Mama Nature is in a MOOD

After a very warm and mostly dry December, we are making up for it this week. Monday night through Tuesday afternoon we got over 11" of heavy wet snow. It's snowing right now but should only be less than an inch. Thursday night it's supposed to start snowing and we could get at least another 7" of snow. Then the real fun of single digit and below zero highs (Fahrenheit) hits over the weekend a through Monday. The side streets are already a mess because plows couldn't get to them before at least 6-8" had fallen--now they are a thick frozen mess and won't get any better with the incoming snow and cold...so thankful we live on a street that's a snow route!

I'm also thankful that ODS had to go back to college on Sunday because he missed having to drive through or right after all of this snowy mess. He'll get the cold weather but is not getting hit with the same snow systems.

My mom's cousin is coming to Edmonton from California for her mother's memorial. Mom doesn't think she's been back in the in 40 years. It's-31C/-24F with the wind right now in Edmonton and only getting colder.

She will definitely be in for a shock! I hope she finds appropriate clothing.

Ooh, that is too cold! It is consistently cool here in the south - cool for us. It's been in the 40's most days, nights in the 20's, sometimes 30's. Finally getting rain after a dry fall. I've worn gloves a few times. No snow so far. We didn't have any last winter. Usually there is one good snowfall per winter.

I’m in San Francisco- it’s cold here for us, and rainy. But still beautiful out!

Climate change!

My SoCal born and bred ds23 is finishing up at Boise State. He woke up to some weather this morning. Loads of snow over night and more expected. Ds calls us this morning to ask, What do they mean school is closed? Do I need to find my classes online? Will this count against me in my class where attendance counts? How long will it be closed? I'm not driving in this craziness, will I freeze to death if I walk to the store and back? Do I need to drag the trash cans out? Will Amazon come, I'm out of Clif Bars? Etc.

He called this evening to let us know he did walk to the store and it was no big deal. He made several snow angels, cause, you know, he's new to snow angels and the getting up part is tricky and he built his first snowman. Oh, and fun fact, turns out his hip waders were a problem for the snow angels, but very helpful when he was making the snowman (he didn't elaborate on helpful how 😁)

I’m a Texas Panhandle Pea and we are expecting actual temperature lows of 5 and 1 Sunday and Monday (with highs of 15). It’s going to be cold here this weekend.

DFW and North Texas Peas better get ready! While it’s an inconvenience for my area, the sleet and ice will be a major headache for y’all. Make sure you are prepared!

Ours has been way too mild. We are supposed to get a cold blast this weekend, but our mountains need more snow or we will be in a drought

My area of southern Ca has been all over the place too.

We had been warmer than normal (80's) and more dry as well, but then we got some good winds, a cool down, rain and the local mountains got snow.

The past few days have been cold (34° at night, morning is about 36-38°, then high of 50°.

Next week we will be back to 65°-69° with one 71° day in the mix.

Looking for it to go back to cold.

Last year we had a lot of snow in my area, lots of rain, and it was cold.

It's supposed to be close to 70 in Dallas today but a low of 7 on Monday. My plants aren't going to know what to do!

My part of Florida has been weird since last fall. We had a rainstorm come through right before Thanksgiving that dump 16 inches of rain on my neighborhood in 12 hours. All of our roads were flooded, and I couldn't leave my house. My SO was on a 72-hour shift and missed the whole thing! I sent him tons of videos but the town where he was stationed received a few inches of rain and almost no flooding. He couldn't believe our neighborhood flooded so badly. All the roads were closed, and the kids couldn't go to school due to the buses.

December was mostly warm with a few cool days. January has been all over the place... some warmer days, chilly at night, another rainstorm moved through last Tuesday, and we are expected to get more rain, thunder, and lightning later this week/this weekend. We don't usually see so much rain in the winter, so this is very strange.

Are these actual temps!

Or are they windchill temps? I find that the weather forecasters in my area are now reporting the windchill temps, but never really revealing that is the windchill, not the actual real temperature. That can be frustrating, since it is just inflating the drama of it all. We need to know the actual temps and forecasted temps. We do take into account winds, not that the wind makes it actually colder (yes it 'feels' colder, but it is not actually that temp). But we need to know the actual temperature and the wind/speed/direction to make our decisions for cattle placement and also for ventilation choices. Many a night my husband has woken up and check the temps/wind and has to go out in the cold to change ventilation for our barns.

Today's low is supposed to be 5º F
It drops from there to -19º on Saturday night, -20º on Sunday. Sunday's high is supposed to be -7º. These are all Fahrenheit, and actual temperature, not wind chill conversion.

This is normal. We always get cold snaps. It can be challenging, especially if it is windy. What we struggle with the most is water freezing in our barns. It is essential that water flows 24/7 in the barns. So when water freezes, it is necessary to get it going again ASAP. Our outdoor waters for cattle on stalks works much better. We have in-ground water tanks that never freeze up. We might have to go break the ice at the very top (ground level) sometimes. Usually first thing in the morning. But if the cattle are at the waters, that doesn't freeze up. Best thing we ever invested in!

We ramp up our feed for our cattle on stalks, so they have energy (heat). They get feed in their bunks every morning, usually with some protein mixed in. They also are on a stalk field that provides natural windbreaks, no matter the wind direction. We save this stalk field for last, since it will be the one they spend the worst of the winter on.

We were supposed to get snow here this weekend, but the forecast now has the snow missing us; it is still predicted as highs in the 20s, which is pretty cold for Seattle. My kids are disappointed about the snow, but I am relieved--I'm the only person in the house with snow boots, and neighborhood streets are impassable with snow (I live on a hill, they don't get plowed, and people here generally don't have cars or driving skills for snow anyway, so driving isn't an option -- guess who always gets sent out for groceries ).