Really, can I cry?
I hate to sweat.
If I wanted this kind of weather I would move away from
Seattle to some (god-forsaken other state) mid-western/southern/eastern state where I would expect this kind of heat and humidity.

But seriously.

What is up with the weather this past year?
Where is the mild Seattle I have known and loved my whole life?
Can I make it until NEXT weekend when a cooling front might make it in from the coast?
I guess I have to.

But it won't be easy.

And it won't be pretty!

But when did I move out of Washington state???

Now, please, before any of you mid-westerners or southerners begin to scoff or laugh at me, remember that almost none of our homes have central air conditioning. Most people only have window fans, but more and more each year I am seeing people buying window unit AC's. They are nice, but not as effective as central air with this kind of heat.

Okay--complaining done! Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Puget Sound Weather Outlook

The Heat is ON this week!

Updated Monday 6:45 a.m.

After a glorious weekend, the heat will crank up several notches around the region over the next couple of days. A thermal trough (warm, dry pocket of air at the earth's surface) will nose up the west coast today, forcing temperatures to climb into the middle 80s around Puget Sound for your Monday afternoon. This hot trough surges right into Puget Sound on Tuesday, making for highs in the upper 80s and low 90s.

A weak disturbance will traipse across the Northwest by mid-week, bringing both some high clouds and a rush of low morning marine clouds into the Sound. This will serve to shave back some of the heat, with highs dropping into the 70s and lower 80s Wednesday and Thursday.

The thermal trough roars back with a vengeance late this week, setting us up for what could be the warmest streak of the season. Highs will climb into the low 90s on Friday, middle 90s by Saturday, and upper 90s on Sunday. Some spots around the Sound could hit the century mark. Not only will it be scorching during the day, but overnight lows will stay mighty warm as well, probably making for one of those rare spells where us Western Washingtonians wish we had air conditioning!

old man winter

We have had the mildest stretch of winter weather that I can ever remember, from mid January through now, the end of February. Way below normal rain, or wind and pretty warm temperatures reaching into the upper 50's many days!

Not today! Winter doesn't want to let go yet as evidenced by what we woke up to this morning. I could actually go for a big dump just so we could have a snow day off from work. This kind of snow, while pretty is just useless and annoying! :-)

rain, rain and more rain (at least it's not snow!)

These are pictures of a man-made water retention pond at the end of our street. We went from Arctic Blast to Pineapple Express in 3 days. After receiving 3 inches or more of snow on Sunday night, the rain moved in later in the day Monday, it continued to pour rain buckets of rain all day Tuesday and Wednesday. These storms come from far out in the Pacific, bringing warmer temps and much moisture. Add all that rain to the melting snow and we had a recipe for another weather event! Many areas around us have been hit with catastrophic flooding.

Most of the time the water in this pond fills for a few hours and then drains away--rarely does it get this full. Aren't the little ducks cute? I always wonder where they go when there is no water in the pond?

would you believe???

Guess what has been falling outside my window since 5 p.m.?


Yeah. Just in time to mess up the beginning of school tomorrow after our extended break due to you guessed it...snow! It is 11:00 now, and I think we have about 3 inches out there. It has finally turned to rain--weird that is has warmed up in the middle of the night, but that is crazy northwest weather for you--a warm front moving in from the ocean, which was supposed to arrive this afternoon....early afternoon!
If all goes as expected, it should continue to warm to the upper 30's-low 40's tonight and keep raining. So, if anything, school will be delayed an hour or 2 to clear the slippery slush off the streets. Sheesh! What fun is in store for us the rest of this winter?

Back to regularly scheduled weather...

Rain! Glorious Rain!

Snow is melting!

all is calm, all is bright

The View From My Front Porch

Hey! Guess What?

MORE!!!

(looking out my front door)

let it snow, let it snow.....

The view from my front porch

I keep waking up and wondering when in the world did I move back to the midwest!!!!

Well--our storm arrived and it was BAD! We haven't had snow and wind conditions combined like that in ages. It started snowing about 3 in the afternoon and stopped around 1 in the morning. Here in Kent I know that we had at least one wind gust of up to 36 miles an hour, but not sure what the sustained winds were--I just know they were a blowin' as we could see the snow coming down against the window sideways and blowing off the roof. There is hardly any snow on the roofs or trees because it is such a dry snow it just blew around!

My girlfriend's daughter was flying home last night for the holidays from Wyoming via Denver. After circling the airport for over an hour, they turned around and sent them back to Denver after a refueling stop in Boise. Mandy (the daughter) said the airline people were rude and unfriendly and she would NEVER fly Frontier again! She is confirmed on a flight out on Tuesday! They put her up in a hotel last night but she is on her own until then. Of course she is just hanging around the airport all day because she is standby until her flight on Tuesday. She has been so homesick since moving to Wyoming last August and just wants to be home!

Our church cancelled services today! We have attended this church for 20 years and in all that time this has never happened! The roads are just too dangerous. Apparently many areas are getting a nice coating of freezing rain --I don't think we have that going on right now and I hope we don't --that is when we face power outages. We are supposed to get maybe another 1-2 inches today and maybe some more tomorrow, really not warming up until after Christmas some time.

10 good things:

1. We did not lose power.

2. It is finally over 30 degrees after a week of temps in the twenties and teens

3. Kerry and I got all the kids' gifts wrapped last night!

4. My son did not try to drive home from Bellingham last night--he is 2 hours north of us. Classes have been over for 2 weeks and he has the whole week off from work. He would have been caught in the middle of the storm.

5. My laundry is all washed and dried. (not put away yet---hey! There are limits to some miracles!)

6. Most of my shopping is done--just need to exchange one thing which I realized was the wrong item as I was sorting stocking stuffers last night .

7. Kerry has a 4 wheel drive vehicle.

8. Austen has gotten some experience driving in adverse weather conditions this week.

9. I have all the ingredients in the house to finish my baking.

and the best thing of all:

10. No matter what happens with the weather, Christmas will still arrive and we will still be able to celebrate the birth of that little baby, come to save the world!

I hope this finds you all warm and snug in your houses today also!

The view out my back door

the fun continues....

I cannot believe this!




From Komo 4 News:
"Tonight is the calm before the storm. We'll see generally mostly clear skies. A little random snow shower popped up in the greater Tacoma area, putting down a little more snow, but it'll fade away as the night goes on and it'll be clear but cold. Lows will drop into the low-mid teens.

The storm then begins Saturday, bringing the potential for widespread heavy snows, damaging winds, and a significant number of power outages to a region still recovering from two winter storms earlier in the week."

We live just west of where the worst of these winds will start: "Hurricane-force winds are possible for communities that nestle up against the Cascades in the eastern foothills of Snohomish, King and Pierce Counties, while farther west, several inches of snow are possible in the greater Seattle-Tacoma-Everett Metro area starting around sunset Saturday, and over toward the Olympic Mountains, they could be measuring new snowfall in feet."

This is us: The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue Metro area could see 3-8" of snow Saturday evening into Sunday. Gusty winds in the eastern parts of this region could get to 50-60 mph.

General Forecast for the area: "Some lingering rain showers, possibly back to snow showers above 500 feet, linger for Monday, then we get a dry break for Monday afternoon into Tuesday.

Long range models conflict on whether we warm up through Christmas week or stay cool. We have a few weak systems dropping in that could either be rain or snow, but no major accumulations expected, and snow levels could drift up to 500-1,000 feet." The interesting thing about this last part, is that earlier today the report was for us to warm up to the mid 40's and have straight rain by Christmas Day. Hmmm....sounds like they are hedging their bets a bit!

The good news is that I was able to get out and get a bit of my shopping done today and this evening, but I am not totally done yet and hope to get out tomorrow morning. I am praying we don't get those big winds as I am not really in the mood to lose my power. Then I can't finish baking or sew!

oh the weather outside is frightful...

Day 4....

And I am getting a bit sick of it.....

Yup! After 3 days of delayed school starts due to ice and compact snow for the boys and for me at work, we have finally won ourselves a full snow day. But don't be deceived. Underneath this picturesque scene?.....



.....is a layer of ice, because yesterday we warmed up for a few hours to above 32*, the weeks worth of ice and snow began to melt, and then the temps plummeted after dark and everything refroze. About 5 a.m. the snow began and it has been flurrying all day. Sheesh! I don't drive in it, and consequently it is keeping me from getting my shopping done for Christmas.

Today is my birthday, and we are supposed to go down the hill to Sarah's for dinner. She is planning crab fettucini and homemade bread and some yummy dessert and now I am not sure we will be able to go. The roads are only going to get worse and she is in the valley while we are up on top of the hill....poor me. :(

OH, and did I mention that I am sick with a lovely head cold?

But I guess I will stop whining and go get some baking done. And maybe some stocking stuff sewn, and maybe some packages wrapped, and maybe....the list goes on!

How about you? Are any of you getting a winter blast right now? (yes, yes, I know there are areas who get it much worse then us, but this is Seattle, people. We are supposed to be getting rain!!!

Happy Thursday everyone.





edited: I was just thinking. Maybe I cursed us with this new wintery blog background! Yikes!

crazy boys

Oh these crazy boys of mine!
9:00 p.m.
23 degrees outside and....

tonight we had a little late evening play time on the frozen pond at the end of our street. My boys wanted us to come down with them and take their pictures while they slid on the ice--poor boys--can you tell they are not growing up in the hockey obsessed mid-west like their cousins! :)










Our road--slicker than snot! Can you see that sheer layer of ice gleaming in the street light? Yeah. More fun times again tomorrow getting to work.

Brrr...!

Baby it's cold outside.
At 9:30 a.m. the thermometer reads: 20 degrees.

I am getting ready to go to work late. I will be slipping my way there, I am sure. No matter how many alternate routes I can think of, I can't find one without a hill. I know the major roads are sanded some, but when I look out my window at our little side street and all I can see is a sheet of ice, my heart starts pounding. Sanding the major streets doesn't do a person any good if they can't get to them from their house!

I had to crack up laughing--my sons' school district called a 2 hour late start. Of course everyone was hoping for a full snow day, but noooo....they decided on 2 hours late with limited bus transportation. Now if they don't feel comfortable getting my kid to school, why would I attempt it? Sam's school is at the top of a hill, Kerry and Austen went out driving yesterday to give Austen some experience in *ice* driving and they could not get to the school, even going the way which has the least incline. So, I, being the rebel that I am, called the boys absent from school today.

Why oh why did this weather system have to blow in so close to Christmas? We have had the mildest temps all Fall that we have seen in years. No rain/wind storms so typical for that time of year either. In fact, until last Friday, our mountain passes did not have any snow yet! Last year they had so much in the middle of November that the ski season was able to open--not so this year!

Okay--I am done whining. Off to dry the hair and get dressed....so I can get ready to: slip slidin' away........

Lookee!!!!

SNOW!!!!

It is definitely beginning to look like Christmas around here. These pictures were taken on Saturday night.




I had a lovely day doing a little shopping and then coming home to bake cookies with my girlie. She and her husband stayed for dinner and then we all watched an old movie, The Bishop's Wife. The pictures above were taken while they were getting in their car and leaving about 11:00 p.m.

From the weather blurb posted below, we are in for cold, treacherous, interesting weather this next week!

From the KOMO 4 News webpage:

Snow (finally) arrives as temperatures begin their plummet

SEATTLE -- We've had the rain and the wind.

Next up, snow and cold.

Snow was falling across a large swath of the Western Washington lowlands Saturday night as a trough of low pressure brought moisture as cold, arctic air poured in from the north.

The heaviest snow was from about Shoreline north toward the Canadian border, but snow was falling as far south as Olympia. So far, places like Mount Vernon had reported 1.5" while Everett and Mukilteo were about 1/2" on the grassy surfaces. (Feel free to report your snow totals in the commenting section below. Be sure to time stamp your entry.)

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is now in effect until noon Sunday for the greater Puget Sound area, as well as from Everett north to the Canadian border and west along the Olympic Peninsula to Port Angeles, including the San Juan, Camano and Whidbey Islands. We could see as much as 1-3" here through Sunday morning and perhaps an additional 1-2" on top of that Sunday morning. Totals will still vary across the region and some places will still end up blank.


Sunday night, we start the drying process. With clearing skies, lows will drop to between 13-18.

Monday and Tuesday are both mostly clear but cold, with highs in the 20s and lows in the teens. This is cold enough that you need to protect pipes and pets.

By Wednesday, another weak to moderate system will drop in again from the north, but this time, we'll obviously be cold enough for snow, so we'll have to watch that. It could end up being the best snow maker of this whole ordeal (at least this week). Snow showers would linger into Thursday.

Long range forecasts beyond still keep us cold. They have been hinting off and on of perhaps some widespread, large-scale snows for the weekend before Christmas, perhaps stretching into Christmas week. But this far out, we're sure the details will change. Heck, look at how much the details keep changing now just this weekend.