Just a reminder to check out the snow page for an updated total! We made use of the snow today with some good snowshoeing in Nederland!
Weather
Christmas 2007
Yesterday was Christmas Eve and I started my day by going into work for a few hours to get some things done before the end of the year since our office is closed until the 2nd on January. Yea for me! Off with pay! After dinner the plans were to finish wrapping gifts, go to church then have Christmas dinner at a friends house. The friends requested that we bring asparagus and bread to dinner, so I figured I would grab these items at the store on the way home from work. This plan was all well and good until I discovered that Lafayette was completely out of asparagus. So, Noah called the host couple to find out what else they would have us bring. Potatoes, yams and green beans were out and I was drawing a blank. One call to my mom and she saved the day! Creamed corn of course! Yum! My Grandma’s recipe and oh so much better than asparagus! Done. I headed home to finish the wrapping and making the corn and we were out the door for church…arriving 15 minutes late since our church is in Boulder. Oh well. We made it for the sermon.
After the candlelight service we headed to our friends house in Frederick where we had dinner. We were also informed on the news that there was a 50% chance it would snow last night. However, when we left our friends’ house the sky was only partly cloudy. I thought for sure we were going to get jipped and I was going to be without a White Christmas this year. Made it home around 11:40pm and we still had gifts to wrap. But when we made it to bed around 2am it had started to snow! Yea! When I got up this morning we found out that not only was it snowing, but we had a Winter Storm Warning and would get 2-8″ of snow!
Christmas morning, like last year, was spent opening gifts with my family, in California, via webcam. This afternoon we went to dinner at Noah’s uncle’s house, who lives 3 blocks from our house. So we bundled up and trudged through the snow, with the puppy on leash. It was awesome! We headed to their house on the open space trail and returned on the streets to view all the Christmas lights. If it weren’t for the kennel and wreath Noah was carrying and Lava trying to kill me by running around on ice, it could have been very romantic.
Our measurement of snow at home was 3″. I gained my second White Christmas and my first Christmas was falling snow! Christmas 2007 is definitely one to go down in the books!
When I get around to it, I’ll post a few pictures I snapped this morning of the tree, presents and Lava attacking her stocking.
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!
More snow today! Six inches on top of the 5 from the weekend! Keep your fingers crossed for more snow and another White Christmas! Be sure to keep checking the snow totals page!
Just Like in the Movies
Yesterday we drove to a neighboring town to purchase our Christmas Tree and to top of our search for the perfect noble fir the day was cold and snowy! We didn’t chop down our own tree (Home Depot had people that took care of that) but we did stand out in lots of falling snow as we looked at several different naturally flocked Christmas Trees! I was having more fun than Noah I’m sure. He grew up with snow. We loaded the tree in the back of the truck, flipped the transmission in to 4×4 and headed back through the icy streets. Due to the natural flocking, we stood the tree up in the garage to allow the snow to melt off before bringing it in the house. Once we did, we put it in font of the window perfectly. No rotations or adjustments necessary. Yea! Now, all we have to do is start decorating. 😀
Due to the snow this weekend, we didn’t get the lights up in the trees in the front yard. Maybe next weekend…The snow totals page has been updated. Be sure to check it out!
Snow Totals
First Snow of the Season
It came but it didn’t stick around! The news and The Weather Channel said we could expect 2-4″ of wet snow today. We very well might have received that much, but with yesterday’s temperature hovering around 80* the ground was still too warm. Plus we haven’t had a good freeze yet (nope — that’s going to be tonight…more on that later)
Yesterday evening the front moved over our house and almost instantly brought strong winds with it. This morning pre-dawn we heard rain outside along with several loud crashes of thunder. By the time we got up, the rain had changed over to snow and was sticking to a few places in the yards. It snowed pretty much all morning with showers into the afternoon but like I said earlier nothing stuck around. I need practice driving in the snow, so I took the wheel to church this morning. Gotta start slow ya know…like when the snow melts as soon as it touches the ground. No ice today!
But back to the freeze. We are officially under a freeze warning tonight until 10am tomorrow morning. Since the storm has cleared on by the temps are expected to drop to the mid 20s tonight. There goes the rest of my tomatoes I’m sure. We planned ahead though and Noah turned off and prepped the sprinklers for winter yesterday (along with trimming the branches from the trees in the backyard).
However, as far as I’m concerned, I’m ready for more snow. Not necessarily driving in it, but I would like it to stick around longer the next time it falls. Unfortunately, there isn’t any snow in the forecast for the next 10 days…yet.
**Update** The official snow measurement for our area was .5″.
Time to break out those sweaters
A change in the season has brought an immediate change to our weather, and I mean immediate. The last week of summer we had 90* or near 90* weather. But on Sunday, when the seasons officially changed from summer to autumn in the pre-dawn hours, we said goodbye to our sun and heat. Really amusing since Saturday was beautiful and about 87*! Sunday, however, was cloudy and we didn’t get out of the low 60s. It was as if summer was saying, “Haha! I’m not done yet!”
Yesterday continued this saga with rain. Lots and lots of rain. By the time all was said at done, we received 1.40″ (exactly) of rain at our house. Noah had to wait in his truck at a job site in Louisville for it to stop hailing so he could go inside without getting pelted. The high I saw in Boulder was 56* and lows were in the low 40s/upper 30s. While we got rain, the mountains got their second dusting of snow. They had their first snow of the season the last week of summer. If tradition holds (according to my sister & The Weather Channel) we should have our first snow in a couple of weeks…perhaps while we are enjoying sunny Southern California.
Today, is another sweater day, as was yesterday. However, we have be able to reach 60* and the sky has cleared to be mostly free of clouds. Maybe next weekend we can make it up to the mountains to take in the Aspens.
**Updated at 3:45pm** We now have a frost warning for tonight until 8:00am tomorrow morning, temperatures are expected to be in the mid-to upper-30s. I guess I should check on my tomatoes when I get home from work!
Our (involuntary) experience as a storm chasers
This will probably come out very long when written, but it was quite an experience…
Tuesday nights we play softball in Boulder. After our game (in which we kicked major butt by winning 19-2) Noah and I hung around for quite a while afterwards talking with Stanley & Melina. While chatting, Melina notices so lightening off in the distance. No big deal, that happens all the time around here. We continue to talk. We all notice a few more flashes, count the distance between the flash and the thunder and determine the storm is about 8-10 miles away. We continue to stand around and gab. Meanwhile, the storm moves closer, 6 miles, 4 miles, 2 miles…you get the picture. Then, without warning, it’s ontop of us. Well, not really without warning, we did know it was getting closer. A huge bolt of lightening blasts to the ground about 1 miles from us, followed by a couple more really close blots and extremely angry thunder. The ump calls the game that’s going on behind us in the 3rd inning. We decide at that point that we should all go home.
The four of us start walking towards our respective vehicles as the rain starts to fall in drops the size of quarters. We walk a little faster. By the time we were to the parking lot it was almost a torrential downpour. Thankfully, I had our keys handy and we jumped in the car while hearing Melina yell to Stan, “Where are the keys?!” Poor guys. We got in the car right before the hail started to fall. Woo! Being caught outside in a hailstorm is NOT fun. We head off towards home. Neither us or the other couple live in Boulder. We live about 15 miles away and Stan & Melina are probably around 30. Of course the road we take goes through ranches and has no street lights (well, all the roads that go to Lafayette from Boulder are like that).
As I’m driving the rain is coming down in sheets intermixed with hail. Thankfully the hail was small, hard, but small, so no damage done to the car. The lightening was striking the ground all around us. It’s a good thing that being in a car is one of the safest places you can be during such a storm. Because of the snow, the roads do not have raised reflectors, but instead use a semi-reflective paint. However, the rain was so thick and blowing around us probably at like 50 mph that it was EXTREMELY hard to see the lines, Noah helped as my navigator in that respect. The drive home, I think, was the longest in history! I was so tense while driving, trying to see where I was going and not drive off the road or into another vehicle. Using highbeams was not an option due to the intensity of the rain, they created too much glare. So, one good thing I have to say for the lightening was that it was very productive and illuminating the road in an eerie blue blast of light. Not comforting mind you when you see it hit the ground in the field on the other side of the road. When we finally made it home the storm was still directly over us, this HUGE blob of red (if you know radar readings you understand the RED).
There was so much rain our gutters could not handle the massive influx of water. Granted, I’m sure there is a mass amount of cotton fuzz in the gutters too, but it was A LOT of rain. We made it inside (thank goodness we always park in the garage!) and I checked the rain gage. By the time the storm was over we had almost 1-inch of rain! Oy! Of course, anytime we come home Lava needs to go out, but she would not go outside because the sounds of the storm were too frightening for her. It doesn’t bother her when she’s inside, but with the door open she kind of freaked. We wanted her to just pee on the patio and we’d clean it up, but she wouldn’t even go out there. Finally Noah got her to go outside and get soaked while he stood under an umbrella. I stayed inside to unwind from the oober stressful drive.
The rain finally let up but the intense lightening and thunder stuck around for quite a while. Normally all those really fun storms bypass Lafayette by traveling to the North or South or even developing East of us, but this blob formed over Boulder as it came over the mountains and headed South East…towards Lafayette…the same direction we were headed. Oy! What an experience! What a night!