December 22, 2015 evening

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Good evening. It looks like the rain has moved off to the east, and we are down to about 50 degrees from the earlier high of 52 degrees. Not bad for two days before Christmas.

Tonight, we are a looking a slight chance of showers before 7pm. Later it will be partly cloudy, with a low around 44. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Sounds like an exceptionally nice evening for late December but it might feel damp. We’ll see. But I’ll take the warm, snow-free weather for now. We’ll get our white, just sometime after Christmas.

Early predictions show a major cool down for the first week of January. With El Nino underway, this could mean significant snow if blocking means tropical moisture hits an arctic blast. I don’t care, the bus will get me to work.

Tomorrow is the last day of work for the week, having Christmas Eve and Christmas off. Really looking forward to getting out camping. I have really high hopes for a nice weekend.

December 22, 2015 morning

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Good morning on this first day of Spring. Rain and 46 degrees on this morning. Did I mention Christmas Eve is only two days away?

The windshield wipers on the bus are slapping the time while I listen to Janis Joplin’s Me and Bobby McGee, heading downtown on a later bus. I expect a slow day at work today.

Despite the April like conditions of today, last night was the longest day of the year and today will have the least amount of daylight. With the rain, it certainly is a dark and dreary morning. Only 9 hours and 2 minutes between sunrise and sunset.

The weekend forecast remains a split verdict with the National Weather Service and Wunderground swapping sides on the forecast but pretty typical weather for warm December weather – clouds, rain showers, and some sun. I don’t think a washout but if it leans that way, my plans might change.

Been thinking about getting a small, inexpensive space heater with a fan to set by night stand, so I can turn it on in the morning and not have to get up to turn up the heat. The Big Buddy Heater has me spoiled with camping. I know electric heat is expensive but it’s kind of a moot point because I have baseboard electric heat upstairs  which gets turned on normally when I awake. I keep the main gas heat downstairs turned to 50 degrees except in very cold weather at night. A small space heater is just as energy efficient as any electric radiator, as all electric resistance heat is 100% efficient per watt consumed. Electricity production and distribution is fairly thermally inefficient, which is why gas heating is so much cheaper. I pay for renewable electricity, which raises my electric bill further. Not owning a television, home Internet, few appliances, and using energy efficient light bulbs kept low does keep my energy bills in check.

Time to get off the bus. Have a great day. Stay dry!