IT RAINED TODAY

        Rain for us in the winter is extremely rare. But today we had a very refreshing shower around noon. When I came outside it smelled fresh.

       Our winter temperatures are usually well below zero for highs and lows so rain isn't possible. We have had 10 days of well above normal winter temperatures so I guess it thought that it might as well rain.

     So for Feb.8 our average high is minus 3.9 C. Our average low is minus 16.2 C. Today our high was  plus 10  C and the low was minus 4 C.

    What  we usually say about pleasant weather is that we might as well enjoy it when it comes..

     Pleasant weather will be over tomorrow as it turns colder.

I'VE BEEN BUSY

      I've been busy this last while and have not had the time I would like to read and comment on blogs. Summer is a busy time . However, events this week kept me busier than ever.

     We had rain this week. Not inches and inches of rain but about 2 inches and we had some minor flooding of streets and the odd basement got flooded. 

    This area gets about an average of 12 in of rain per year. Because the subsoil is clay the water goes into the ground very slowly.

    However, the photos are in front of my house. The canoeists are my neighbors. My house did not flood but it was worrisome.

WEATHER REPORT : DEC.1 RED DEER

       We are not the only people experiencing some very, very different weather due to climate change. 

       Most of the time we've had snow for four or five weeks by now. It's not wet but dry snow. Most years our temperatures are much lower than we have today. Our average daily high for Dec.1 is minus 3. Our average daily low for Dec. 1 is minus 12. I couldn't find record high and lows .

       What's going on today?   Well, we don't have any snow and it's raining. Ordinarily our last rain is in late October. It was plus 4 C when I took these photos at 10:30 this morning. It's supposed to snow later on today but it will be wet snow not the powdery snow. Our low forecast for tonight is minus 2. 

       These two photos look across the street  from my house. It is very, very dry here and we need moisture but not this stuff. It makes life difficult for flora and fauna. 

Buying an Umbrella Can Be Hazardous

     We threw the old umbrella in the garbage can yesterday. The last time we used it we got just as wet as if we hadn't used it. By the time I got it closed and in the car I was wet. It just wouldn't close anymore at least if you're out in the rain and in a hurry..

     We get an average of  12 in (31 cm) of precipitation a year. We rarely have to use an umbrella. On the farm we didn't have an umbrella and I don't remember a raincoat. If it was heavy rain we stayed in. If it was light rain we stayed out and continued working.

    But we decided we had better buy a new umbrella sooner than later so off we went yesterday afternoon.

    We wanted something of quality. Our goal was to find a good reliable umbrella.

    Okay first we found the flimsy umbrellas. We tried them and they were exactly the same as the one we threw in the garbage can. We moved on and found something promising. There was a button on the handle so the Micro manager tried it and to her complete surprise the umbrella popped out causing a  customer beside her to duck very quickly. It was a little embarrassing. So stroke that one off. 

     We did find something that was better than the others and discretely put it on  the back of the rack while we looked at others in another store.

    We came back to get the one we thought was best. the Micro Manager wanted one more look at both of them when they were open. She opened the second choice and somehow her finger got pinched and in trying to escape the pinch she tore a good piece of skin off her finger. She was more that a little upset. 

    So with oohs and aahs, band aids from the staff and the manager the mess was sorted out. The store boxed up all the offending umbrellas and took them off their shelves.

    See , it's not just the pointy end of the umbrella that's dangerous.

A Break in the Heat.

       Saturday we had a very welcome change in our weather when it slowly clouded over in the evening. There was just a little bit of rain. Sunday Afternoon we had a little more rain and Sunday night there was a lot of rain. We had a high of 24 C (78 F) on Sat. 16 C (62 F) Sun and 19C(69 F) on Mon. Tomorrow we are back to higher temperatures but nothing in the hot range.


      The rain was welcome Our grass was starting to show some heat stress. We weren't dry, just hot.. We probably had 250-350mm(1-1 1/2 in) of rain.

     A blogger I follow in Montana received some precipitation but they had been very dry.  Another blogger I follow in southern Alberta also cooled off and got wet. The weather radar showed a large system centered around Lethbridge , Alberta. It extended to both borders  of Alberta and down into Montana.


     So we have a welcome break in the hot weather.


     Today at 1  PM we had a thick layer of cloud  that gave complete overcast.

View to the west

View to the east

View to the south

My Love of Thunderstorms

     I really love a good old thunder storm. I like the thunder lightning, wind and rain. I like Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night."


    Today my love of thunderstorms cooled off a bit. I had some damage as the result of a severe thunderstorm this afternoon.


     We had wind  and thunderstorm storm warnings today. You could see a build up starting around noon. About 2:30 PM the storm broke . There was lots of thunder, lightning, rain and wind. Rain , thunder and lightning weren't spectacular. However, the wind was spectacular. I don't know the wind speed but the trees really rocked.


     All at once I heard a good bang outside and I knew that something had been hit. I ran to my front window to see a large part of my birch tree had blown down on the car and the back window was smashed out. So a few fast scrambles to get the car under the car port and then the rest of the afternoon talking to insurance. By 5:00PM most of the business with insurance had been done and tomorrow action will take place.

A 6 or 7 m (20ft) chunk of birch tree.

Cleaned the back window out pretty neatly.

My birch that is in the process of its last days.

     Things like this are stressful but I have to stop and say, "Nobody was hurt. All people are safe." This storm was not nearly as severe as the one that took place in the mid west and eastern states. Our power didn't go off. 


    My daughter lives near Chicago and she had a large chunk of her maple tree come down. It missed everything...house, power line, fence, neighbor's house. It didn't even knock the bird bath over. Was she lucky!


     Now just for this afternoon my enjoyment of thunderstorms was cooled . Tomorrow I will look for thunderstorms again.

3000 meters(10000 ft) of Clouds Above me Tonight

       About 4:30 PM today it got dark enough  in the house to turn the lights on. Clouds built up steadily all day and it began to rain about 4:30 PM.

       We didn't have cumulus clouds today but layer after layer of clouds.


       Our forecast predicted rain for this afternoon , evening , night and tomorrow. So you know that a major system is moving into the area. The radar map show a large cloud system slowly moving north from Montana and curving in toward the Rocky Mountains. This is when we get a major rainfall. As I said in a post before, the air mass has to rise when it hits the Rockies and when it rises it cools and  dumps the rain on us. This system has come over the mountains of the north western states. Somehow much of the moisture remained in the system and it is released over us.


      When we get west winds we don't get rain. The air moves over the Rockies and all the moisture falls on the west slopes of the Rockies. 


      So you see at 4:30 PM this afternoon we had a huge build up of cloud which was full of moisture and some of it fell on us. With a very thick cloud layer much sunlight is blocked so we have to sit in the dark or turn the lights on.


      Since I like rain I'm fine. I like going out for a long walk in the rain. I think I'll have a good chance to walk in the rain tomorrow.

Rainy Sunday Afternoon

       It's a very cool, dull, rainy Sunday afternoon. At times rain has been heavy. This is just the opposite of what we would like at this time of year. For farmers trying to harvest and gardeners, we are looking for some sunny,warm, dry weather.

        My nephews are farming in Saskatchewan and they went on the fields last week and got stuck in the mud many times. This rain only makes it much worse.

      So this afternoon I began to think of music and songs which have rain in them. The one I'd like to come true is "Don't Let the Rain Come Down." This was done by Trini Lopez in the 60's. I still have it but it's on a reel to reel tape. My old reel to reel tape recorder doesn't work anymore so I can't listen to it. Now many people will not know what I'm talking about...   reel to reel tape recorder.

      Other tunes are more upbeat as in Eddie Rabbit's "I Love a Rainy Night." This is another lively tune about rain and also from the 60's. We need Eddie Rabbit's rain  in the summer when moisture is needed to bring on crops and gardens.

     "September Rain" describes today very accurately. It was a much slower piece of music which probably comes from a long way back.

      I'm sure that I could go on with many examples of music which has a rain theme. The blues genre alone could produce may titles.

      So this Sunday afternoon I'd really like to do what I did many years ago on the farm. I'd go upstairs  and cover up, listen to the rain on the roof and soon go to sleep for the afternoon.