Stuff in the Sky

Well yesterday had all the appeal of the north end of a south-bound camel. When I looked out at 10:30, the pavement was dry, but it looked like rain. I watched the local weather at 10:38 on the Weather Channel, and the radar showed a massive bank of rain covering the entire Coast Range, and just reaching Corvallis. I looked out again and the ground was wet. It got steadily heavier through the day, with gusty wind kicking in during the afternoon. And colder.

This morning as I was walking in to my favorite coffee shop, I heard the grating sound of someone scraping ice. I looked at the closest car, and sure enough, there was about an eighth inch of ice on it. Fortunately, the ground was too warm for the ice to stick there. During the time I've been here, I've seen several cars go by, presumably from the foothills in outlying Corvallis, with an inch or so of snow on them. We'll see if it gets cold enough to stick, but I've also seen a couple of snow showers since I've been here. So it's not a matter of whether it's cold enough to snow tonight: we're already getting snow. The question is whether the ground gets cold enough for it to stick. Most of the ski areas are opening today and tomorrow, but of course travel through the Cascades- even the Coast Range- is pretty hazardous right now. Getting to the ski areas, now that they're open, is the problem.

Despite all that, last night about 6:00, I was outside, and most of the sky was clear. The moon really was spectacular. It was one of those situations where it seemed wider, it seemed brighter, but it was hard to be sure that it wasn't just because I expected it to be wider and brighter. Didn't matter: it was quite beautiful, and all the more so when the weather had been so crappy.