h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Steak, beer and boobies

Did I just say that out loud?

Any road up... our minimum temp last night was 30/-1.0 only a couple of hours ago at about 7am, and now that the sun's up we've already climbed to 41/5 and should continue up to the low to mid sixties (mid teens C) before dipping back to 30 tonight and 28 on Thursday night.

It was right at freezing when I got up before dawn this morning. Even the doggies weren't eager to go outside.

I guess this means our local two weeks of winter are officially here.

At 11:00 we are at 38 and heading south, should get into the low 20s this afternoon and about 2 overnight with 25 mph winds. I think I'll stay inside and let the glow of the monitor keep me warm.

We're up into the 50s now. Not a cloud in the sky, not a breath of wind moving the trees.

Same here, beautiful, wonderful riding weather... and I'm in the car today. Meh.

Here we go again

When I woke up at 7am it was 64/17.8, and after an hour it's risen 2°F to 66. By noon it's going to be in the mid to low 30s F and then we have this for tonight:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
506 AM CST TUE JAN 27 2009

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY THROUGH 11 AM
WEDNESDAY FOR NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE HILL COUNTRY...
...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING THROUGH
11 AM WEDNESDAY FOR THE REST OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND NORTHERN
SECTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...

.A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS THIS
MORNING, SPILLING ARCTIC AIR ACROSS THE AREA. TEMPERATURES WILL
ABRUPTLY DROP 20 TO 30 DEGREES WITH THE WIND SHIFT, THEN STEADILY
FALL, REACHING THE LOWER 30S IN THE HILL COUNTRY THIS AFTERNOON.
A LIGHT FREEZING RAIN IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON IN THE HILL
COUNTRY. TEMPERATURES WILL FALL INTO THE LOWER 30S ACROSS ADJACENT
AREAS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TONIGHT ALONG AND NORTH OF A DEL RIO
TO BOERNE TO GIDDINGS LINE. THE FREEZING RAIN WILL BECOME MORE
WIDESPREAD TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING AS AN UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS THE AREA.

MINOR ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE ARE POSSIBLE MAINLY ON BRIDGES AND
OVERPASSES IN THE HILL COUNTRY THIS AFTERNOON. FROM TONIGHT INTO
EARLY WEDNESDAY...ICE ACCUMULATIONS FROM FREEZING RAIN WILL VARY
FROM ONE TENTH TO ONE QUARTER INCH. THE WINTER WEATHER
PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO END SHORTLY AFTER DAYBREAK
WEDNESDAY...BUT ICE ACCUMULATION ON ROADS COULD RESULT IN
CONTINUED DANGEROUS ROAD CONDITIONS THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY
MORNING.

You can just keep that stuff in your area until later this evening.

One thing bad about listening to the local NPR broadcast in the mornings is they are so sparse with their weather forecasts. In the 30 or so minutes it takes me wake up, get ready and head out the door there were NO weather reports. The reports I saw yesterday indicated a slow cooling for today with the front moving through in the evening and a 40% chance of scattered light showers.

So, I only grabbed my light denim jacket to wear on the bike ride to work. I've got rain gear in the saddle bags but they're not meant to be warm. (Actually, they're great for here because in the summer the normal rain gear will make you sweat enough to negate their waterproof effect.)

So, if it does anything like you've described here before 6:00 this evening I'm going to have a miserably chilly ride home.

>>s to look up the local forecast.<<

OK... I've just checked it and we're expecting to still be in the 50's when I head home.

I did see that cold front line and it's just outside of Austin. It's showing 65° in Austin, 43° in Hearne just on the other side of the line and 37° in Waco well behind the front.

Yeah, I'm gonna feel pretty smug wearing my big ole winter jacket when it's in the 60s this morning on the way to work while all around me think I'm stupid. It'll be the other way round on the way home tonight when they're shivering in shirtsleeves and light jackets

We get pretty good weather coverage on KUT but I check other sources too, News 8 Austin mostly. They have some good local weather pages http://www.news8austin.com/content/weather/

Let it snow
Let it snow
Let it snow

And sleet, and rain, and whatever else. We've got about 2 inches on the ground and supposed to get another 3 to 5 this afternoon. You Texans are such pusses.

I have a dinner date tonight, so I have to go shovel the walk now.

Who are you calling a Texan

I think we've just crept above freezing at close to 9.30am And it's forecast to be about the same tomorrow.

We were a few degrees below freezing again last night but the sun's up and the temperature's already climbing, on the way to the low 60s F (mid teens C). There's a pretty good frost out there on the cars, the rooves and the grass. It's not a hard frost like the ones I remember from childhood, where the grass would be so white it looked like it had been snowing and would crunch underfoot, but it's definitely winter.

Windy!!! We've had a gust this afternoon in Austin measured at 44mph. That's gale 8 by the Beaufort Scale used on the shipping forecast!

Rain More than half an inch since 4am. We might get more tomorrow, and some thunderstorms, which reminds me that storm season is just around the corner

There's a fierce-looking squall line to the north west and headed this way. It's about to cross into Travis County which puts it about 20 - 25 miles away.

that looks rather nahsty there Gosho, perhaps you should take shelter, theres a T warning around Waco.

...oh, i see you already have.

alec.

Wow, that was pretty intense. We haven't had a squall line storm like that for a long time! It must have broken the NOAA weather station at Camp Mabry because they haven't put the data up yet. They record the weather conditions at 51 minutes past each hour, but it's 10.31 and the latest recording is from 20.51. The storm came through here at about 21.50.

If it holds together you're probably going to get it in a couple of hours CZ. And it's dropped the temperature by about 20°F

San Antonio NOAA weather station's busted too!

We only got a severe thunderstorm warning, and it was pretty severe. No lightning strikes nearby and it passed through pretty quick. There was a bit of hail I think and the rain was coming down at 45° for a short while.

Nice to see you again Alex

You too Gosho.

The harsh Florida winter season is finally over, went back to wearing short trou today for the first time this year.
It's been a very pleasant evening here, breezy, 70F/21C

alec.