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applestar
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Re: 2018 What's the weather like where you are?

22°F now... probably 20 or less by morning....

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applestar
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...16°F...

— not warming above freezing until at least noon. I wonder if DH is going to be able to replace the hot water heater which has developed a slow leak as planned.....? Am thinking I should bring the garden hose needed to drain the old unit inside to “thaw” at least, or it won’t even uncoil. Should have thought of that yesterday :roll:

imafan26
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It is a cool 67 degrees now and it has been raining all night. The rain is steady but not very hard so it will have time to soak into the soil. It will become drinking water in about 25 years. My two rain barrels are already full. The wind is 6 mph so the rain is not moving very fast. I planted some seeds yesterday so the rain should be good for them. Some of the seeds were very old and I am not counting on them sprouting very well, but I have occasionally been surprised. I am hoping the sun will come out some time this morning.

imafan26
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It has been raining now for almost three days with only a brief respite in the showers. Last night there was a lot of wind and the weed tree from the next yard was hitting my roof. I just got my Sunjoe pole pruner yesterday, I will have to give it a test run once it dries out. It is 69 degrees now and it only going up to about 78 degrees today. More rain is forecast for today. The rain has been light to moderate and if it is not windy, it is a good rain since it is coming slow enough to soak into the soil (it brings out the weeds like crazy) and not flood or runoff. Most of the rain is falling on the Koolaus so it will become drinking water in about 25 years. I is supposed to dry up at the end of the week before the next round of unstable weather comes next week.

Most of you see snow, when it rains here we see more green. The leeward side of the island does not get much rain in summer so the mountains and the haole koa will turn brown. Even the grass will turn yellow as they go dormant in summer. This year we got more summer rain and flooding than usual so, it was not as pronounced. When the rainy season comes and it drifts over to the leeward side, everything turns green again. Haole koa only needs one good rain to green up. That is why we have a green Christmas. The only trees that are bare are the aliens like Crepe myrtle and plumeria. The desert rose may lose leaves but again it may not. If I have to put it in the lanai, the leaves will drop, but if it can handle the rain, it will retain its leaves out in the sun The sun rose at 6:58 a.m. and will set at 5:50 p.m. for a total of 10 hrs and 51 minutes of daylight today. We will lose a little over a minute between now and the winter solstice. Our longest day on June 21 will be 13:25:52.

I never really understood the difference between long day and short day until I visited my friend on the mainland when the sun set at 11 p.m. and was up at 3 a.m. There is less than 2 hours between our shortest and longest days. The other confusion was when someone would say our water tasted good. It was strange because water does not really have a taste.

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digitS'
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Snowing. Raining. The wind is blowing

And, that is supposed to be our week's weather.

I think that I must have seasonal affective disorder; there's little reason to deny it after all these years at this latitude. I've taken no real measures to soften the effects of light deprivation. At 4 PM, it's almost completely dark. We are coming up to 8 hour day, 16 hours of darkness. It bothers me to even admit that.

Okay, allow me to try a measure of levity to brighten my day.

Steve

Sunny
Yesterday my life was filled with rain
Sunny
You smiled at me and really eased the pain
Now the dark days are gone, and the bright days are here
My sunny one shines so sincere
Sunny one so true, I love you.
Sunny
Thank you for the sunshine bouquet
Sunny
Thank you ... I love you.

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applestar
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I know what you mean digitS — I might have the same. But one of my winter garden set up takes up the southeast window of the Family Room, with a 4-tube shoplight over a bar- counter, and a vertical 2-tube shoplight, plus a couple of CFL bulb utility lights.

The lights are turned on first thing in the morning and turned off when last person leaves the room at night. And I keep the brightest plants — winter bloomers like orchids and Thanksgiving cacti, trumpet impatiens, ripening hot peppers of various colors, tomatoes when I’m growing them, colorful or variegated leaved plants, etc. I’ve had the coffee plant here on a sofa table in previous years and it bloomed, fruited, and ripened the red coffee cherries over our heads. This year I’m keeping pineapple plants here — not for color, but they represent hope that they will fruit this year or next.

We’ve had winter storm blackouts when these lights failed, and oh wow, it was very dark without the cheerful lights.

pow wow
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It's been getting to a few to several degrees above freezing during the days here in Calgary. Some nasty icy patches on the bike path east along the Bow River yesterday.

My bike fender isn't just for protecting my backside from mud and water.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139842551 ... ed-public/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/139842551 ... ed-public/
P1060043.JPG

HoneyBerry
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The birds love you. I recognize the chickadees. I am not sure what the small tan bodied bird is. Some type of finch perhaps. I need to work on my bird identification skills.

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digitS'
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I can imagine that it is fun, Pow Wow . (Last bird in video: Red-breasted nuthatch?)

... But, do you have to dismantle your bike to feed the birds!?

:wink: I suppose that some kind of container is needed ... and, several would NOT be easy to carry on a bike :wink:.

Steve

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!potatoes!
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definitely nuthatch.

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applestar
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Had to take Dd for a 9am dentist appt. it had been 20°F around 8am, and I had forgotten to take frosted windshield into account when we left the house. Engine turned over with a squeal — yeah, freezing cold.

I was blasting the heater but it wasn’t warming up fast enough, and DD wasn’t having much success trying to scrape the ice from windows, so I told her to get in so I could move the car out of the house shadow and face the sun — ended up peering out between frost streaks and slowly turning around once around the court before getting the car in position.

DD jumped out as soon as I put the car in park, and had the front and side windows cleaned up in no time at all .

...it occurred to me later that This had been WAY easier than I ever remembered from when I used to have to do all that work on my own... :D

Taiji
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65 days; mid 20's nights.

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digitS'
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There you have it
The high altitude, semi-arid temperature differences.

During the growing season, 30° or 40° afternoon to morning swings in temperature makes for challenges for many garden plants.

We are gaining some needed precipitation, here. Snow water equivalency high in the mountains has finally reached normal for this time of year. The warm temperatures are a little concerning because much of that precipitation is falling as rain even on the highest peaks. We don't want it all to run away in December! However, temperatures are likely to drop over the next few days while more moisture falls so ... that's good.

Steve

Taiji
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Meant to add that's it's also been extremely dry. We are needing precipitation after a really good monsoon season, that even stretched into Oct. which is one of our normally driest months. No snow yet. Some snow up in Flag though on the San Francisco Peaks.

I noticed that the deer that pass thru the property look really filled out and healthy now due to lots of grass that resulted from the summer rains. Last year at this time they looked terrible. But, we are always needing more moisture in AZ.

pow wow
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Sorry for the late reply HoneyBerry and digitS.
Yes that was the little red breasted nuthatch in the video. I love the way they and the white breasted nuthatch talks.
My fender comes off my bike with a flick of the clamp with my thumb.

About freezing today with a brisk north wind.

Ice in the Bow River these days.
P1060046.JPG

pepperhead212
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First day of winter, and it got up to 65° today! Even at 5pm, after it was dark, it was 60°. Yet, on Thanksgiving, we got down to 16°, and didn't get to freezing. Crazy weather.

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applestar
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Did you see the AMAZING moon tonight?

Image

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applestar
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It was HUGE when it rose! I was driving home (by myself) and first saw it out of corner of my eye — I was talking to myself in astonishment — “What is that GIANT GLOWY THING? Is it the moon? It CAN’T be the moon can it? ...after that, the moon was to my left and I kept glancing over as I drove, and with the moon rising towards a dense overhead cloud-cover, all I could think of was that I wanted my DD’s to see it and I had to hurry or they would miss it.

As it turned out, when I got home and got them out of the house and down the driveway to where they could see it, the moon had risen into the cloud cover, but — there was a sweeping air current pushing the giant dense cloud cover away to the south with a large gap approaching on the left. We all stayed for the moon to clear the clouds, so they were able to witness the gorgeousness.

Image

imafan26
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Beautiful pictures of the cold moon.

Taiji
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pow wow wrote:Sorry for the late reply HoneyBerry and digitS.
Yes that was the little red breasted nuthatch in the video. I love the way they and the white breasted nuthatch talks.
My fender comes off my bike with a flick of the clamp with my thumb.

About freezing today with a brisk north wind.

Ice in the Bow River these days.
P1060046.JPG
I love the Bow River valley. We began a college summer field camp there in June of 1973. We stayed in tents at the Bow River Campground. The field camp was 6 weeks long and we ended up out on Tagish Lake in the Yukon Territory for the final 3 weeks. The most memorable summer of my life!

I've been back several times, but not for a few years now. I've seen bald eagles diving down to the river there. You probably have too!

Taiji
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Applestar: I saw that astounding moon too, just as it was coming over the mountain. I was fortunate to be outside. I really believe it was the most impressive moon I've ever seen! Here it had a bit of a yellowish glow.

HoneyBerry
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Yes, the Cold Moon was fabulous here too. We noticed it the day before the day that the moon was fullest. It's nice that full moons appear to be full for several days. Thank you imafan26 for your Winter Solstice post about the Cold Moon, and other astronomy events.

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Gary350
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6.30am it is 60 degrees F outside it rained all night. I made coffee, fed the cats & dog, took trash to the street. This weather reminds me of real TN weather not usually very cold in Dec like it was past 5 years. Weather typically takes a sudden shift to colder in Jan but still 50 degrees most of the winter during the day. We seldom get snow if it does snow 1/2" its gone before the sun goes down. We usually get rain from Nov to May, very over cast dark gray sky, it is rare to see moon, stars & sun in winter.
Last edited by Gary350 on Fri Dec 28, 2018 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

imafan26
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It is a cool 68 degrees right now with a 2 mph wind from the north. It barely rustles the palms. There is a storm system in the channel between Kauai and Oahu so it could bring heavy showers later today. It all depends on how much of it directly passes over the land. If it lasts into the evening maybe there will be fewer illegal fireworks.

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digitS'
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Incredible overnight end-of-the-year weather here!

Temperature was 47°f, 2 hours after sunset. Wind gusts were at 44 mph! The weather from Vancouver BC arrived dramatically to our behind-the-mountains, 100's of miles in-the-interior location!

Of course, the snow is once again nearly gone from my yard. Wind is supposed to pick up again soon and it is sunny. Cooler but clear skies going into 2019!

I am curious, Imafan26, can the snow on Hawaii's mountains sometimes be seen from coastal areas? Here's some info on snow that may be fun to read, link.

Steve

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Gary350
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7am, 61 degrees, dark gray over cast sky, 2" of rain last night, Dec 31. TN weather is normal again, last 5 winters have been cold with snow.

6pm it rained hard all day. Dry creek behind the house has 15 ft of water in it.
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Vanisle_BC
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Gary350 wrote:it rained hard all day.
Way north but right with you. This would qualify as a monsoon - if it was a lot warmer. Lows barely above frost, highs only a few degrees better with rain, rain, rain. Would be nice if a person could be prepping the beds for spring crops, eh? Dream on.

What's that you're building Gary - will it fix the weather?



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