What is this concept of snow?

Hah! The Phactors got out of Dodge just ahead of the first real winter weather! It's really hot and humid here, and most people here have never heard of and cannot conceive of snow falling from the sky. The whole idea of being that cold just does not compute and that may be why this can of Imperial (La Cerveza de Costa Rica) tastes so good. At any rate all that snow must be cleaned up and melted before anyone here will entertain any thought of travel home. Do you think any of these people believe in snow? No way! Somehow this just doesn't look like the weather news from home. TPP should say that the transition from tropics to instant winter doesn't actually kill you, but there is nothing good about it at all.

Snow & cold

Well, it is winter so some snow & cold is expected. Yesterday and last night's snowfall only accumulated some 4-5 inches, our first significant snow of this winter season. As par for the course, a big cold air mass, sometimes called a Canadian clipper, pushes down from the north after the front that brought the snow. It's nice that lots of little plants got a nice insulating blanket of snow before the real cold temperatures arrive tonight and tomorrow. It might get down to -4 F (-20 C), and that's enough for some cold challenged plants, and more than enough for a botanist. The reaction to the first snow was very predictable; all manner of activities were canceled, including a 12th night party of some renown, as if this were a blizzard. Presently the roads and all are just fine. The first freezy mixture also exposed all of the terrible drivers out there who need reminders about stopping distances and driving speeds. These morons are quite dangerous. Whenever TPP thinks about snow his thoughts return to Oswego New York, a place that knows snow. Oswego is expecting some lake affect snow, which can fall at the rate of 1-3 inches an hour, and their expected accumulation is some 12-24 inches of snow (30-60 cm), a modest enough amount in the grand scheme of things where they could get 10 times this much snow over the course of the winter, and every now and then, they get a winter's worth of snow in just a few days. However it rarely gets as cold as here in the mid-west although they often have quite a wind chill factor.

It's snowing - hard - again!

Winter weather is back at it again. The snow started near the end of our breakfast, and within minutes it was really coming down such that you knew the predicted accumulation of 1-2 inches was going to be an under-estimate.  In a 10 min walk from the coffee shop to campus TPP's broad brimmed hat accumulated about 1/4 inch, so that is an official rate of 1.5 inches per hour.  Not bad for this part of the world where this is really a high rate of snow. Now growing up in the upstate New York's snow belt along the shore of Lake Ontario TPP has seen some epic snow falls. The thing up there is that the snow just doesn't stop; it can go on for hours at a heavy rate.  Back in the 1960s there was a 104 inch (260 cm) snowfall in 48 hours, so that's 2 inches an hour for 2 days, and then it started to drift. And TPP has seen snow falling at 3-4 inches per hour but for shorter periods of time. Such snow falls produce virtual white-outs, and once it was so bad a friend who was a track star ran just ahead of our car so that the driver could see a bit further, and even then it was very slow going. The car was a Corvair, and they just didn't get stuck in snow. Right now it's obvious the university just cannot keep up with the snow; you can't start any earlier than the snow does, and at times it just comes too fast to keep all those sidewalks clear.  Recommend you look back a blog and just soak up the tropical scene.

Tropical interlude

Yesterday was cold, today is colder, and tomorrow will be bitter cold; enough already.  Unfortunately as TPP ages, he finds he's more sensitive, or less tolerant, of cold than he used to be, even for a tropical botanist.  The best therapy is a visit to our glasshouse to breath in humid air and smell organic smells. It is very comforting, and there are two nicely placed "lawn" chairs for just the purpose of tropical therapy. 

This episode of very cold weather, the 2nd this month, may help people understand that this is winter, and it's when fronts push down from Saskatchewan in the great white north bringing in that imported Arctic weather, and while the last such front pushed down strongly and deeply, the so-called polar vortex, this event is not unusual nor atypical, but a regular, cyclical event here in the mid-continent.  As a consequence, the only relief that can be offered is to cheerfully attempt to improve your attitude with a nice, idyllic tropical scene from southern hemisphere so you will know that it looks exactly like this right now.  Note the crowds of snow-birds, the commercialized over-development, the evidences of modern e-connected life.  Oh, yes!  See how much easier it is to deal with the cold now!  Hmmm.  There must be a research project that needs doing there right now.  Turn off the internet and pack the field gear!   

How's your weather? Or, don't move that snow drift; it may be my car.

Well, today was another day of terrible weather here in Switzerland.  It was sunny, about 10 C, and we toured a botanical garden to see what spring flowers might be open (bear paw hellebores, hardy cyclamens, snowdrops, forsythia, Iris japonica).  You do understand that TPP is being sympathetic about the severe winter weather gripping the eastern half of the USA (Yes, the Great White North has this weather too, but then this weather is their number one export!).  Why here in Zurich the weather is so severe that only cafes with outside tables on their south side were full of people.  However, the Phactors expect payback.  If all goes well, and that's asking a lot for international air travel these days, especially when the itinerary includes a flight change in Heathrow, we shall be back to Chi-town tomorrow afternoon, and somewhere out in remote parking lot WX, near location pole QQV489, sits a not very large snow drift, and inside is our white Subaru. So if anyone is around those parking coordinates, stop by and help us dig it out! There's some cheese in it for you.

About to have some winter

So far the winter of 2012-2013 has been pretty much a no show except for some cold temps, but nothing terribly cold.  it has been quite windy, so it's seemed colder.  Basically it's been a brown winter with only 3 inches of snow; no need to even shovel except wanting to keep the sidewalks clear of ice.  Now a big storm seems to be bearing right down on us promising more snow than we've had all winter so far.  From the perspective of precipitation, the area needs the moisture in whatever form it comes.  Even though the temperature has not dropped below 0 F (-18 C), our plants have been subjected to the worst of it having been deprived of an insulating cover of snow.  Guess we'll see what's hardy and what's not hardy at those temperatures.  None of this even begins to compare to the massive, unbelievably massive, snowfalls of my youth in the snow belt, lake effect snow belt, of upstate NY.  Yes, TPP's personal record was a 104" (264 cm) snow fall in 48 hours.  Hard to imagine isn't it?  So this storm is nothing really, but it comes during a particularly dry winter.  If we get a lot of snow, we'll have to see how the Norwegian forest cat, an indoor marshmallow pet, handles it just for fun.  Let's check the radar.  Storm front is about 80 miles SW on a direct bearing for us, so in about 3 hours we'll see how it goes.  No worries about driving when you're on foot; just worries abour drivers unused to winter conditions. 

All Quiet on the Western Front

Eric, a new Phactor Phollower, comments, "I feel bad when I read your entries and see no comments." Ah yes, a quiet bunch of phollowers for certain. It is rather like giving lectures where none of your students ask any questions. They all understood perfectly? They have no curiosity or questions? They are intimidated by my imposing presence? They respond with perfect indifference? All probably true to some extent. It is true the Phactor has a lectury style and perhaps that is offputting. And who wants to be one of those blogs that invite endless and banal comments. The Phactor himself seldom comments on others' blogs because adding "right on" just doesn't seem much of a contribution, and so he harbors no hard feelings. Blogging is a bit like art, you do it for yourself as much as others, but it's always nice when some one appreciates what you do.
And Eric, thanks for the snow warning. 12" you say, already on the ground? It has begun to snow heavily, but as a pedestrian commuter (almost wrote commenter there, how funny!) the weather is not so daunting. But if found frozen in a snow drift, the Phactor will certainly regret writing that. Oklahoma is already under a state of emergency and given the kneebiters running that state, it's most appropriate. Lincolnland will just bribe someone to take the snow away, probably trucking it north to Cheddaronsin where it won't be noticed.