44°F, IlF? Ugh and ick. Is air-conditioning common in most houses in your area?

Glad you're cold is disappearing, wolfloversk. 'Tis the season for colds, isn't it? So, did you get a snow day last week? And approx. how much did you receive? *loves 'Narnia snow', as well as building snow forts* Edit: Aha, I see you did have a day off. Yay!

stargazer, your clear skies up north sounded simply amazing! You are blessed to have a visiting spot up there in such beautiful countryside.

Hi Pyxis. I can't recall if I've welcomed you to the forum yet, but in any case ... Welcome ... and specifically to this thread. I, too, love the look of snow or ice on the branches of trees. ( But 'though the latter is very pretty, it can be extremely damaging.) Wow, a foot of snow fell in your area last Friday? Lucky! Stay safe!

Glenstorm, wet snow is very, very heavy to shovel, isn't it? Good exercise. Even though I so enjoy shoveling any snow, my preference is that lighter, fluffy, dry stuff when the temperature is well below freezing.

Unfortunately the evening Mars and the Moon were relatively close was really cloudy here. I did see them the next night, though, when the clouds moved off for a while. They weren't so close, but still a very pretty sight.

The other night, right after the full moon, the nearly full orb was rising in the east behind a bank of clouds ... some white, some very grey. It was a magical story in itself to watch. So mysterious and adventuresome and ... beautiful!

*enjoys reading stargazer's nostalgia solar eclipse paragraph*

coracle, good to see you here! I'm thankful your area is okay after the Chili earthquake. And yes, that certainly counts as weather.

*waves to Warrior as well* Are you looking forward to the upcoming cooler months, W4J?

TheGeneral, I sure hope you can get some skiing in yet.

As for our area, we had snow off and on all last week (the most we've had all winter, about 10" in total), but on the 'off' days, much of it would melt. And now, with temperatures this week a few degrees above freezing every day, what we have left—white patches here and there—will be gone in no time. *still hoping for a good snowstorm or two before the snow season is over here (around the end of April)*

We've had so much cloud lately that it was a treat to see the International Space Station again last night. Since this week is expected to be clearer, I'm looking forward to some regular night-sky gazing, something we haven't had as consistently for many, many weeks.

Enjoy the ISS, jo! It looks like we're entering a cycle of favorable evening passes here over the next week - just in time before Daylight Saving Time kicks in early March 14, moving the sunset times ever-later. *crosses fingers for clear nights in the meantime*

Our high here yesterday was 41F/5C. It was the first day over 40F here since early December...over 100 days. I guess spring is coming.

Just so this snow doesn't melt too fast. Significant spring flooding is expected from the usual suspects (the Minnesota River and Red River of the North) due to all the snow we received over the winter.

Oh, so daylight saving time's on March 14th? That's good to know--and March 14 is Pi Day! Awesome!
But more on topic, it's about 33F right now. Today, and yesterday too, was really sunny (yesterday was the first sunny day in at least a week!
), and the sunlight gets pretty blinding when it reflects off of the snow. Plus, the foot of snow we got last week is melting pretty steadily, and I'm hopeful for spring .

Its pretty warm out which is unfortunate, seeings how my bio class was "-"

Hi Jo!
Yes, I'm definitely looking forward to the cooler months. I much prefer Autumn and Winter to Summer and Spring, but our Winter is decidedly more mild than yours.
In regards to ILoveFauns post, do you mean 44 Celsius, not Fahrenheit? The former is very warm (we get it here too) and the latter isn't anything to complain about. Air-conditioning is reasonably standard in Australian homes (maybe not so much in Tasmania and parts of Victoria) but some houses are still without them (either by choice or lack of funds).

I wish it would rain some more down were I live because I really like rain! Well I guess I will just have to wait till the rainy season. I say I like hurricanes because of the rain, but every time one comes I freak out. Down were I live it's really starting to fell like spring.

Welcome to the weather thread, kittengirl! (If you like rain, come up here; we're in the wet all week ). So you live in hurricane country? I have trouble even imagining what experiencing one might be like, even with all the video and picture coverage on TV and online.

Our snow cover is rapidly dwindling - there are even a few spots of brown grass appearing in our yard now. The nighttime temps are staying above freezing (around 35F/2C or so), so the melting in on all the time. And we're in the midst of about 6 days of predicted light cool rain, so that'll take care of most of the rest. Just so it doesn't flood...

I miss the night sky, though.

As forecasted, this past week has been clear/sunny every day, almost to the point of being boring. The one advantage is that each night has been sparkling to enjoy the dark sky's treasures. We've continued to have a few favourable ISS passes and some bright Iridium flares (the latter are such fun to pinpoint, then watch closely as they build to sometimes an almost fierce brightness, then gradually disappear into the dark again).

The disadvantage of these sunny and unseasonably warm temperatures (we've been up to 14°C/59°F the past few days ) is that the snow has nearly disappeared. The only spots left are those areas where the sun hardly shines (under bushes, facing north). *sigh* Dare I still hope for a good March snowstorm, which would not be unusual for us? Yet now the air is feeling more like April!

Is your snow cooperating by not melting too quickly, stargazer? Flooding can be such a serious problem, to be sure.

I much prefer Autumn and Winter to Summer and Spring

Hearty ditto here!

In regards to IlLoveFauns post, do you mean 44 Celsius, not Fahrenheit?

44°F, IlF? Ugh and ick

Good grief, I actually read that as Celsius, even though I wrote "F". I often read one as the other for some reason. That's the problem with living in a country that still uses both (officially, metric; unofficially/general public, Imperial).

kittengirl, I really enjoy rain, too. I just find it very pretty, and afterwards, the air feels and smells so cleansed and earthy. However, I do prefer rain in the spring and autumn, rather than in the winter, which is what we've had periodically this season, it's been so mild at times. And welcome to this thread. Do you get many hurricane warnings where you are?

stargazer, we're getting rain much of this weekend, after this long clear spell. There's a rather rare -8 flare on Sunday evening, so I'm hoping that the sky will clear ... just for that minute.

It is sad when there is a stretch of cloudy nights, isn't it? One feels like something is missing and then, when the skies finally clear, it's like seeing old friends again up in the beautiful night sky.

So, we continue above normal temps for the next few days, with, alas, no snow, but the watery equivalent. The clouds should be moving in this afternoon.

To those for whom this applies: don't forget to turn your clocks back one hour early this Sunday morning. Ugh, we lose an hour (spring forwards; fall back).

59F, jo? Whew, heat wave! Our high so far this year has been 46F/8C.

The rainy week continues, and this morning we had both thunder and hail - in March! I know this type of weather is seasonal in the South - Florida had both thunderstorms and tornado touchdowns this morning - but this is Minnesota. We should be having blizzards...and if the temperature this morning had been just a bit cooler (it was 37F/3C) we would be looking at a pile of new white stuff rather than rapidly-shrinking piles of snow. Our yard is down to about 6 inches with large areas of grass showing (the snowbanks are still pretty tall, however).

At this rate most of our snow will be gone by the weekend. We're not at flood risk where I live, but those closer to the various rivers (especially the Red River of the North, which forms the boundary between Minnesota and North Dakota) are watching things very closely now. It's so flat out there that even a rise of a few feet in river depth can mean flooding miles away.

Hopefully you'll get to see that -8 flare, jo. By late this weekend the clouds might be moving out a little and I'll see the sky again. It's been almost a week and I miss it.

johobbit: Ya were I live we get tons of rain. We get the hurricane winds, but worst of all we get the hurricane tornadoes. It can be very scary. Plus a river nearby has been very high lately, but has finally started going down.

There's been a heat wave where I live, too! So far this week it's been around 50/60F, warm enough to not wear jackets! Even at night the temperature hasn't dropped below freezing for a few days now. What snow there is left is melting pretty quickly. I think spring is finally here (though, you never know, considering the weather we get around here...)!

Spring is coming, and although I miss the snow the red-winged blackbirds have returned which means more birdwatching. My dad and me went to Lake George and Warrensburg this past Sunday and the ice on the Hudson is still pretty thick in Warrensburg. This coupled with the recent warm weather is unfortunately putting that area at risk of an ice jam (according to my dad) Here, south of the mountains our snow is begining to melt off. It looked like we were in for rain earlier, but it hasn't rained yet.

Hi Jo!
Yes, I'm definitely looking forward to the cooler months. I much prefer Autumn and Winter to Summer and Spring, but our Winter is decidedly more mild than yours.
In regards to ILoveFauns post, do you mean 44 Celsius, not Fahrenheit? The former is very warm (we get it here too) and the latter isn't anything to complain about. Air-conditioning is reasonably standard in Australian homes (maybe not so much in Tasmania and parts of Victoria) but some houses are still without them (either by choice or lack of funds).

Sorry i meant celcuis, 44 in fahrenheit is quite cool in think . Yeah heaps of peopel have air- con, we don't, mum thinks it's a waste of money and it makes it worse when you go outside and stuff. Which is true.

anyway it is mid march and it's not getting any cooler, today we had liek january weather.

I'm still astounded about that 44C temperature, IloveFauns and Warrior. Is that temperature very common for each of you? And is it very humid there? (I "unofficially" define humid as dew points over about 20C. That dewpoint, at an air temperature of 44C, would give a heat index value of 48C). *promptly melts*

(A handy heat index calculator is here. All you need is the air temperature and either the dew point or relative humidity value).

It's a far cry from 44C, but (for the first time in about 5 months!) our temperature hit 50F/10C today. It feels pretty good out there. And it even leapfrogged to the next landmark, 60F/16C.

All because the sky is rather clear (for the first time in about 9 days) and there's a strange yellow orb shining in the sky. I just hope it stays clear long enough for me to reacquaint myself with the stars this evening.

Mid-northern latitudes (I'm at almost exactly 45 degrees north) gain over 90 minutes of daylight in March (while those at 45 degrees south lose a similar amount). With astronomical spring just around the corner, our weather changes quickly this time of year.

It was windy today. I'm not sure how fast it was exactly, but it was fast enough to start tearing the shingles off our roof! (AHHH!!! , but my mom said it might start up again tonight