Sidetracked Charley

Rain Clouds Gathering I think in the history of this blog I have written about weather on more than one occasion, but maybe not as frequently as I have winter. As Mark Twain said, ". . . man bites dog is news." And this has definitely been a news worthy period for weather even if the west has not made the headlines. All the weather we have sent east has, however. For the easterners it all seems to come as a huge surprise. If you live in the rural mountain west, however, you are a weather watcher. Our lives and likelihoods depend upon the weather. And we do not stay bottled up in climate controlled sky scrapers. I had the winter emergency box ready go to the trunk of the car in October. We can get our first significant snow on or before Halloween. The first snow on the roads is always the most treacherous. But by the first week in December we still had not gotten that significant snow. And the ski areas could not even make snow consistently because the nights were t...

I find it hard to believe the year is almost over. Been a relative good year. Especially in relationship to 2010. I suppose I should be thinking about a year in review blog but my focus at the moment is on the gathering storm. Storm reports are fodder for us locals. We all have our opinions. The tourist center and the ski resort are currently picking up on the weather report with the greatest snow depth forecast - 12 inches. But then this storm was suppose to actively begin at midnight and when I looked out the window at 5 a.m. there was not a flake. As I write this (9 a.m.) there is only two to three inches. I think I am being really generous with the three. But the ravens are celebrating over the trees. They generally go into this party dance when they know they might have to roost for a while. We all have our little signs we look for to bolster our opinion. I think maybe only about 6 to 8 inches at my house. It is wise to remember I live in the mountains. And weather and snow d...