posts tagged with 'weather'
not enough!
It snowed, and there was a delightful amount of snow in the air: yesterday afternoon, yesterday evening, overnight, this morning, this afternoon... but not, sadly, enough on the ground. It was right around freezing the whole storm, so for large swathes of time the snow was accumulating very slowly or not at all. I think we got two and a half inches all together, but even that was compressed to under two inches by its own weight. Some people shoveled their driveways, which I thought was entirely unnecessary; though I was delighted at the energy Zion showed in clearing off the front steps and the porch (and Elijah had fun with the back deck). We of course thought of sledding, but there wasn't enough for that, either—at least, not enough to drive to any sort of hill. If we'd had a slope in our yard we would have gone for it for sure. But the kids did get outside with friends for a wild couple hours of snowball fights, snow wrestling, and snow-cat making, so the day wasn't entirely a bust. The forecast high for tomorrow in 47°F, so I'm afraid the snow won't stick around long. I do hope there's more; this winter's been kind of a bust so far, and we do love snow!
my rich person coat
The weather is sub-standard around here lately: not enough real cold, not enough snow, and too much wet. I'm not really pleased. But at least it gives me a chance to set aside my boring old winter jacket and get my raincoat out instead. Because I have a fancy raincoat that Leah bought me this past fall, when it was clear that the one I'd been using for the past... eight? ten? years wasn't any waterproof any longer. Actually, I don't even know how fancy it is, but for some reason wearing a raincoat at all makes feel kind of posh; like I deserve to be shopping at Whole Foods. Which of course isn't true, but at least I can dress like it!
let it snow... please?
The winter has been disappointing so far. We had a nice cold snap, but as soon as there was enough ice to play on it got violently warm again and ruined it all. And while other parts of the country have been getting lots of snow—dangerous amounts of snow—we haven't had anything but rain. It's getting me down. There's a chance of snow today, but so far there's been nothing but gross sleety rain, which is pretty much all we've seen all winter. Come on weather, you can do better!
finishing strong
It was bizarrely warm today. Which of course was concerning from a global climate perspective, and terrible for the ice. But it did bring one good thing, which was a chance for the kids to spend tons of time outside! December had been pretty tough in that regard: hitting 1,000 hours in November and then dealing with a lot of not-fun rainy damp cold has kept us inside a higher percentage of the time than any other month this year. But today the kids were out for six hours, three of them on a walk with homeschool friends and then the rest playing out in front of the house with kids from the neighborhood. That takes us to 1,106 hours outside for the year, with one day left to pad our total. I'm thinking next year we might try for 1,111. That sounds interesting, and reachable too!
where's our vortex?!
The news is full of stories about the latest Polar Vortex and blizzards all over the country... everywhere but here. Instead, we had springlike temperatures and torrential rain! And lots of wind; at least that was a little bit stormy. But we'd really appreciate some snow. Even worse, the rain and wind cancelled our homeschool coop meeting this afternoon, and the threat of ice cancelled our church small group meeting this evening. If we're going to have to miss things, at least let it be for epic snowfall blanketing the roads! Well, at least the temperature is forecast to drop to 12°F overnight (from a high today of nearly 60°!), and it'll barely make it out of the 20s tomorrow. So if there's not going to be snow, at least we can expect some ice. Let's dig out those skates!
the rain
Most of this summer was dry, very dry. Ponds were empty, lawns were yellow (except for half the houses in town where they were watering heavily) and even trees were suffering. We didn't water our lawn, but I definitely spent some time in the garden with the hose; even so, it was a tough year for things like cucumbers and beans. Then towards fall the rain came, and it was amazing to see how things greened right up. Now lately it feels like it's been raining half the time. I love seeing the brooks flowing full, and it's so fun to see the kids playing and working outside in the rain like real farmers. Sure, there's some more painting I want to do that's been held up, and rain this time of year only makes the decay that's already part of the October garden even more disgusting. Plus when it's pouring rain at night it makes me worry about what all I might have left out, or left open! It was pouring rain last night. Still, on balance I'm in favor. Bring on the rain! And then the snow?
giving up on keeping cool
Back in July and early August when it was really hot I was doing all kinds of things to keep the house as cool as possible. Turning fans on at night, closing windows and blinds during the day—and of course minimizing baking and boiling. I didn't even like to run the vacuum during the day, it made so much heat! And then we had a beautiful stretch of mild days with cool nights, and even a few days that you might call chilly... and I almost started to think that winter was on its way. Well, it's hot again now. But since I've already transitioned to winter mode I don't care, and it's all cooking all the time. Last week it there were all the baked goods and jam the boys made for the fair, and since then we've kept right on going the same way. I made bread and biscuits over the weekend and Leah made cookies; this morning Harvey baked some dog treats (since the fair he's gotten interested in dog training) and I made sourdough bread and enchiladas for dinner. Sure it's horribly hot, but on the plus side it makes the breeze from outside feel downright pleasant! And of course we get to enjoy all the baked goods. Tomorrow I hope to make jelly from the grapes we pressed at Backyard Farm Club last week, which will add humidity as well as heat. Oh well, it's almost September... surely it'll be getting cool again soon!
water babies
The boys have spent a lot of time in the water the last few days. Monday, of course, it was nearly four hours in the pool. Yesterday was cooler, but we brought the bikes to Walden and rode trails for an hour or so until they were warmed up and ready for an hour or two in the pond. Today for park day I had no anticipation of swimming at all, with the temperature in the 60s and rain in the forecast. Of course, I should have known better! Good thing the swimsuits were still in the car.
just swimming in the rain
Zion's and Elijah's, anyway, even though I suggested they bring them inside where they could dry (Harvey is a better listener). And when we got to the park I requested they stay away from the water; even though we had dry clothes, other families did not. But then it started raining, and we all got pretty wet anyways. And a few kids changed and went in, and reported delightedly that the water was warm: way warmer than the air! While we parents worried a bit about what would happen when they came out, it seemed cruel to deny them the opportunity to try.
Not everyone went in; some of the kids, far from having swimsuits, were wearing long pants and hadn't brought dry clothes. A few of them were pretty unhappy about it. But there were other fun things to do besides swimming, like directing the course of the streams that were flowing down the hill across the beach. And in the end, everyone got wet, either in the lake or in the rain. So we all learned a valuable lesson: when you're going to be by the water, bring a swimsuit. And a towel, definitely a towel too.
weather forecast
We're all kind of holding our breath looking ahead to this weekend: the forecast says that Saturday and Sunday will be close to 100°F. We don't feel ready for that! Temperatures in the high 80s last weekend left us practically prostrated. And it's actually kind of hard to believe it'll be that hot: today was cloudy and chilly. Well, we will see. And I bet we'll be able to find ways to stay cool!
ABB: always be boating
hail yes
Saturday had all the weather. There was sun, there was rain—a little bit during the pole capping parade—and there were even thunderstorms. As we were coming home from helping with a food drive outside Donelan's Supermarket and enjoying the sparkling sunshine after the latest downpour I noticed some white stuff in the yard of a house down the street from us. "Look, it snowed!" I told the boys—as a joke, because at over 50°F I was sure it was some construction debris or something. But then the next lawn was white too, and the one across the street...
"It's hail!" we all realized at once.
hail aftermath
Yes indeed, while it had been raining on us in Acton we'd missed a hailstorm at home, a hailstorm whose furthest edge was just a couple hundred yards beyond our house. There was plenty of hail for us to admire, but Zion at least was a little upset to have missed it. Leah was home when it all fell but she missed it too: she was working, and didn't know it had done anything more than rain hard until we told her..
It doesn't hail often around here, and certainly not that big and that much. A day to remember!
all the plants survived