We still have traces of snow on the ground despite the recent "January thaw" (defined by the local NWS office as two consecutive days with highs over 32F/0C). But we tied the record high of 47F/8C yesterday and could surpass 50F/10C tomorrow, so the snow may not be around too long.
Winter sports enthusiasts are languishing here, with two consecutive winters with severe lack of snow. Next week may see temperatures actually below average (around 15F/-9C) but with only a fleeting chance of light snow this weekend.
Quite a contrast to all your snow, @jo!
But all night, Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.
Meanwhile, with the temperatures in North West England currently varying between close to 0ºC at night and up to 7ºC or so during the day, I'm preparing to go to Australia to see my family, and my parents have warned me that the predicted top for Monday, when I land in Melbourne, will be 38ºC.
I've asked my sister, who's picking me up at the airport, if we could please go straight to our parents' house in Inverloch, 150 km (about 2 hours' drive) further south-east on the coast, where it's always a few degrees cooler than Melbourne and we have air conditioning and a very reliable evening sea breeze and a gorgeous beach only 20 minutes' walk away. And as the school year has already started and most of the droves of tourists will therefore have gone away, we'll have it mostly to ourselves. I do love Inverloch. (That's where I spent almost my entire childhood and have moved back there temporarily a few times when I was in between other places.)
"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)
Similar temperatures coming up here too over the next few days - Sunday-Tuesday expecting temperatures of 39ºC with Saturday predicted to be not much cooler 37ºC. This feels like the warmest summer its been where I live here in north western Victoria since 2017-18 summer I think, or perhaps the 2018-19 one. And of course we have no sea breeze where I live and we have been getting smokey skies a few times recently due to the two major bushfires burning to the west of us - the Grampians one and the one at Little Desert.
*~JESUS is my REASON!~*
We had high temperatures up to 39 degrees last Thursday in Sydney, but it soon cooled down with a southerly buster, almost 20 degrees cooler, by last weekend. Now, we, too, may find it a bit too hot this weekend coming, when on Monday everyone goes back to work.
My biggest bucket list item at the moment is to visit Down Under (either Oz or New Zealand), especially to see the wonders of the Southern night sky. But those temperatures mean I'd most likely be visiting in winter since I cannot handle that kind of heat well.
I just returned from running errands under a bright blue sky and a temperature of 49F/10C. Others may wear coats, but I was totally at home in shirt sleeves.
But all night, Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.
My biggest bucket list item at the moment is to visit Down Under (either Oz or New Zealand), especially to see the wonders of the Southern night sky.
Like seeing the Moon the right way up, and waxing and waning from left to right like it logically should??
But those temperatures mean I'd most likely be visiting in winter since I cannot handle that kind of heat well.
I don't think many of us handle it "well" even when we've grown up with it — I certainly never enjoyed it. But you should be fine any time of year from about April to October, inclusive. Depends on where you're going, of course. You'll need to be in a rural area to get dark skies. My dad has been to the Outback (central Australia, mainly desert) and seen stars literally from horizon to horizon, because the land is so flat and the sky so dark. But out there it can get not only extremely hot in the daytime, but also extremely cold at night. Best to do your research and figure out which places best suit you and at what time of year.
I can't speak for New Zealand, never having been there (changing planes once in Auckland does not count), but they definitely have cooler weather on average than we do. No deserts, though.
"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)
I must admit, I am reveling in our below freezing temperatures when I hear about 39°C.
I just returned from running errands under a bright blue sky and a temperature of 49F/10C. Others may wear coats, but I was totally at home in shirt sleeves.
That sounds just like me, haha. At that temperature, others are in coats, but I am comfortably in capris (or even shorts) and a t-shirt for my walks. *high-five, 'gazer*
I had to pop on and gush about the gorgeous snow we are receiving right now. The radar is fabulous. Dark blue over our area for a few hours. It was raining briefly this morning (not nearly enough to melt all our snow), but then the temperature dropped fairly quickly.
The snow began around 3 and has not stopped. In fact, it has become heavier and heavier. Large, thick flakes and loads of them. It is an absolute winter wonderland outside. Words cannot accurately describe the scene. And as that mysterious wintery blue colour comes in the dusk now, the beauty only increases. Everything is laden with white. The snow should be ending this evening sometime, with partial clearing later.
We are driving up to a beautiful Ontario very snowy mountainous area tomorrow for the week (the word 'mountain' is relative ), but the roads should be plowed by then, although many snow-covered, no doubt. Besides, areas north of us hardly received any snow today, apparently. Yet, in the past few weeks, they have received more than their abundant share of snow!
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@johobbit: I must admit, I am revelling in our below freezing temperatures when I hear about 39°C.
Believe me, I've known hot weather in Sydney to be much worse than 39°C. But one redeeming feature of Sydney, in particular, but also in Melbourne, is the existence of an evening phenomenon called the Southerly Buster, which mercifully ensures that hot temperatures don't usually endure for more than a week or more. Over in Perth, they call this Southerly Buster phenomenon the Fremantle Doctor. It takes about six hours to fly from Sydney to the coast of Antarctica, after all, the lovely great natural refrigerator of the World.
Never heard the term "Southerly Buster" myself, despite Wikipedia claiming it's used in Victoria... where I come from, we simply call it a "cool change". (Which also happens to be the name of a song by Aussie legends, the Little River Band — slightly before my time, but my dad likes them. )
Anyway, we get much more reliable evening sea breezes in Inverloch than in Melbourne, which is why I'm going straight to my family home when I get in on Monday!
"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)
Can't say that I've ever heard it called the Southerly Bluster either - I've only known it as a cool change also.
*~JESUS is my REASON!~*
Can't say that I've ever heard it called the Southerly Bluster either - I've only known it as a cool change also.
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Just noticed something else about the Wikipedia entry that Wagga posted the link to — it claims that the "Southerly Buster" comes from the south-east. Er, yeah, it would have to in Sydney and other parts of coastal New South Wales, since that's where the sea is, but in Victoria, a cool change almost always comes with a south-westerly. I lived there long enough (nearly 30 years of my life) that I should know!!
"Now you are a lioness," said Aslan. "And now all Narnia will be renewed."
(Prince Caspian)
Would you believe - our evaporative cooler has played up randomly last week (after getting serviced last summer). So right now as I'm typing this it's about 30.7°C at about 1am - most of the family are asleep in the lounge room with the air conditioner on - the other 2 kids have a portable air conditioner in their bedroom. Looking forward to that cool change in a few days. But more than just cooler temperatures we could also do with some rain.
*~JESUS is my REASON!~*
But all night, Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.
@stargazer if you visit Aussie, come to NZ as well (different visa!), and go down to Mount John Observatory, an award winning dark sky location.
There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
Sounds awesome, @coracle!
Imbolc, the cross-quarter day marking the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, was last weekend (aka Groundhog Day and Candlemas).
The worst-case scenario, 6 more weeks of winter, would be optimistic in these parts. That would bring us to the equinox in March - and our possible snow season extends to the end of May.
This winter, like last year, has been very dry. But Mother Nature is trying to make up some of the deficit today, with what might be the season's biggest snowfall to date, up to 8 inches/200mm. It will be followed by much colder temperatures, possibly down to -15F/-26C, with it being much colder up north.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!
But all night, Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.