It never fails. Mary is scheduled to fly out of the Minneapolis-St Paul airport Saturday around 3, and we planned to leave Morris in the morning for a 3 hour drive across the state, when the computer beeps with a weather alert.
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 1 PM CDT SATURDAY… * WHAT…SNOW EXPECTED. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 5 INCHES. WINDS GUSTING AS HIGH AS 45 MPH. * WHERE…DOUGLAS, STEVENS AND POPE COUNTIES. * WHEN…FROM 4 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 1 PM CDT SATURDAY. * IMPACTS…PLAN ON SLIPPERY ROAD CONDITIONS. PATCHY BLOWING SNOW COULD SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE VISIBILITY. THE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS COULD IMPACT THE EVENING COMMUTE. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS… SLOW DOWN AND USE CAUTION WHILE TRAVELING. THE LATEST ROAD CONDITIONS FOR THE STATE YOU ARE CALLING FROM CAN BE OBTAINED BY CALLING 5 1 1. &&
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…ACCUMULATING SNOW AND STRONG WINDS OVER PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA LATE THIS AFTERNOON INTO SATURDAY MORNING… .SNOW IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO WEST CENTRAL MINNESOTA, BECOMING HEAVY AT TIMES TONIGHT. A NARROW BAND OF 3 TO 5 INCHES OF SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS PORTIONS OF STEVENS, POPE, AND DOUGLAS COUNTIES IN MINNESOTA, WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS EXPECTED FROM NORTHWEST POPE INTO WESTERN DOUGLAS COUNTIES. IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW, WEST WINDS WILL BE GUSTING TO AS HIGH AS 45 MPH, WHICH WILL RESULT IN SOME BLOWING AND DRIFTING OF SNOW AS WELL. THE COMBINATION OF THE SNOW ACCUMULATIONS WITH STRONG WINDS WILL LEAD TO DIFFICULT TRAVEL CONDITIONS FRIDAY NIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING IN THE MORRIS, GLENWOOD, AND ALEXANDRIA AREAS.
Perfect timing — the first snowstorm of the year on the day we have to do a lot of travel. Also, the shuttle service we used to rely on for these kinds of events has discontinued all service to Morris.
We’re cut off from civilization! Never mind the trip to MSP, how are we going to survive the outbreaks of looting and cannibalism?
No shuttle service? That sucks. Out of Duluth we now have shuttle and bus service to MSP. The bus Landline is nice. Lots of room and Wifi. We had to take it last week when we arrived back from our Africa trip. Our flight to Duluth was scheduled at 1120 morning. It finally took off at 230 on Sunday. We were long at home by then. As Duluth is hit and miss getting out of, because of weather, I think we will bus to MSP and fly from there.
I’m afraid I can one-up PZ. Here in Ecuador, all the major highways have been closed by protests for a week, mostly by the indigenous peoples. They are protesting the president’s doubling of fuel prices at the behest of the IMF. In the city of Latacunga, where I live, many roads are blocked to vehicles by the protesters. Violence has been minimal so far by both groups, fortunately. PZ may be at greater risk from the snow than I am from these troubles. I hope I can make my flight to the USA in three weeks.
Well, I’m in Winnipeg, and we have the same storm. About 6 inches of snow has fallen in the last 24 hours, with another 6 (at least) coming up today. Wind chill -9 C (16 F), winds gusting to 40 mph…it’s not pretty out there. I mean, ideally all this snow’s gone in a week (we don’t usually have permanent white stuff on the ground until mid-November), but such an early winter storm is…uncommon to say the least (I remember 3-4 of them in my lifetime of 38 years, and I think this is the earliest storm, though we sometimes do get a bit of snowfall in September).
Yeah, we’re getting some severe weather here in Houston. We’re expected to get a 30 degree drop in temperature this afternoon.
So, by the time I go home, it will be in the 60’s!
We’ve hastily booked a shuttle to the airport…but since there is no Morris service, we have to catch it in Alexandria at 8am tomorrow. So I only have to drive for about an hour through a snowstorm, and then Mary gets to spend 2½ hours in a big and hopefully safer bus.
Just be safe driving, PZ. Where else would we get our daily dose of snarky spider stuff?
It’s dropped to 50F here in Austin, Tx. May need to turn on the furnace.
Mary will be on her way to San Antonio, TX. She’s going to be worn out by your heat wave.
Trying to convince me that the one guy in the state with a spider army is at risk when civilization collapses is a hard sell.
The spider army isn’t very good in the cold.
I will say, though, that Jenny By-The-Front-Door is still fine — she was a bit sluggish this morning, but she’s still hanging out in her cozy nest.
Kill that neighbor (you know which one) and host a barbecue. Get rid of an irritant. Get on the mob’s good side. And if you make it B.Y.O.B. and potluck, reap in the riches of the leftovers.
Gonna be sunny and mid-80s here for the foreseeable future. Maybe if y’all huffed and puffed and blew real hard you could push that front a bit further south?
74 degrees here, going down to 47 degrees tonight.
Wow! It’s actually warmer (mid 70s) here in Monterey, Ca than it is back in San Antonio (50s). I’m assuming that the storm that is now causing all of you pain is the one that caused PG&E to pre-emptively turn out the power on customers north of here.
I hope that any of the horde who live north of me are staying warm and comfortable, and those of you who live south of here are staying safe from the fires.
I hope that Mary enjoys her trip to San Antonio. She’s going there at a perfect time. The fall and spring weather there is what my husband has always called “chamber of commerce weather”.
PS We’re still unpacking huge boxes! Moving is a pain!
A good single-malt whisk(e)y, a prowling evil cat, and tomatoes! Lots and lots of tomatoes, as I recall…