CountryMouse's Refuge

They know this baby's gonna hit--when is the National Weather Service going to give us a warning?? When we're already being dumped on?

I hope we get what they are thinking--a foot of snow!

I keep wishing that it wouldn't get going too much before Cat'r could get up here; then we could just all be snowed in together. :-P

Tonight I tried the "expert" controls when I was diving in "Endless Ocean". Hey, I can somersault underwater! :-P

I am still so awed by the whales. With the expert controls on, I was able to maneuver better to get under the blue whale, to "pet" it, which it seemed to like.

I finally got that pink-and-dove-grey wetsuit I've been wanting--yay for taking clients on dives and getting perfect scores!

I will go to sleep tonight with Hayley Westenra singing "E Pari Ra" in my head--so lovely, so sad.

the Winter Storm Warnings (different for different counties, since some will get freezing rain for a while and some not, etc.).

We in Hamilton County are getting anywhere from 9 to 13 inches of snow. And we are going to get some really strong winds later. I guess this is the *real* winter I've been waiting for all winter.

Cat'r says it's already snowing and sticking down in L'ville. So he's not going to try to make it up here. He wouldn't be able to leave until at least noon anyway. If he tried to come up then or later, he might get stuck somewhere on the interstate, which would NOT be good!

I know, I know, you folks in upper New York State and Minnesota will probably think we're all being wimps down here. :-P It's more snow than we've seen all winter, though.

No snow whatsoever at 7:30am. Weather radio went off about 5 minutes after that with the Winter Storm Warnings, tailored to/for the various counties.

Now it's 8:32am and there is a fine light snow coming down. It's already sticking to the rooftops and parked cars. Nothing sticking to asphalt and concrete yet.

Sideways snow, sometimes blowing off the rooftops like sand off a dune.

Lots of sculpting of snow due to blowing and drifting. I have no idea how much snow we've had so far though. Two or three inches? The weather people are saying three to five inches of snow by the end of the daylight hours today.

They say this is not "the main event", though. That will come overnight tonight and tomorrow. Overnight tonight: 3-5 more inches of snow; tomorrow: 3-7 inches of new snow.

In a special weather statement from the National Weather Service, it says, "THIS STORM WILL HIT AS A ONE TWO PUNCH AND THERE MAY BE A BRIEF LULL IN THE SNOW ACTIVITY THIS EVENING...BEFORE PICKING UP IN INTENSITY AGAIN OVERNIGHT WHEN THE SECOND PUNCH HITS. BEFORE THE STORM DIMINISHES SATURDAY AFTERNOON YOU CAN EXPECT 12 TO 15 INCHES OF ACCUMULATION."

and is replaced by a BLIZZARD WARNING. Geez!

Here is part of the alert: "WINDS WILL GUST UP TO 40 MPH AT TIMES OVERNIGHT. BEFORE THE STORM ENDS SATURDAY AFTERNOON...YOU CAN EXPECT 10 TO 15 INCHES OF ACCUMULATION. THE STRONG WINDS COMBINED WITH SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL CAUSE EXTREME WINTER WEATHER CONDITIONS. THE SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO AT TIMES CAUSING WHITEOUT...AND BLIZZARD CONDITIONS.

"DO NOT TRAVEL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. CONDITIONS CAN DETERIORATE RAPIDLY IN BLIZZARD CONDITIONS."

I'm very very glad Cat'r decided NOT try to come up here this weekend!

Here are a couple Utterz posts I made--just pics:

Today

Tonight