Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Winter is Back

Looks like the weatherman was 100% correct in his forecast today and a full-blown winter storm is in progress. Yesterday at this time our temperature was about 43 degrees and it was sunny. You can see the current temp on my sidebar weather spot (and it's only going to get worse as they day goes on).

The bad thing about having someone else drive you to work is that you can't go home until they're ready to go home.

Here's the 10:30 a.m. traffic cam views of the roads we drive home on.


I don't know about you, but I think we should have left about an hour ago! Now if I could just convince my spousal unit of that.....

Watch for a post later today telling you we made it home safely....

UPDATE - We made it home from work without incident. Although the weather was still bad, it seemed like most of the sensible people had already gone home from work and the traffic was fairly light and we saw no accidents. It only took us about 7 minutes longer than usual from the time we left work till we drove through the snowdrift into our garage.

We're now in a blizzard warning until midnight. It seems like the snow has let up a little bit, but it's still blowing pretty hard. Here's a little video I took out the patio door. The flag across the highway is my wind gauge--you can barely see it through the snow, but it's whipped out pretty straight! I took the video with the door open so you could experience the sound of the wind blowing around the house and making all my chimes ring.


When I called Dad at lunchtime, he said they were getting sustained winds of 30 mph. Not sure what we've got going on here right now, but there have been some pretty good gusts rattling the house as I sit here posting this update.

There are lots of birdies here at feeders holding on for dear life to try and snatch a seed or two before the next gust blasts them back to shelter in the trees again. I sure am glad I have a nice warm house and don't have to try and survive outside.

And now for those of you who've had more then enough of winter, head on over to Mary's Corner of the World for some beautiful flowers and fruit trees in her sunny California backyard.

19 comments:

Windyridge said...

I don't envy you one bit. Safe home!

Anonymous said...

Kind of looks like that here. Schools closed at 11 AM and we can bearly see out the front window across the field to that sink hole that is my gauge for visibility. Glad we don't have to drive anywhere, blizzard warning is in effect 'til this evening. Take care on the way home, make it home safely.
Mom

entoto said...

Yikes! It looks like it will be an interesting ride home. Here's to no spinning.

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Glad you're home safe and sound. We don't have much snow falling but we're sitting at -4 degrees all ready! Your weather button doesn't seem to be working. I've tried several times to add a weather button to my sidebar but can't ever get a current temp display, only a link.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Windyridge, Mom & Trixie,
I posted an update so you know I made it home safe. Wasn't too bad...I've been in much worse, for sure.

Hi Lynne,
I tried other weather buttons before too and this Weather Underground was the only one I could get to show up (since I know virtually nothing about using HTML). I think it's only supposed to show current conditions for this area, so you can't click on it to find out what a specific forecast is.

Anonymous said...

Winter Ugg!

Mary said...

I'm glad you made it home safely. It's always a worry when you are at work and the weather is dangerous. I love the sound of wind chimes. Yours are beautiful. Stay warm and be careful.

Jayne said...

Holy cow... roads like that would shut us down for a week! Stay warm and safe Ruthie!

Cathy said...

Oh! I love the wind chimes as you pan across the winter wonderland. What a pretty setting. Stay cozy, Ruthie.

Meggie said...

That's quite a winter storm you got there, Ruthie. Just got back from Florida last night and we had 60 MPH winds last night....bringing in much colder weather...oh joy! Birding is contagious. Glad your brother is enjoying them, too.

Richard said...

As I watched the video all I kept thinking was "That looks familiar". Then I saw the outline of the dog and thought "Poor thing froze"....lol.

Still cold here -18/WC -38 but not as windy as yesterday. Had to sneak out in bathrobe to put out feed this morning since it was just blowing away yesterday. Didn't stay out long.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Mon@rch,
Ugg - for sure!

Hi Mare,
It was pretty nasty. I never even went back out after I got home. Fortunately, there was enough birdseed in the ground trays that the birds were finding enough to eat. The chimes got quite a workout, but it's calmer and sunny today.

Hi Jayne,
I think the only thing that would stop people from driving is when they finally put the barricades up across the road. We're kinda nuts up here!

Hi Cathy,
The chimes are big and too heavy to take down, so I get to listen to them year-round and I do love them.

Hi Meggie,
I'm glad you had a nice time in Florida before coming back to winter. Our airport here was closed most of the day--you must have made it in before the snow arrived.

Hi Richard,
I think you've had much colder temps than we had. Your feeders must be close if you can sneak out in a bathrobe! I have to put on tall snow boots and 3 layers of clothes before heading out the door.

Anonymous said...

Our Snowflake Festival is Sunday and the snow keeps scooting around us... Hmm....

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Brrrrr That sounds cold. I hope you are safe at home now.

nina at Nature Remains. said...

Brrr. We're forecast a storm for Friday--accumulations, too!
Stay safe and warm.

Mary C said...

Hi Ruthie - thanks for the plug. Just want to let you know that today was the first day in over a week that we saw the sun! We've gotten quite a bit of rain. But hopefully that means beautiful flowers in the spring. We've also had some cold temps, but certainly not as cold as you and your "northern" blog buddies. I loved hearing your chimes in the video. I could listen to them all day long. Stay warm!

Ruth said...

The trouble with your bad weather is that when you are done with it, you send it east to us. Yesterday was awful here and Friday is forecast to be nasty too. Glad you are safe!

RuthieJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
RuthieJ said...

Hi Jennifer,
I hope you get just enough snow to make the festival a success (and also that the wind doesn't blow it around too much).

Hi Lisa,
This is "normal" January weather for Minnesota, but we just aren't used to it since winters for the last few years have been kind of "wimpy" by Minnesota standards.

Hi Nina,
I hope your winter storm isn't too bad and that you don't get any freezing rain!

Hi Mary C,
It was good you posted your backyard pictures on the day of our storm. What a treat to see them instead of snow!

Hi Ruth,
I'm sorry and I agree--it's very unfair! You must just cringe when you read my posts and think to yourself, "Oh swell, we'll be getting that same crap in a couple days!" Hopefully your Saturday and Sunday will be nicer though--it won't be very warm, but the sun should be out!