WHERE ARE YOUR GARBAGE CANS?

Last night at 12:34, I awoke to the sounds of howling winds....And I couldn't get back to sleep.  Last I looked the clock said 1:17. I put a pillow over my head and did fall back to sleep. My alarm went off at 2:01 (I have a think for setting my alarm clock to an odd time and obviously the pillow fell off my head so I could hear the alarm.)  but at that time, the wind was still roaring.

Anyway, back to the title of this blog.  Is today your trash pickup day...if so, it's one of those days when your empty trash cans may be living across the street or in your neighbors yard.  We may not have the wind advisory in effect any longer, but it's still going to be a windy day with brutal wind chills.  Quite a shock since we were in the 60s just yesterday.

Tracy

SOME POSITIVE THOUGHTS

Good morning.  I really hope that your basement is dry.  It's not a joke, it's not fun when water doesn't just creep, but it pours into your cozy little spot you call home.  I know that from experience.  I have been thru flooded basements and it can be terribly stressful.  With that said, I was driving into work and wondering what do those of you who are farmers think about this.  Amazingly enough, I heard from WGN Radio Agriculture Journalist Max Armstrong, whom I just think the world of.  Perhaps it's because my grandparents had a large farm and I feel a special connection to them when I talk to Max. Anyway, here is what Max had to say...

"Farmers here generally aren't complaining about the rain. It's too early to plant. They'll want to start in about 5 weeks. By a month from now if it hasn't started to dry out they'll be getting nervous.

Farmers more often than not welcome a rain. There's an old adage among Chicago grain traders that "rain makes grain." And even this early, a rain is seen as beneficial by farmers because it will re-charge the sub-soil moisture...the area down 4 or 5 feet, where the roots of the corn plant will reach for moisture if we get dry in the summer."

Thank you, Max, for putting a positive spin on all this rain.

Now...let's here from all you cold weather lovers...is we're about to turn SHARPLY COLDER around here!

Tracy 

CALM IN BETWEEN STORMS...

How does your yard look?  If it's anything like mine, you have a newly formed lake as part of your landscaping.  Today, our "newly formed lakes" will have a little time to recede before another round of rain comes our direction overnight tonight and just for giggles (grrrr) we'll add a little more late tomorrow afternoon.  From what I can recall, this is the first time this year that the Storm Prediction Center has placed us under a risk for severe weather...that is really for late tomorrow afternoon and evening. 

After the rain and potential thunderstorm threat, tomorrow night will become VERY WINDY, and that might friends will freshen us up for a return to all that March can be...a cold, blustery, crazy month!

Tracy

BEAUTIFUL DAY

Did you see them?  U2...GOOD MORNING AMERICA, THIS MORNING!  They sang "Beautiful Day."  Every time I hear that song, it gives me chills no matter what the weather.  It is one of those songs I listen to when I need a pick - me - up!  Speaking of chills...we may experience a little lake-effect chill today.  I see a lake-breeze developing here later this afternoon.  Often times when we have such a mild situation like this morning and the ground is still cold, we wake up to rather dewey & foggy conditions like we did this morning in a few areas.  The lake-breeze this afternoon could be the catalyst for some fog along the lake front.  We will spend a few hours with temperatures in the 60s early this afternoon, but once that lake-breeze takes hold,  you will feel a little temperature drop.  Even still, those temperatures will still be above average. 

I'm a little more worried about very heavy rain over the weekend.  Computer guidance is suggesting a corridor of 2-3" of rain in the Chicago area.  We may need to listen to BEAUTIFUL DAY just to remind us that beautiful days are certainly in our Chicago weather futures.  Have a nice weekend.

Tracy

LOOK CLOSELY AND YOU WILL SEE...

the snowdrops are sprouting!  Thanks to my weather watchers who are sending me photos of signs of spring. I have heard of "robin sightings!"  The Chicago Flower and Garden show swings into Navy Pier next week!  Lots of signs of spring despite the fact that it is still winter on our calendars.  Spring officially arrives March 20 at 6:44a.m. CDT!  But it's sure going to feel a lot like spring today and tomorrow!

This is what we are waiting for...at least most of us are

So finally we are going to enjoy an extended period of above normal temperatures with several days into the 50s but not everybody is happy about it. As a snow lover I usually don't mind a good spring snowstorm but after the rough winter we have been through I think it will be just fine to go without a late season blizzard. But just because we aren't going to see any cold weather through this weekend it doesnt mean that we can't see a snow storm later this month. Some of our biggest snows happen in late March. Here is a list of some late season snowstorms.

1. 19.2 inches March 25-26, 1930

2. 14.3" March 25-26, 1970

3. 12.6" March 30-31, 1926

4. 10.0" March 23-24, 1897

Phil