I could say I never really adapted persay. I don't like it when it is 90 degrees at 9:00 in the morning. I survive it because I have to, but at the same time, I do get chilled a little sooner than usual. But I am not like typical El Pasoans who think they are freezing to death and it is 70 degrees.

I just spent the weekend in Santa Fe at a tournament and it was perfectly pleasent up there. I think the highs were in the upper 60's and only the wind chilled me enough to warrant wearing my fencing warm-up jacket. Then next week, I have absolutely no idea what to expect. I will be six miles up the mountains from Colorado Springs at 9,100 feet for an Intervarsity Chapter Camp. It could be summer, then winter, then spring, then skip summer and fall and go right back into winter. And it could do all that in the same day. It's going to be a week of awesomeness. Then in July, I go to hot and humid in Atlanta, GA for Summer Nationals. A lot of traveling this year with a wide range of locals. I'll be reporting on the weather on each location depending if I bring my computer or not.

We did indeed get snow the other night, though not in the quantities our New Yorkers did.

Actually our's (at least not at my house) didn't stay for very long either. It melted by the end of the day. It was freezing cold though.

Today was mostly suny with some minor cloud cover, warmer than the weekend, athough still not too hot (gladly ) It sure is nice to see some sun finally.

The past 4 days have been wet (several inches of much-needed rain), windy, and cool (highs around 45F/7C, which is about 20F/11C below average). But the sun is out now and seasonal temperatures are expected the next few days. And everything is so lush and green!

The space shuttle Atlantis is due to begin its final scheduled mission a little later today. Be sure to check www.heavens-above.com to see if you have a chance to view it 'chasing' the ISS before docking.

I agree, wolfloversk, that the worst part about the warmer seasons is the humidity. I don't care for heat, but add humid air to the equation and ... ugh.

Tell me guys does it get humid in Alaska? 'Cause if not I'll see you in a few years up there... I'll take heavy snow over this any day.

Ditto and double-ditto!

Narnian_Storm, 'tis fun to hear about your schooling. And I, too, wish for some good thunderstorms this summer.

What a tremendous contrast of weather, Fencer, for your sister and family!

I'm with you on the snow-missing, Damsel!

Fencer, did you have any difficulty adapting from the cooler climate of Colorado when you moved south?

I was wondering the same thing. 'Cause I think I surely would. EDIT: Ah, I see your response later. And yes, it would be interesting to hear your weather reports from your different locations this summer, if you're able.

I finally got to hear the low, drawn out rumbles ... And, of course, it was snowing this morning. I quite enjoyed it actually. It looked very pretty against the bright green and vibrant flowers at the Church I went to this morning. It is easy to complain about it snowing in May...but it really was a nice, unique showing of God's glory!

Mmmm, I love those long, low thunderous rumbles. And how true, Todd, about the May snow being a 'unique showing of God's glory'. Beautifully said. That day was actually my birthday, and we had a few flurries here late the night before, plus a bunch of small hail. I was really hoping to wake up on May 9th to a ground cover of white. 'Twould have been a lovely and fun birthday present.

So cool about the bird-watching, wolfloversk. It's really nice to hear the birds begin their tweeting around 5 in the morning at this time of year. We live in an older area, so have abundant trees filled with birds, for which I'm very thankful.

Stargazing and birdwatching - two great outdoor activities!

Just had to quote that and say with full vigour "Yes"!

We have had a decent amount of rain off and on over the past couple of weeks. Temperatures are bouncing around all over the place, from below seasonal (which is around 20C/68F now) to quite a bit above. For example, yesterday was a very hot 28C/82F. Ugh. Today and tomorrow are cooling down some to more comfortable temperatures (20ish Celsius) with some showers tomorrow, but then gradually warming up again way above seasonal to be around 30C/86F much of next week. Hopefully that will give way to some good thunderstorms/rain later in the week, providing cooler temps again. That is what I'm hoping: it's not in the forecast at this point.

We're getting to the stage of the year I dislike listening to weather forecasts the most. Example:

Weatherman: Cooler temperature and rain are in the forecast for tomorrow, then things become better after that, with clearing skies and getting warmer. All the way up to 28C/82F on holiday Monday [for us Canadians], the best day of the long weekend.
Jo's increasingly riled thoughts the more Mr. Weatherman rambles on: 82° temps are definitely not my idea of 'the best day'.

... People naturally assume that the warmer it is, the more everyone loves it: I honestly think they shouldn't generalize quite so much.

I was able to watch the launch of Atlantis on NASA TV last week. Always a thrill! Unfortunately it was cloudy here for a few nights around that time so I was unable to catch the 'chase'. Sunday evening it was clear again, but the docking had already taken place by then. We've had a few bright ISS passes recently, yet I checked the website today and there are none at all now for awhile. I miss 'em.

The sun has finally disappeared behind a grove of pine trees to the northwest. It has been an unseasonably warm day – hard to believe it snowed just a few days ago! – but that no longer matters. The sky above is beginning to darken, and your eyes gradually tease out some of its nocturnal treasures. Venus already adorns the western sky, and a half moon lights the south.

Already the cooling of the night has begun, and a few mosquitoes buzz around your ears. You light a citronella candle, not knowing whether it will help or not, but it looks inviting there on the picnic table.

At your feet a much larger fire burns. The campground is virtually empty, but the night is full of sound. Various frog calls fill the air, and an occasional Who cooks for you? call of a barred owl echoes among the trees.

Then you spot Mars, just to the upper left of the Moon, and Saturn, high above your campfire. As the sky deepens you’re able to pick out more and more long-known stellar landmarks. You greet them like old friends.

There’s a huge pile of wood nearby, a clear sky above, and the promise of a very long and relaxed evening. It’s going to be a great night…

Oh, sorry. Thought I’d recount my recent camping experience in a slightly different way. Maybe I should get a job writing travel journals.

Sorry you missed the Atlantis passes, jo. Hopefully your weather will be better for the next opportunity (when it returns from the ISS).

...the best day of the long weekend.
Jo's increasingly riled thoughts the more Mr. Weatherman rambles on: 82° temps are definitely not my idea of 'the best day'.

... People naturally assume that the warmer it is, the more everyone loves it: I honestly think they shouldn't generalize quite so much.

And a hearty DITTO here! Sometimes the TV weather people here seem to assume that summer has to be extremely hot and humid, and say things like "It's just not summer if it's not 90 degrees." What's wrong with it being a little cooler, so we can enjoy the outdoors without melting?

As to your hearty Ditto ... precisely, stargazer!

Oh my, how I enjoyed your journaling thoughts above. Beautiful! I became immersed in the telling and felt like I was right there. Yes, it was such a treat seeing Mars and the Moon quite close the other night (hurrah for clear skies then), Saturn at a great height, and bright Venus setting in the west. And the expression 'old friends' is a wonderful one, relating it to stars and planets as they appear again after we haven't seen them for awhile.

... and an occasional Who cooks for you? call of a barred owl echoes among the trees.

I hadn't heard it that way before.
*is quite drawn to owls, finding them to be some of the most beautiful birds*

I got to enjoy a lovely night to stargaze last night with my fiancee before she headed back home today. It was nice to watch Venus set, and we even saw a couple of faint shooting stars. I was very surprised at how bright the half-moon was though. It rivaled the brightness of a full winter's moon on a fresh blanket of snow. Ironic that the only condition not beneficial for stargazing was the brightness of the moon!

It was a beautiful 85F/29C here today...not a lot of humidity though. I have noticed on the models heat next week, which Johbbit was also hinting at. Unfortunately, good thunderstorms are not looking likely. There is plenty of instability...but little wind aloft to organize the storms. I hope it changes...but usually the weather models do a decent job with the upper levels of the atmosphere, even 5-7 days out. Its the surface conditions that they are not real good at!

I stayed in today because this morning it was raining and every time it rains I'm fast asleep

Though the day did get pretty and the sun was shining the only thing imperfect was that it was 90 degrees today because of humidity. I honestly can't wait when I go to Los Angeles in six more weeks. The weather is perfect there.

I was out walking the dog late last night and spotted some old friends of mine skyward (it's been raining an awful lot lately); Cygnus the Swan and the good ol' Teapot, also known as Sagittarius. It must have been about 3am EST and Cygnus was right overhead, although I had to really gaze for a bit to see the whole of the "northern cross" because the light pollution is really quite wicked here. On a very clear night (and provided there's a massive statewide power outage ) you can just make out the Milky Way behind Cygnus constellation, I think a distant arm of our galaxy. Deneb, the tail of the swan is a massive, bright star. We're still not sure how close this behemoth of a star is to us...when I last pulled up Starry Night Backyard it had it listed as far away as 3,000 LY, but I've also read it might be half of that. Despite this the star is 60,000 times more luminous than the sun! To put things in perspective this supergiant star, so very far away, is the 19th brightest in the sky...here's a size comparision with our own sun...

That's our sun on the right! Yikes! And I thought quasars were supposed to be bright!

Somewhere close by Deneb is the North America Nebula. I've never been able to locate it in my binoculars but haven't yet tried with my telescope. Stargazer, you had any luck with this one?

The "Teapot" was down about 30 degrees off the southern horizon (a guesstimate...I didn't have my star chart out). It looks exactly like it's namesake.

"Teapot" is an asterism, basically a recognizable shape in the stars which looks like an object, rather than being an actual constellation. The Big Dipper is another asterism as the proper constellation name is Ursa Major, or the Big Bear. Just in case you were curious about this stuff .

It just started raining really hard 5 minutes ago,and it just now lightened up. It's still raining,just not as much as it was.

it was 90 degrees today! and it's still only May! wow! I love it though!

Several days of 90F or better are in our forecast too. *sigh*

I really enjoyed reading your astronomical comments, Shadowlander. (In response to your question, while I've seen the North America Nebula in a telescope, it's been a long time since I caught it in binoculars, and then it was under really dark skies. Spectacular - as is the Milky Way in that part of the sky).

The Teapot and Cygnus are "old friends" to me as well, associated with the hot and humid skies of summer. From this far north the Teapot is never very high, so it's easily hidden by trees. (Though we've had some great unhindered views of it glittering across the lakes of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness).

Cygnus, on the other hand, gets very high here, and will remain in the evening sky until Christmas time. (But it might be a bit early to begin thinking about snow!)

Lovely to hear about your stargazing experience with your fiancée, Todd. Yes, that half-moon did seem unusually bright. I'm nearly finished reading Apollo 13 (mid-way through the Epilogue), so I see the moon now in a whole different light, in some sense (no pun intended ).

SL, I enjoyed your interesting post as well. There is something about astronomy that really gets my blood racing ... in a good way. And I'm very much a beginner/amateur of the amateurs. The more I learn, the more I realize the magnitude of what there is to uncover. And that's only what we know: just think of all we don't know! Fascinating and awe-inspiring beyond words.

stargazer and Liberty, we here are also expecting temperatures in the 90sF! Waaay too warm for the end of May in our area; way too warm for anytime.

Yesterday was quite cool and rainy (needed precipitation). Now, for the next five or six days there will be a build-up in the heat and humidity from relatively pleasant today (24C/75F) to Wednesday's at 29C/84F, but feeling like 35C/95F with the humidex. Similar on Thursday and Friday. I'm still hoping for a good storm next weekend which will bring us some relief. Summer weather shouldn't be starting quite this early. But maybe that means our July won't be so humid, as it's getting this out of its system earlier than expected.

And now, I think I'll hibernate for the next couple of months. If I don't show up for awhile, you'll know I've melted.

Eeep, I just read a comment by weathernetwork.com, talking about the very hot temperatures over the next week: "Conditions are set to improve for southern Ontario -- so get your shades ready to go." And Jo says "Set to what? Improve? " They just don't understand us cool-weather folk.

One thing about blue sky (albeit ) days is that the sky is clear at night for stargazing. (Heehee, I first wrote "for stargazer". Well, him too. ) 'Though the humidity, of course, will affect the clarity of the sky to some degree.

Hi! I'm relatively new here, but I see you're talking about astronomy. That's awesome! Go Astronomy!
Anyway, I saw a couple of your posts talking about the North America Nebula, and I just wanted to say that I have seen it in my telescope, though it was a little hard to distinguish it from the sky due to its naturally high-ish magnification (8-inch Orion SkyQuest Dobsonian <--awesome, completely worth the money; what scopes do you have?) .
I also wanted to give links to a couple good astronomy sites:

1) This one shows things like cloud cover, seeing, transparency, wind speed, humidity, etc.--> http://cleardarksky.com/csk/

2) This site has a new picture every day, going all the way back to June of 1995.--> http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

For the first site, scroll down a little and put in your location (city or lat/long) and then bookmark it as your location so you won't have to put it in every time.

Welcome, pickle! Glad to see you stop by!

APOD is one site I try to visit regularly. It's offered a number of great shots I've used as wallpaper over the years.

CSK is pretty cool too, though I don't use it as much as I should.

My favorites also include www.skyandtelescope.com (especially "This Week's Sky at a Glance") and www.heavens-above.com (bookmark your location and get localized satellite pass predictions).

My scope is a go-to Celestron 8 Schmidt-Cassegrain that I got at a great price from my brother-in-law's friend.

Weather-wise, jo is right: it's very humid here and the sky visibility is siffering for it. We tied a record high today (88F/31C, originally set 136 years ago. With 91F/33C forecast for tomorrow, we're in for more records this week.