I had business in downtown Milwaukee. On my drive eastward into the city, I could see a large wall of clouds hovering over the lake, but it's perfectly sunny and clear everywhere else. As I got closer, more and more cars traveling in the opposite direction were covered in new snow; some had upwards of six inches. It was still sunny where I was driving. As I get closer to the lake, there's snow everywhere, a respectable covering of 3-4 inches. Cars in the parking lot were covered, some nearly 12 inches.
Then, for lunch, we go a bit further into downtown -- say about four blocks -- and it's a literal blizzard. Snow falling at a rate that would put several inches on the ground in an hour. We get our lunch to go and drive back to the office. Not a flake in the sky. During the next hour during a meeting, it would alternate between blizzard and sun, depending on the wind. At the end of the day, I had no snow on my car, but I'm sure that several inches had fallen upon it.
]]>We didn't get the forecasted 12-inches, but the rain, ice and three inches that we did get was enough. Ugh. (Nevermind the blast of arctic air expected over the next few days.)
I was joking with the neighbor that she fixing her snowblower and Kris getting skis should've sealed the deal on winter and everything should melt immediately. Come on Murphy, where the hell are you?
]]>Today's forecast is for a high near 20°F. I'm psyched. At first blush, that's not even close to freezing, but a day after closing schools the high was +4° (low was -8°) with wind chill factors in the -30 range, the sixteen degree difference is huge. It's like going from 70° to 86° in the summer. BIG difference. So imagine how I must feel when this weekend's forecasts are in the 30s. It's a regular heat wave, I tell you. This is how the weather messes with your mind and convinces you that 50 degrees is a good thing.
And let it be known that I very much enjoy where I live. Because if it weren't for the winters, the summers wouldn't be summers. And summer in Madison is just about the best it gets.
]]>Friday, the forecasted 1-2 inches turned into six. We shoveled three times just to keep ahead of it. We even pushed a car out Saturday morning. The rest of the day was calm until the thundersnow started. It was windy, snowy, but not too much accumulation. Every now and then, we'd hear a vehicle drive by, most often a truck from the dairy. But then as we were heading to bed, one car was desperately trying to get out of its parking spot. Back and forth, we could almost smell the tires burning from our room.
The next morning, I was heading out to shovel the new snow. There were some steps in the snow on our porch from what I thought was from the paper delivery. But there was no paper. And the car was gone. good for him I thought. I turned to grab th shovel from where we left them on the porch. One was gone. And that's when it hit me. That jackass took our shovel. And it was the good one with the metal edge.
Shoveling the snow was a pain in the ass. Heavy, wet, and already packed down from some walkers (Just how early do people get up when everything is canceled?), the snow really didn't feel like moving easily. And while I was out there, it started raining. So now I'm soaked, tired and pushing as much water around as snow. And then the shovel I'm using cracks. Sonofabitch. I just hope the jackass intends to return our shovel to the porch.
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