First Wichita Falls Freeze Of The Freezing Season Arrives On Schedule

The first freeze of this freezing time of the year arrived as predicted, this day after Thanksgiving morning.

The outer world air is predicted to get warmed to somewhere in the 40 degree zone during my regular outdoor endorphin inducing activity time.

Before I do that outdoor endorphin inducing I am going to Walmart to be part of the Black Friday mob. This is usually reliably entertaining.

Walmart may provide all the endorphin inducing I need for the day...

Arctic Blasts Into Texas Colder Than Predicted

The Arctic Blast blasted in colder than the predictors predicted it would this Sunday before Christmas.

10 degrees.

With the wind making those 10 degrees feel like 4 degrees below zero.

That is cold.

Real cold.

All the faucets in my abode are currently in prevent frozen pipes drip mode.

I suspect there are currently a lot of faucets dripping all over America.

Except in Florida and Hawaii.

Relief from this iceberg is supposed to arrive within 48 hours.

Just in time for this visitor from the Far North I got myself a new highly insulated jacket from Costco.

I have yet to test this highly insulated jacket at the current temperature level. I suspect it will do a mighty fine job of keeping me warm.

If not, I shall make sure when I am in the outer world today that there is never much distance between me and a warm interior space....

Freezing Wichita Falls Losing 60 Degrees On Saturday

Apparently my location on the planet, well north of being deep in the heart of Texas, is once again scheduled to go in to DEEP FREEZE mode.

A predicted high of 73 on Friday, then losing 60 degrees, for a low of 13 on Saturday.

THIRTEEN DEGREES.

That small number of degrees is among the lowest I have ever been  chilled to. If my memory is serving me correctly, and sometimes it does, the lowest temperature I have ever been chilled to was a minus 27 in the Eastern Washington town of Ellensburg, where I was matriculating at Central Washington University.

Minus 27.

That's 27 degrees below zero.

At that extreme temperature I recollect having to walk to school, due to no wheeled conveyances being operational. I recollect big icicles forming on the ski mask I used to cover all but my eyes and the two nostrils of my head zone.

If the forecast is correct we are heading towards two days where the temperature does not get above freezing. That means the faucets must be left dripping, the furnace must be left heating and other precautions must be taken so as to avoid breaking pipes.

I have experienced a freeze causing pipes to burst. It ain't pretty. Such a disaster happened the first time a deep freeze hit my new house in Mount Vernon. The pipe burst announced itself with an explosive bang.

I hope not to be hearing a similar explosive bang in the coming days....

Trouble Acclimating To This Texas Arctic Blast

Apparently I am not reacting well to suddenly being stuck in a deep freeze.

I am assuming the headache that began aching in the middle of last night, which has continued through the day, then continuing on after the sun has set, has been caused by the sudden loss of 40 degrees.

I tried the comfort food route to breaking the cold spell, barbecuing chicken, making extremely sharp cheesy macaroni and cheese, along with my signature salad, cranberry Waldorf.

To no avail.

By late afternoon I found myself sitting forlornly looking at the brightly lit view you see above. As I sat I could feel cold creeping in through the big window behind me. At least I imagined such.

I heard on the radio a few minutes ago that by the weekend we are scheduled to get back some of those 40 degrees we lost in the last 24 hours, with the outer world possibly heated into the 60s.

Tomorrow, while it is still freezing, I may take myself to Mount Wichita to see what mountain climbing is like at this location in sub-freezing weather. I do not think the mountain will be too slippery....

Freezing In Texas While Snowing In My Old Washington Home Zone

The screen cap you see here is from this morning's Seattle Times. One might think this is yet one more entry in my popular series of news items I read via west coast news sources which one would not expect to be seeing in a Texas newspaper about a similar thing happening in Texas.

In this particular case, I screen capped what you see here because I thought it was a stereotypical image of my old home Pacific Northwest zone, what with tall evergreen trees, a rain slicked street, a full sized transit bus (unlike what one finds in Fort Worth) and mountains in the distance.

In this view you are not looking east at the Cascade Mountains, instead you are looking west, from the Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace, at mountains in the Olympic Mountain range, which is on the west side of Puget Sound.

Now that you are causing me to think about it, this actually also is a blogging about something I see in a west coast online news source which I would not be seeing in a Texas online news source about something in Texas.

Mountains.

Multiple mountains adding up to being a mountain range.

Well, actually, in Texas you can find a mountain in a sort of mountain range. Guadalupe Mountain in the Guadalupe Mountain range.

Anyway, it ain't pretty when the Western Washington lowlands gets a dose of snow and ice. Very treacherous due to the fact that, like Texans, most Washington lowlanders do not get a lot of snow driving practice.

I recollect a Friday back late in the last century, being in Seattle when the temperature dropped faster than predicted, making for ice on the wet streets. Then snow began falling. I quickly made my way to I-5 to head back north. It took six hours to drive 55 miles back to my safe haven in Mount Vernon.

That was bad, but, by far, the worst winter driving I have ever experienced has been in Texas. Driving after an Ice Storm. I never experienced an Ice Storm til I moved to Texas.

Switching the subject to my current location and temperature status.

The temperature predictors had predicted the temperature would plummet to 20 degrees last night. However, we were spared. The low got to only 27, if my temperature sources are correct. We had been warned to leave all faucets dripping and to monitor the drippage because water pressure might drop during the night as Wichita Fallers increased their drippage.

I dripped all night long, but I do not think it was necessary, what with that not too low temperature.

The above temperature graphic from the Wichita Falls Times News Record indicates that that 27 degrees actually feels like 14 degrees, due to wind blowing at 13 mph.

Looking out my window, right now, I see no tree movement. I do see three flags in the distance doing some flapping, but not too much flappage.

I think I will likely forego my daily endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation acquired via outdoor activity, unless the temperature quickly rises to a more seemly level....

Freezing In The Hot Tub Worrying About Incoming Snow & Ice In North Texas

On the left you are looking at a screencap from Facebook, a WEATHER UPDATE from the most reliable and detailed weatherman from whom I've experienced receiving weather reports, John Basham.

This morning the outer world was chilled to freezing at my location for the first time this freezing season. I think we beat my old home zone of the Skagit Valley for first freeze of the year.

With this morning being the first freezing morning of this freezing season I had my first frozen bout in my newly restored to HOT hot tub.

The newly HOT hot tub was not so hot that I felt compelled to cool off with a quick dip in the likely way too cool pool.

If the wind dies down, and I suspect it won't, I think I'll go on a neighborhood bike ride today. Unless the wind dies down the wind chill factor makes that freezing temperature feel like 22 instead of 32. Combined with the rapid speed at which I roll my wheels that would be way too chilly a bike ride.

As you can read below, in John Basham's latest WEATHER UPDATE, a chance of snow and sleet is a possibility in the days ahead. I am not in the mood to go slipping and sliding. I've only recently recovered from the post traumatic stress of last winter's scary slipping and sliding incident....

WEATHER UPDATE: 445AM WED NOV 12 2014 - North Texas Including the DFW Metroplex - Brrrrr A cold morning with much of the area already below freezing and windchill values in the teens. Tomorrow morning (Thursday) we will see clouds, freezing temps, and yes even a little light sleet is possible. The good news is most of the ice that will fall will not make it to the ground, but a few pellets of ice on your car Thursday morning are not out of the question. Now, the bigger issue, the third in a series of disturbances will rotate across North Texas on Sunday and forecast guidance does NOT agree on what this will cause. Prior to it's arrival, and the subsequent VERY STRONG cold front that will push across the area Sunday, we will see the return of Southerly winds as well as moisture in more than just the surface layer of the atmosphere. It would seem that the moisture return would not be sufficient to cause any wintery precipitation on Sunday once the disturbance and cold front work to cause lift, but timing is crucial. That in conjunction with the relative strength of the approaching system would lend pause to any monster amounts of wintery precipitation, BUT some model data suggests over an inch of snow is possible across a large part of North Texas. At this time, I am only willing to put snow/sleet into the slight chance category for Sunday, but I am watching it very closely. It very well could be an interesting and white weekend for much of North Texas... In the mean time, bundle up.. it's cold! THIS IS NOT AN NWS PRODUCT. John Basham

29 Degrees Freezing In Texas While Warming Up In A Hot Hot Tub

Well, the Arctic Blast delivered a freeze to North Texas just like the weather predictors predicted.

It was 29 degrees in the outer world when the sun arrived to begin it daily heating duty.

Last night was my best slumbering in a long long time. I don't like running the furnace at night. Like the A/C, it wakes me up when it cycles on and off.

So, when the outer world gets frigid it is time to get into multiple blanket mode.

I had such a pleasant, cold weather enhanced, multi-hour period of being restfully horizontal, that come morning, despite saying I would not, I decided to take a chilly walk to the pool.

With a heavy frost covering the roofs, it was fairly obvious the water in the pool was not as cool as the frigid air. So, I quickly dipped and just as quickly retreated to the hot tub.

The hot tub is big enough that I can get in swimming type exercise, sort of. But, with the hot tub heated to the low 90s, I quickly start feeling too HOT.

Feeling too HOT in the hot tub my solution is another quick dip in the cooling pool.  Sort of the opposite of the norm when I escape to the hot tub to warm up from the chilly pool.

By Sunday, according to the temperature predictors, my location on the planet will be heated to 50 degrees above freezing, at 82 degrees.

82 degrees is almost as HOT as the hot tub....

Continuing Freeze In Fort Worth Breaks Tooth

That's the frozen view from my computer room window this 2nd Thursday of December. It is 26 outside the window this morning coming up on 10 o'clock.

It was 21 at the time I usually venture outside for a nice refreshing dip in the pool. 21 degrees would be way too refreshing.

I may try to go to the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area today if I can find my long underwear.

I'm in a pretty foul mood this morning due to waking up to find that somehow during the night one of my molars seems to have developed a problem, as in a bit of tooth is missing. I have had this happen before, but not in a long long time.

I hate going to the dentist less than I hate going to a doctor, but not that much less.

As you can see in our Fort Worth 7-Day Forecast, below, in addition to looking forward to a dentist visit I have an almost 70 degree day to look forward to, this Sunday. If this forecast is correct today is the last we freeze for at least 6 days.

Fort Worth Wind Chilling At 14 Degrees

That is what 23 degrees and a Wind Chill of 14 degrees looks like looking out my window at a very cold day in Fort Worth, Texas.

At least we are a bit warmer than my old location in the state of Washington where it is 16 degrees in Mount Vernon right now. With no wind.

So, I guess it is feeling colder here in Fort Worth than it is in Mount Vernon.

I have not ventured out into the deep freeze yet today. So, yes, there are limits to my insanity, in that I have not gone swimming this morning.

I did not hear from the Mad Texas Grandma yesterday. I've not yet learned who authorized A-AArlington to remove more than 50 vehicles from the Dallas Cowboy Stadium Wal-Mart on October 21.

I have heard from a Fort Worth, I believe, TCU student, named Ryan Cormier, via Twitter, that A-AArlington towed his car. I'll copy Ryan's Twitter Tweet....

"@RyanJCormier @DurangoTexas That place is the worst! They have towed my car before in Fort Worth!"

In Twitter world having an @ in front of name turns the name into a link to that particular Twitter account.

Microsoft has just installed yet one more round of updates to my computer, fixing yet more security problems that might allow some evil entity, like Microsoft, to take control of my computer. Now it is pestering me to restart so these important updates can take effect.

We Are Freezing & Snowing On December 2 In Fort Worth Texas

No swimming for me this morning. We are freezing here in Fort Worth, Texas.

We are not only freezing, we are snowing. The 20% chance of snow was not supposed to happen for another 24 hours. Or so I thought.

It's coming down real hard, sort of like the snow version of a Texas downpour in rain form.

I'd planned to go up to Southlake today. But I don't see that happening if it gets real icy out there. Texans are like Puget Sounders. They don't get all that much experience with driving in icy conditions so there can be some driving road hazards out there.

I'll go see if I can get a picture of the blizzard.

Well, you can see some of the snowflakes. And you can see that it is looking very wintry here in Fort Worth this second day of December. WeatherBug just went off with a freeze warning from the National Weather Service, with the warning lasting through 9am Thursday. Brrrrr.

Took another picture a half hour after the above one.

Ten minutes after the above picture was taken the snow quit coming down like a blizzard, now it's coming down like a snow drizzle.

Deep Freeze Stops Fort Worth Swimming

It has not been above freezing here in Fort Worth, Texas for well over 24 hours. It got to 22 last night. Up to 25, right now, at about an hour before noon.

It had been my intention to test the pool this morning. My usual pattern is to step outside to where I leave my wet swimming suit and wet towel to dry, then come in here and put on the swimming suit.

But this morning the swimming suit is frozen into a big red ball, frozen stuck. I couldn't budge it to take it in here to thaw. I've got a back-up swimming suit, a black one, but it's nowhere to be found. I don't know how it has managed to come up missing. I suspect some nefarious evil-doer is trying to sabotage my swimming efforts.

Our forecast does not have us getting above freezing until tomorrow.

Meanwhile up in my old location, that being the Puget Sound region of the Pacific Northwest, they are having record breaking lows, colder than here. With snow.

When does this global warming thing we hear so much about kick in?

Below Freezing Today in Texas

Yesterday morning my swimming pool had warmed up a lot from the day before, due to it getting into the 70s during the day and the middle 50s at night. So, yesterday I managed to swim for quite a long time.

A cold front blew in all day yesterday and long into the night. Very windy. Power was knocked out for some Texans. By midnight the temperature was 33. By this morning, when I went down to the pool, it was 26.

So, it's obvious the water would be colder than the day previous. However, with the air being so cold, the water felt warmer than the air. A lot warmer. It was easy to get in the water and swim. I think I lasted about 3 or 4 minutes, when the chill started to penetrate too deep. It took a couple minutes for the hot tub to feel hot.

This swimming when the water is cold thing has taught me a lesson. As in don't ever not do something just because you've got it in your head that you can't. You never know if you can or can't until you try.

Freezing in North Texas

It was 35 at midnight. 32 was the overnight low. I was not tempted to see if it was possible to get in the pool at these temperatures.

It was a bit cold in here early this morning. But I didn't feel like turning the furnace on. So, I put on a wool cap and layers of other things and bundled up like I was in Tacoma in summer.

About noon it'd thawed out enough and I'd warmed up enough and I'd sat at this computer long enough that I decided to go roller blading at Quanah Parker Park again.

You may remember, my one reader, that just 2 days ago I went roller blading at Quanah Parker Park and it was in the 80s and I was shirtless. Today I rollerbladed in sweatpants and wore my wool cap. And kept my shirt on, though I did take off an extra shirt by the time I started rolling, but I got a bit chilly in just a t-shirt.

It's supposed to get warm here in a couple days, again, but I think we've had a bad sample of an upcoming very cold winter.