We have our second snow day, in a week! On January 30th, we had a "cold" day, because the wind chills were -30 to -40.

Today, we are under a winter storm warning and they keep telling us how bad it will be, so every school is closed. Although, somewhere, and I can't remember which school it was, since they read so many on the radio, that the kids don't have to come, but staff is expected to report. Now, if it's too dangerous for kids, why isn't it too dangerous for the teachers? I never understand that.

When I was out with Jasmine a while back, we had about 4-5 inches of snow on our driveway. They are predicting about a foot or more of snow today. Yikes.

Also, there is a chance of snow, almost every day in the next week. It just will not stop snowing! We are going to running out of areas to put snow pretty soon.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 08:08 am:

According to the newspaper, we've had 45 inches of snow this winter and the plows have been out 38 times! LOL! Our seasonal average of snow is 41 inches. In December of 2000, we had 51 inches in that month alone!
Snowy Winter

Snow December 2000 That's the snow around my house, at the end of the month.

By Colette on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 08:19 am:

We are getting a lot of snow this year too. We are supposed to get your storm tomorrow, but I hope it's rain. Our school department has actually run out of their supply of sand for the year. Can't wait for spring!

By Marcia on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 09:34 am:

We don't have a snow day today, but Toronto and its outskirts do. We got some in the night, and are supposed to get lots more before it stops. My massage therapist canceled, which is a bummer. I have to take my mom for her mammogram, so hopefully the worst of it will hold off until tonight.

By Dandjmom on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 09:44 am:

70 degrees with that mild spring breeze here w/ chance of showers this afternoon. 50's for the rest of the week. mid to low 20's Saturday and Sunday.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 11:24 am:

Wow, Dandjmom, that's quite a variance in temperatures!

Marcia, I hope you get to the mammogram and back, before it snows. Sorry about the massage.

Colette, I hope you just get rain.

It's still snowing like crazy. I have to go in this afternoon, for another co-worker. I don't mind working the afternoon. Without snow to walk through, it's only a 5-minute walk.

By My2girlygirls on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 - 11:26 am:

It is supposed to be 80 degrees here today! The norm is more like in the 40's. Tomorrow it's going to be back in the 50's! :-(

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 08:01 am:

Sheboygan took in 16.5 inches of snow between 4 p.m. Tuesday and 4 p.m. Wednesday, second only to an 18-inch total in January 1947 among the highest 24-hour snow totals in city history, according to the National Weather Service reporting station at The Sheboygan Press.

It's brought our seasonal snow total to 62 inches!

By Colette on Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 08:15 am:

We got crazy thunder and lightning in the middle of snow and ice last night, what is up with that? Not much snow totals - just an inch or two. A lot of places had delayed openings this morning, not us though.

By Tonya on Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 10:25 am:

We had thunder storms bad Tuesday night and then yesterday afternoon until late evenign last night we got 4inches of snow. Then last night ice rain on top of it.

We have a mess!!!

By Karen~admin on Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 11:08 am:

Wow, that's a LOT of snow, Dawn!

By Dawnk777 on Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 11:20 am:

It sure is. Colette, around here, that's called thunder snow! LOL! We have had it with other storms, but not yesterday's.

Why is there sometimes thunder in a snowstorm?

Thunder and lighting sometimes happen in a snowstorm, although it is somewhat rare, said Fred Gadomski, a meteorologist at Pennsylvania State University. In fact, he said, the biggest snowstorm are those marked by thunder and lightning, a phenomenon meteorologists call "thunder snow."

Most "regular" thunderstorms are summer events in which warm, moist air in the lower atmosphere has very cold air over it, Mr. Gadomski said. In this unstable system, upward drafts of air create thunderstorms.

The turbulence created by such a storm somehow establishes a separation of areas of positive and negative electrical charges, Mr. Gadomski said, and when a lightning bolt tries to even out the difference, there is a clap of thunder. Thunder, he explained, is the sound generated when the lightning bolt heats the atmosphere near it very rapidly to a temperature higher than the sun's surface. The fast expansion of the air creates a sonic boom, he said.

But the vertical division of temperatures and the high moisture at lower levels that typically lead to storms with thunder and lightning are rare in winter, Mr. Gadomski said. Only in the most powerful winter storms is there such an immense pool of very cold air above warmer, moister air at ground level.

Thunderstorms with snow are more likely to occur near the coast, he said, because the storm can form over the comparatively warm water of the ocean and move inland, meeting much colder conditions.

"Then the rain thunderstorm becomes a snow thunderstorm, or thunder snow," he said.

By Marcia on Thursday, February 7, 2008 - 12:37 pm:

We were fine yesterday, with just light snow. Around 5pm it started snowing and blowing, and there was some ice mixed in with it. Today the schools are all closed, which is unheard of. We have snow days that cause bus cancellations, but I can't remember a time when the schools were actually closed. It's nice and sunny out now, but I'm sure we got close to 2 feet over night.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, February 8, 2008 - 08:51 am:

So, after all the snow we had the other day, we are getting more snow! LOL! This is very light, though and nothing like the whiteouts we had before. It's just difficult to be amused by yet more snow!

By Marcia on Friday, February 8, 2008 - 09:22 am:

LOL I hear ya, Dawn!! We're supposed to have snow all weekend. Lovely.

By Dawnk777 on Friday, February 8, 2008 - 11:12 pm:

The snow we had this morning didn't last very long and didn't really amount to anything. It warmed up enough during the day that the little bit we had just melted. However, it's going down more steadily at this point in time and while Emily and I were gone for supper at Chili's, we got an inch on our back porch. Ugh. This will need to be shoveled in the morning.