What a Difference a Day Makes

You know you're getting old when you spend so much time ruminating about the weather. But, let's face it. This has been a very odd winter indeed. Things started off like gangbusters at Thanksgiving here in Boise with nearly a foot of snow over a handful of days. And it didn't stop. It pretty much snowed some most days for the next 7 weeks. Snow on the ground the entire time, too and temps that rarely if ever topped the freezing mark. Whether you count in celsius or farenheit, it was way chilly. Then the Pineapple Express showed up, an odd weather phenomena that afflicts Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. Warm Pacific monsoons rained on our parade up to 8500 feet, washing away the snowpack, stabilizing the avalanche danger once it settled and making skiing pretty much such after awhile. It hasn't done much since MLKing Holiday mid January when the Express showed up. In fact, it's been downright mild. Last Saturday I went for a 17 mile bike ride in 61 degree weather. Then on Sunday I raked out 9 bags of pine needles, finished trimming broken branches from the earlier storms, pruned the fruit trees and enjoyed the fruits of my labor with a very sore back. Monday it was 68 degree. Well, it's Thursday morning and what a difference 24 hours makes. We're back to winter, and I love it! Nice bright clean snow on the ground.

Oh and in the midst of this, my daughter had her 8th grade winter formal dance; which simply put, means they dress up and don't look like gangbangers, like they do much of the time in Jr. High. It's a good thing it's been warm because these kids wear shorts all through the winter and typically no winter coats, either.

Next up is off to Bogus Basin to teach snow science to 4th to 6th graders. And there is 5 new inches of snow. Life is good, indeed.