WEATHER AND DANCING AND WEATHER

Thanks to the earlier posts from Mike Caplan, I feel compelled to dive in to the subjects of weather and dancing today.  Maybe it's because I'm passionate about the weather...maybe it's because I LOVE DANCING WITH THE STARS.  If you think about, there are many weather-related songs which you could choreograph a dance to!  Can you think of any right now?  Well, of course there is the masterful Gene Kelly dancing to Singing in the Rain.  I'll never forget that.  He went to school with my piano teacher.  I think one night on Dancing With the Stars, they should ALL dance to a weather-related song.  What songs can YOU think of?  For the record, I am really rooting for Ty and for Gilles. 

By the way if you really like Dancing With the Stars, but are up for some crazy chat about the show, go to abc7chicago.com.

Click on Entertainment and then you will see in the list the

"Dancing With the Stars Challenge!"

Buckle up...and here's to singing in the rain....

Tracy

WINTER IS HERE...AGAIN?

Let's just say it.  The weekend was awful...UNLESS YOU JUST LOVE SNOW, no matter what time of year.  But when someone said to me "Merry Christmas" yesterday, I thought my goodness...it does look more like winter than spring.  Snowdrops were covered in snow.  Reluctantly, I HAD to put it in our forecast.. And how ironic that at O'Hare only 1.2" of snow fell, yet in Gurnee 7.1" of snow accumulated.  Reluctantly, several of my weather watchers got out their snowblowers and as they said to me....TRACY, PLEASE I don't want to get out that snowblower again until DECEMBER.  I will see what I can do ;) ;)

Tracy

A true March snowstorm

Right when it seemed that the snow was over for the season Bam! we get hit with this weekend's snow. Snow storms this time of year are certainly not unheard of and some of our biggest snows happen in late March. The big temperature difference that can help fuel severe weather can also produce some monster snowstorms. On Saturday night into Sunday morning over 7 inches of snow fell in parts of Lake and McHenry counties with signifcantly lesser amounts elsewhere. While this was an impressive storm we've had a lot bigger storms this time of year. Here are a few big snowstorms that struck in late March or early April:

                                  1. March 25-26,1930             19.2"

                                  2. March  25-26, 1970           14.3"

                                  3.  April1-2, 1970                   10.7"

Though I don't expect any monster snowstorms in the foreseeable future we could see a little wet snow Thursday night

The snow machine is out of service.

After such a snowy December and January we have seen very little snow the past two months. In February we only saw 4.5 inches of snow which is 3.8 inches below normal. So far this month we have only seen .9" of snow. If we fail to see any more snow through the rest of March this will end up being the fourteenth least snowy March on record.

  Remember February and March of 2008??? We saw nearly the opposite of what has happened this year. In February of 2008 we saw a whopping 21.8 inches of snow followed by 7.9 inches in March of '08.

                                                 Phil

WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR DAY?

Good morning all.  Well, here it is!  SPRING!!! YEAH FOR SPRING!  Spring officially arrived this morning at 6:44CDT.  It certainly seems to represent the birth of new things....flowers, the return of wonderful birds to Chicago., etc.  I find it ironic that the birthday of Mr. Fred Rogers is today.  He would have been 81 years young.  I have long been a fan of this gentle, kind man.  To this day, I find such a comfort in watching Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. My children enjoying watching him.  And yes, there is a weather tie in here as he did some episodes which occasionally referenced weather.   I have included a link to an article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that  recently was written about "WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR DAY?"  It will explain it so much better than I certainly can. 

But, in honor of Mr. Rogers, and in honor of the attempt to promote kindness, wear your favorite sweater today.  http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09077/956314-67.stm

"It's such a good feeling, to you know you're alive, it's such a happy feeling...."  SING IT WITH ME Mr. Rogers fans...and HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

Tracy

WINTER IS ALMOST OVER...

Today is the last full day of winter!  Yippee! It feels good to write that!   I have said before that I don't mind a full-fledged winter in December, January or February, but come March 1, I want it done, done, done!!!!  Well, just because we turn the page on the calendar and just because the apparent rays of the sun are over the equator, it doesn't mean a brief winter-like comeback isn't possible...

And in fact, when spring officially arrives tomorrow at 6:44am central time, we may have some area temperatures in the teens!  But, no matter what, we'll be able to say "SPRING HAS SPRUNG!"  Here's a tease for tomorrow's blog....it's WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR DAY.  Do YOU know why?

Tracy

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  May good luck be your friend, In whatever you do, And may trouble be always, A stranger to you. 

Cold temperatures will be a stranger to us today!  Looking forward to challenging a record high of 74 degrees today!  We'll talk tomorrow...

Tracy

TOO SHY SHY...HUSH HUSH....

Good morning readers!  I must address a recent comment on the SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG blog, which I wrote last week.  But, how in the world do I tie that to the weather?  Do I have to?  Considering this is called the ABC7 WeatherVane blog, I suppose I must.  I titled this blog in response to TV's Mike Caplan's challenge to play Kajagoogoo on the morning show.  Let's tie it into the weather first....WARM TEMPERATURES will not be shy early this week.  Today and tomorrow we'll have warm temperatures.  But HUSH HUSH...COOLER air is coming our way starting Wednesday.  In fact, Wednesday will be one of those falling temperature kind of days.  It appears Thursday will be our only "below average day" this week....

Okay...now back to the music.  Mr. Caplan, until about five minutes ago, I couldn't think of a reason to play Kajagoogoo's big hit on the morning show.  However, in a blink of an eye, I met someone who has never heard the song and asked me to name some of Kajagoogoo's big hits.  Are there any others besides TOO SHY? 

I would be willing to bet that this individual is not familiar with Bobby Vinton either.  And I send a shout out to BRIDGE MOM, for adding some fine details to my blog TITLED ROSES ARE RED.  Perhaps TV's Mike Caplan has an opinion about Bobby Vinton.  I know that Audio's MC does...he's not TOO SHY TO PLAY Bobby Vinton...we'll see about Kajagoogoo.

Tracy

ROSES ARE RED, MY LOVE...

Well, I can't get that Bobby Vinton song out of my head as our audio extraordinaire, MC, played THAT song this morning.  I think that last time I heard Bobby Vinton was when I stilled lived at home.  My parents are fans of his and I believe he is from Washington County, PA.  If that's wrong, I know my parents will let me know.    However, the song was really used to highlight the beauty which lies at Navy Pier this weekend at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show.  It is extraordinary...GO if you can and if you just really need the sights and scents of spring.  It's glorious. 

Over all, our weekend, will be fairly decent.  No deluge, no flooding rains like last weekend.  It will be dry...YEAH!!! I'm happy because tomorrow is the St. Patty's Day parade and I look forward to waving at you from the ABC7 float.  Many a year, the weather has been awful for the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Southside Irish Parade...but not this year....THIS YEAR, IRISH EYES WILL BE SMILING along both parade routes!

Have a happy weekend!

Tracy

SHOOK ME ALL NIGHT LONG...

AND ALL MORNING LONG...if you have to wait for the bus or train for a while, you may be SHAKING ALL MORNING LONG.  First of all, thanks to all of you who commented on the garbage can blog ;) ;)!!!  Now, it's been brought to my attention that maybe we should have an official meeting on this subject matter.  ;) ;)

But...let's get back to the title of THIS BLOG!  Thanks to our musical genius on the morning show, MC, I can't get that song out of my head.  We can relate that song to the weather given that once again we woke up to wind chills around ZERO!  Tomorrow morning will be another cold one, but then tomorrow afternoon, we get up to AVERAGE.  Average will have never felt so good.