We now are low-pressured. Lots of rains and dark clouds conquer the sky. Woooooo, hope the weather will be fine.

We are suppossed to get a little wind today with a cold front that might bring El Paso to it's first freeze of the 'winter' season. I still don't define that as cold, but chilly. Cold does not mean having to put on an extra layer. Chilly does that. Cold is when it starts to penetrate the layers. I am really hoping to go to Colorado this winter to see friends and family, sell books, (my novel is suppossed to be released in the next month or less), and if at all possible go skiing.

Enjoy your skiing, Fencer! I see a number of the Western mountain resorts are getting and/or making snow.

*bursts in singing, "Oh the weather outside is delightful...*

Yup, it's time to get excited! The first "real" snow of the season (and actually, our first snow of the season at all) is on its way - up to 6 inches (15 cm) of snow may fall in the next 30 hours or so.

The first snowfall of the season always gets lots of attention on the local news broadcasts, and plenty of fender-benders as people relearn how to drive in winter conditions.

EDIT: 11 am the next day: the forecast wasn't quite right. We already have 6 inches of wet, heavy snow (some areas just southwest of here have received over 10 inches/26 cm). Up to 6-10 more inches may fall. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

Yeeeeah! We now are feeling the spirit of Christmas! Cool breeze and little rain, wow. I just love the weather!

Today it's sunny and hot... and it was cold and raining just a few days ago...

~Riella

ok, today was cold a dreary.....in the 50's, but wet.
I want summer back

We are dealing with some pretty strong winds right now as a dark cloudy cold front is moving in. If I wasn't in El Paso, I'd be thinking snow out of this. We might see some rain, but it will be cold rain. Not looking forward to having to go out twice more today. Once in two hours for a Software Engineering meeting, then again in four hours for fencing practice.

Going back to the last page (as I'm seeing the final vestiges of our leaves fluttering to the ground ...

One thing I love about storms are the pretty clouds that blow by once they've passed. I got to see some pretty dramatic shadows this evening. The setting sun reflected off the tops of the storm clouds on the horizon, making them look like mountain peaks. Too pretty!

Such a lovely username! Yes, the clouds storms produce are often breath-taking. I could stand and watch a storm for hours.

Which reminds me, at the Mod Moot this past summer in Ohio, a few of us stood outside watching a lightning storm move in over the trees. So very cool!

A large pine tree fell on a big power line across from our house last night, knocking out our power for a while but giving us a pretty spectacular fireworks show - the tree even caught fire. Now it's just so much firewood.

All I can say is ... WOW! Glad no one was hurt (except the tree ).

Isn't that something about your snow, 'gazer! Just wish it had wended its way over here.

Fencer, stay safe!

Here we've had an extraordinarily long autumn, or so it seems, and I'm not complaining. Typically, the temperature is around 10C/50F during the day and down near freezing at night (puuuurfect walking temps under the dark sky). It's been fun, because I go for a half hour walk each evening after dark—around 7:30. Jupiter is bright above me in the south-east. In the morning I head out for a jog about 6:30 and in the same general area of the sky, Venus is blazing its beauty. Also, it's been a privilege to see Orion/the Hunter gradually crossing the sky in the south-west each morning. What a sight as his belt points down towards twinkling Sirius.

We have had a good mixture of sun, clouds, and some precipitation. But as yet, no snow. Not even flurries, which is unusual for our area.

We've been raking leaves a lot in the past while, with not many more to do now. I love the looks of coloured leaves on the dark, green grass. We were able to get a few good, long hikes in this fall in the quietness of nature. How invigorating! Now, I'm itching to get out my snow shovel and ... shovel! We have had to scrape the cars a number of times recently, which causes my heart to beat faster (for joy, that is).

After experiencing this gorgeous weather, I honestly don't know how I ever survive each summer.

It sounds so nice over there, jo...our extended autumn really was a treat!

We've had very foggy nights recently because the air is saturated with snowmelt vapor.

And I read an interesting article in a recent issue of Popular Science that I'll try to tie into this topic. Let's see...making sure the seasons match the calendar means making sure our measurement of time is accurate (recall the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar a few hundred years ago - the seasons were 'slipping' because the year wasn't the right length).

Now we use atomic clocks, not the rotation of the earth, to measure time. It's crucial to have extremely accurate time - to 1/1,000,000 of a second per day - so devices almost all of us have (like cell phones and GPS units) work correctly. Believe it or not, most cell stations actually have their own atomic clocks to keep our conversations from becoming gibberish.

So we use cesium atoms to tell time - they oscillate at 9 billion times a second and are so accurate that they can easily detect the relativistic effects of traveling in a jet (but that's another story). But we know that the earth is, by these standards, too unreliable a clock.

Cesium atomic clocks would gain or lose a second every 100 million years. But, the article tells us, the search is on for better clocks. The ideas are staggering:

A strontium atomic clock would oscillate at 430 trillion times per second, and would be accurate to 1 second in 300 million years.

But the winner, in this discussion, is the quantum logic clock that uses a combination of aluminum and beryllium atoms. It oscillates at 1.1 quadrillion times per second and would be accurate to 1 second in 3.7 billion years. Whew! You'd never need to reset that one.

Okay, geek moment over. Carry on.

Right now in Colorado it is cold and everyday it either rains, snows or freezes.

LOTS of rain right now where I live. I like the rain, but I didn't have an umbrella on me.

I like the rain, unless I'm in my little tent (It doesn't leak, but packing everything up wet is an inconvenience).

The mountains of western North America are about to get hit with one of those big storms that drops snow by the foot. The ski resorts are giddy with anticipation.

We're not going to get nearly that much - we might even get ice instead, or a rain/ice mixture over the weekend. Hopefully, though, it'll all be snow. It's easier to deal with and drive in.

Since Christmas is near, we are now experiencing some little rainfall and not-so-gray skies, plus it's cold! Haaa.... the spirit of Christmas, just wonderful to feel.

Rain, rain, and more rain...with a few sunny days in between.

I'm still waiting for the snow

I traveled to southern Minnesota for Thanksgiving, and we've had the strangest weather. There was freezing rain the Wednesday before the holiday (my parked car was frozen shut ), then the weekend warmed up so much that it actually rained on Monday. Rain at the end of November! In Minnesota! Inconceivable!

The next day was far more typical - blowing snow and windchills below 0F/-17C. Today the sun is out but it's only about 8F/-13C. The weather's changing every 5 minutes.