K over one weekend. Apparently even Canadians get out of practice over the summer. By the end of that winter my wife and I were pretty fearless on snow in our Corolla. Not so much on ice--that's the thing the Yanks and Canucks never really get and don't really understand. Santa Claus can't even drive on that stuff.

If you are young enough it IS possible to drive on ice. When we were in our early twenties a few of us piled into a VW van and drove to San Francisco from Vancouver. As soon as we were in Washington state the roads became thick sheer ice. Of course we didn't turn back! We bought chains and carried on. Thought nothing of it, then. Just part of the adventure.
When we got back I found my peperomia plant had stuck frozen to the window it was next to in the house. It was a very cold winter that year.

Chains, snow tires (not all seasons) are necessary to drive safely on winter precip that hasn't been salted or sanded or plowed, unless the temperature is very close to freezing. As for technique, it depends on whether you have RWD FWD 4WD or AWD. They all react differently and old techniques like "pumping the brakes" don't work on AWD. Chains are the only thing that works for sheer ice, but they tear up the road so their use is limited by law here. I've done my share of creeping and slithering along in slippery weather, just hoping to get home and avoid the ditch and the other drivers. Nowadays I am choosy about the conditions in winter and will only make plans if the driving is good.
I was once in a pileup with several others on black ice. No steering! No brakes! Basic driving functions of the car do not respond. This has nothing to do with driver experience or knowhow, as I'm sure Santa would agree. I saw the pileup ahead of me from a long way away but was powerless to stop or to steer away from them. Frictionless stuff you lose it all.
I should hope you Texans are happy to have a snow day once every 5-10 years! Well worth the savings on equipment you'd never use.
With all our readiness here we still get weather that piles up too fast to be cleared for traffic every winter, so snow days are expected now and then. We like em!
Too funny, our weatherman is showing pictures of Texas tonight and asking us to guess where it is.

you might be able to drive on ice, but it causes all kinds of problems.
two years ago, late winter, the temperature was high enough to rain.
it rained a lot that day. temperature took a nose dive, and everything froze
up. the wind picked up, and gusted for hours. a stretch of our road has open
pasture on both sides, nothing to stop the wind. that stretch of road had several
inches of ice on it, blasted smooth as an ice rink. you could have skated on it. my
wife almost lost control in our subaru forester, and warned me about the road conditions.
the next day, driving to work,knowing the road was icey, but not sure where the beginning of the bad part
of the road was, being about a quarter mile stretch, i felt the back of our outback skitter right
just a bit, and the car started to slide like a hockey puck. i took my foot off the gas, and tried
to steer into the slide to correct, but it was too late. i was going off the road, and there wasn't
anything i could do about it. i turned the wheel hard left hoping i would miss a utility pole, and buried
the front end in the snowbank in the ditch about three feet from the pole.
they always say drive according to conditions. if safe speed is 20 mph, then thats what you better do.

temperature made it up to the low 30s today. there was precipitation, not what you could call rain, but
enough to glaze the cars with ice, and make the surface of the porch slippery.

keith