Saturday, December 3, 2011

Snow Is In The Forecast But You Can Slide Down Mount Chesapeake Today If You Want To


Weather obsessed fanatic that I am it is ironic that til this morning I had not paid any attention to the current 5 day forecast beyond hearing on the radio that a cold front was heading our way.

Minutes ago I learned, via the weather thing at the bottom of this very blog, that SNOW is in the forecast for Monday. With a low of 29, followed by a low of 25 on Tuesday.

I checked out weather sources to see if the snow prediction is being universally predicted. It isn't. Other predictors are predicting Freezing Rain rather than SNOW. I prefer snow to freezing rain. Though the difference is subtle.

Freezing Rain can turn into an Ice Storm. I never experienced an Ice Storm til I moved to Texas, getting hit with one 5 days after my arrival in Texas.

I left Washington in a heavy rainstorm and arrived in Haslet, this little hamlet on the northern border of Fort Worth, to an even heavier rainstorm, with a lot of flooding. This was not what I was expected to find in Texas.

I was shocked.

And then 5 days later I was having lunch at the now long gone Riscky Rita's, in the Fort Worth Stockyards, enjoying the bad Mexican food buffet. It'd been warm when I entered Riscky Rita's. Warm and windy. When I left Riscky Rita's, an hour or so later, the temperature had dropped to just above freezing.

I was shocked. And had no coat with me.

That night the temperature dropped to 15 degrees. We did not know how to shut off the water to the pool. Or the barn. It was a nightmare.

By morning the ground was covered with what seemed to be several inches of ice.

I was shocked. I had no idea this type thing happened in this part of Texas.

Since then I've survived through 4 or 5 Ice Storms.

I remember the first time I walked into the house in Haslet remarking why in the world would there be a big fireplace in a house in Texas? Within 5 days I knew the reason.

My current abode also has a fireplace. I have only used it once. The power went out. It was way below freezing. I had to scrounge to find things to burn. I probably should get myself a supply of firewood.

Today is the day you can buy a slide down Mount Chesapeake for only 2 bucks, up in North Richland Hills. Wait a couple days and there is a chance you will be able to do some snow sliding for free in this usually snow-free part of the planet.

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