Rough times ahead

*Today: A chance of snow after 4pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high around 38. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

Tonight: Periods of freezing rain, mainly before 4am. Low around 28. Calm wind becoming south between 7 and 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.*

From the NOAA forecasting center, things do not look good tonight. Then combine that with the 20 mph wind gusts tomorrow and your looking at some bone chilling temps. I am still going to try my hardest to get to Dickens, but considering I get out of work at 8, this week might be out of the question. Im 100% positive that next week I will be there though.

Let me speak to this forecast as someone with heavy duty experience in wintry matters.

You folks here have an advantage over NY in one way only. The sun - it gets warm enough to melt snow easily. Up in NY, the higher latitude keeps the sunlight cold and low during the winter. And having 2-3 inches of hardpack ice on the road after a few good snowfalls is not uncommon. It can last a week easily.

Black ice is less frequent, but that mainly because it doesnt take black ice to cause accidents, anything on the road surface is enough to cause them. Plus, with the heavy volume of traffic, on the roads - its rare that ice has time to form in a thin enough sheet. Usually you just get icebergs, with tire tread grooved pressed into them. Makes for fun driving when your car is being tugged like a slotcar around the road.

I did not have a digital camera while up in NY, well no, thats not true - I got a dirt cheap one at Target on clearance for $10 bucks, and it was worth every penny. Still have it too. I just have to hunt down the photos, somewhere. Of course, this was in the pre-picasa days of easy organization of photos.

Wow, nice rambling post today huh? I think I will cut my losses now. Maybe I'll find those photos.