Well we have survived another Christmas here in Sask. and hope it was a good one for all of you out there on ATIS. We endured some typically cold weather. Think we saw a high of -15F today. Not too bad as long as I can keep well dressed. Nearly froze my fingers shooting this video this morning but wanted to try out a different camera.
[video=youtube;y9wkTU7igL8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9wkTU7igL8[/video]

Ralph,

Your pictures and videos are a tough act to follow.

2013 already.  More snow on the ground than we have seen in the last two years.  Good for some, but being an old phew phew, I am not particularly impressed.  12-15 inches of very fine snow in one snowfall. then another 4-5 two days later.  That caused me to have to plow twice.  Not a good thing as the ground underneath is not at all frozen, and due to recent rainfall is nothing but mush.  This much snow this early in the season meant pushing banks back some distance to allow for more accumulation.  There will be enough tire ruts in the lawn to repair in the spring.  The last two days have climbed to slightly above freezing with a few more warm days to come so the snow accumulation will shrink some.  I noticed in a photo from Ohio that Gene has more snow on the ground than we do here.

Too much bad stuff going on in the news.  I could say a lot about criminally insane people being released from prison, and then committing yet another brutal crime.  The really shocking side of that is the idiots who immediately want a ban on firearms to solve the problem.  Holy gewillikers.  How dumb IS that.  Criminally insane is not fixable.  Keep them locked up!!  As this is not the forum to air this, I will say no more, but it is really upsetting.

I have another laptop computer due to arrive Monday.  Not anything we really need, but I am an easy mark for a really low price.  It is like tractors.  They just want to follow me home.  I let two really good deals on tractors (one backhoe and one dozer) slide past in the last couple of weeks.  Hard to do, but I just cannot use them much or work on them these days.  I remind myself of a neutered tom cat.  I know what I would like to do, but it ain't gonna happen.    

I guess that is enough ramble for the moment.

Later,

Charlie V.

Winter has been about normal last 2 weeks. Have had more snow than all last year. Winds have kept the snow moving. 3 snow storms the last 2 weeks have left more than a foot of snow on the level fields. Temp has stayed below freezing until today. Got up to 42 today, so will help the snow to settle down some.

The snow will be good for the winter wheat though. Have a good even coat over the whole field. I took the tractor out yesterday wth the driveway grader and plowed a path along the airstrip back to the woods. That worked pretty good, so took it back into the woods and cleared the trails through my woods and the neighbor's behind me. This morning the west side of the trail was drifted back in, so will have to clear that again tomorrow. Shoveled snow from around the pile of wood I have in the woods and hope to get some of that split.

Was able to walk back to the woods and make a little tour there. Was a pretty nice day to be out with the warmer temp and very light winds. Nice bright sunshine. Snow and rain predicted for the next 2 days

Gene

Sounds like you guys down south have as much snow as I do in Sask. It has stayed pretty well settled. Cold around Christmas but mild New years day. I haven't had to move any more snow for over two weeks or more now. Got a cow with an early calf Jan. 2 so lucky it is mild right now.
Charlie, a new laptop sounds iike a good christmas present to yourself. I sure appreciate mine.
Got an old photo here from 40 years ago. Scanned from a slide, thats me on the Cockshutt 50 and blade. You might say not too much has changed here in 40 years.

Change of weather here in western Ohio. Have a January thaw. Temp right now is 47 degrees. Snow melting very nicely. Starting to see bare spots in the lawn and fields. Driveway was packed snow and is now wet ice, have to watch your step. Forecast for Thursday and Friday is for mid 50's. Rain forecast to come in Thursday night and last through the weekend, then turning colder on Sunday night and snow again for Monday. Hope the rains are light so we don't have the flooding from all the melting snow and rain.

Got a couple afternoons in the woods splitting wood I cut last month. Getting a pretty good start on next year's wood. Still have a lot more in the woods to cut up and just waiting for the snow to melt and get a good freeze. Got several oak and hickory trees to cut that were blown down in last summer's storm.

Nice sunshine today and have done most jobs that I don't have to wallow around in the mud. Looks like Ralph has more snow and strong winds, so he is probably out with the 40 and snowblower clearing the lanes and feedlots. Charlie is having the same weather we are having here, so losing much of his snow.

Hope everyone is fairing well.

Gene

Correct, Gene.  Just about everything you said about your weather is ditto here, including the ice on the driveway.  Had to go to the Doc yesterday to get some antibiotic and my canes wanted to skid right out from under me on the ice. Tricky stuff.

Take care on the ice Charlie. It takes a lot longer to get back up than it does to fall down I find now. And Gene is right, we are just getting hit with a real blizzard here. Looks like about a quarter mile visibility in falling and blowing snow. Good thing I didn't bother opening my driveway yesterday as it would have been for nothing. Had to blow out a trail to one of the cattle feeders though as the Massey just could not make it through axle deep snow with a bale on the front end loader. Had a calf born Jan. 2 so it was a lucky break that we had a mild week with temps in the 20s. Now, back to real winter I guess.

Nice springtime day here in Ohio. 6:00am temp was 53 degrees and now 58 degrees at 10:30. Forecast for near record high for this afternoon in the mid 60's. Snow has all melted, except for the piles and heavier drifts. Had about 3/4 inch of rain yesterday morning. Only have minor flooding and that is going away fast. Ground is not frozen, so allows a lot of the water to soak in. Have a few ponds in the low apots in the fields and airstrip. Wheat is nice and green along with the grass in the lawn. Nothing seems to have gone dorment even have some green weeds at the edge of the wheat field. Colder weather forecast for next week. Maybe freeze some of the mud.

Your temperatures sound a lot warmer than mine Gene. It was too cold to take any pictures or video this morning when I was out blowing snow with the Cockshutt 40 at about -10F. Nice and sunny and quiet compared to the last two stormy days though. Hard snow that the blower wouldn't cut in some places but I made enough of a clearing to get around the yard and out the driveway anyway.
You certainly won't find any ground that isn't frozen solid here.

About 58 F here currently, Ralph.  I went out and puff puffed some air to the North, North East but I doubt it was enough to warm you any.  I will try again later when we are in the sixties.  60% chance of rain after noon today.  As Gene says, much of the snow is gone but some remains as well as a little ice left where I plowed snow. I knew when I plowed that I was leaving tire ruts in soft ground , but with that much snow it had to be pushed back a ways.  Who knew then about this thaw.  As expected I have some ugly tire ruts in the lawn.  It will be a good thing if we get a little time below freezing before the next load of snow hits.  Even a two inch frozen crust on the ground would help.  

Not a whole lot else of note to talk about around here.  I have been laying low due to yet another head and upper chest infection so except for the commotion that goes with that it has been pretty quiet.  Eating antibiotics like candy.  It will be good when it settles down enough to allow some better sleep at night.  

Hope you folks have a good Sunday.

Charlie V.

Hey Gene,

It's snowing again and down to 21 degrees.  Looks like winter is back.

Charlie V.

Hey Charlie;

Been nice winter weather here in Ohio. Clear, dry days in the 30's and nights in the low 20's. Most of the standing water has gone and only a few ice patches where the water was. Low of 21 degrees this morning and up to 36 now at noon.

Ground is freezing at night to allow 2 or 3 hours in the woods cutting and splitting wood before it gets greasy on top. Hauled 2 trailer loads to the splitting pile this morning. Came to the house at 11:30 as it was starting to get muddy again. Got some nice red oak and hickory from some down trees. Plan to start early Saturday morning to do some more splitting. Getting a pretty good pile in the woods for next year's firewood. Still have several more down trees to cut up. Good feeling to have next year's wood ready to burn. Still have most of the wood from the ash trees from next to the driveway and will more than last this winter.

Looks like your weather has improved today with clear skies and a little warmer. Should be getting more of our good weather.

Looks like Ralph is having some mild weather in his area. Almost up to freezing. Sure to make his work a lot better and a lot easier on the cattle.

Gene

Its been real yo-yo weather with -15F one day and +20 the next lately. Used to be we had long stretches of -20 weather most of January but those days seem to be gone now that the world is warming up. Its supposed to hit near thawing today and then down below zero F tomorrow.
I took this picture driving home through the flatlands on Monday. High temp was -8F.

Sure looks like winter to me. Haven't seen scenery like that here for several years. Nothing on the horizon to stop the weather from crossing your area.

I follow your weather on my CWSU weather site. Can instantly see what the current weather is anywhere on the continent. It is basically an aviation weather site, but available to anyone. I see you are at 32 degrees right now and Charlie is at 24.

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/zoa/mwmap3.php?map=usa

Went to the woods and did some hand splitting this afternoon. Nice sunny day and 37 degrees. The sun and wind is drying the surface of the ground a little each day. May see near zero by Monday morning.

Gene

Gene, that is an interesting weather map link and it seems to be pretty accurate. We had about a 40 degree drop in twelve hours here overnight. Wind chill factors in the -30F range and that is way too cold for me. Wind got up and blew the loose snow around last night too so my driveway likely needs a little work before I get out.