Finally...February!
I'm baaack, again! Had some severe computer issues that made it increasingly difficult to not only get work done, but do anything, online or off, at all. Slow, slower, slowest. Even. To. Surf. The. Web.
So, held my breath, crossed my mouse fingers & brought my pc in for servicing. Had to go without (really, really frigid cold turkey — reading Harry Potter #6 [thank you, Jeremy!] helped me survive) for a whole week while trusty QRP Computers ran diagnostics & scans & rehabilitated my baby.
Turns out that despite my best, most paranoid security efforts, this box was encumbered by a few viruses & bits of spyware, nasties that seemingly did no lasting damage (hopefully) beyond bogging everything down. Sigh. The lesson: There is no safe haven, not even for the vigilant. Well, I should qualify that statement — what counts is having the best possible Internet Security (firewall/anti-virus/anti-spyware/anti-phishing) protection, which I sincerely believe/hope I now have. And am still pissed that what I used to have simply wasn't....
Nevertheless, just prior to pc servicing, struggled through & managed to finish designing/setting-up another website (Black Crow Workshop), my first for a Michigan client (a musician/electronic engineer). It's actually not a full-fledged website, per se, but a blog, which gives him the ability to update it himself, whenever he wants. Which also furthers my current interest in blog design. Am now working on completing another for my yoga therapist, Gretchen.
Anyway, it's taken me a few days to get back in gear, but did manage to post some backlogged photos (from January) yesterday, now that my Photoshop is functioning again.
Meanwhile, after 40-some days of above-normal temps, since a day or so before Xmas, winter has returned at last. We got seven inches of snow 3 wks. ago but it melted waaay too quickly, in just a couple days. A couple inches of snow last Sunday & a few more today, plus below freezing daytime temps over the last week mark a return to more seasonable temps for this area.
And in case you couldn't tell, I'm glad. 'Cause the weather has been too much like an olde raw, wet & gray gloomy NJ winter for me. Really. 'Course, the locals here think I'm nuts and I guess they're right, but my mantra is: If it must be winter, then it must snow. But, of course, minus any arctic cold (the lack of which has saved us from the extremely exorbitant heating bills we were told to expect)!
12:20 am EST Wed Feb 1 2006:
...Warm and wet January across southwest lower Michigan...
The entire month of January was warm...with several days of precipitation. Usually for the month of January precipitation falls as snowfall...this year rain was the dominant precipitation type.
For Grand Rapids...the monthly average temperatures was 33.2 degrees...putting Grand Rapids in 3rd place for the warmest January on record. The warmest on record was 34.2 degrees from 1932. The normal monthly average temperature is 22.4 degrees.
Grand Rapids also was wetter than normal...with 4.30 inches of precipitation recorded. This places Grand Rapids in 8th place for the wettest January. The wettest January was 1897 with 6.00. Recently in 2005...Grand Rapids observed for January a monthly total precipitation of 4.67 inches.
For Lansing...the monthly average temperature was 33.2 degrees. This puts Lansing in 3rd place for the warmest January on record. The warmest on record at Lansing...was 36.4 degrees.
Precipitation at Lansing was also above normal. The monthly total was 4.14 inches. This places Lansing in 3rd place for the wettest January on record. The wettest January was 4.35 in 1871.
For Muskegon...the monthly average temperature was 34.2 degrees. Using a dataset from 1896 through the present time...Muskegon falls in 2nd place for the warmest January on record. The warmest on record...for this period of time...was 34.8 degrees in 1932.
Muskegon was additionally wetter than normal with 3.70 inches of precipitation. Using the period of data from 1896 through the present...this puts Muskegon in 8th place for the wettest January. The wettest on record is 7.72 inches from 1897.
The Weather Underground — Public Information Statement
10:02 PM EST Thu Jan 26 2006:
...Unusually long streak of above normal temperatures...
On the 22nd of December...the daily mean temperature at Grand Rapids rose above normal...and has remained above normal through the present day. This brings the current streak of days above normal to
36 days.
From 1963 at Grand Rapids...year in which the records were kept for the Gerald R Ford International Airport...to the present day...there have been only two occurences where a streak of similar numbers has
been observed.
Most recent and longest was from January 15th 1998 through March 8th 1998. Which was 53 days above normal. In 1998 a strong El Nino was observed. The second longest streak of constantly above normal
temperatures was from December 28th 1989 through February 1st 1990. This period covered 36 days of above normal temperatures. In addition to this period...if comparing at or above normal number of days...the streak would continue through February 13th 1990. That would bring the streak of at or above normal days to 49 days...from December 28th through February 13th 1990. 1990 was a neutral enso
year.
A La Nina started to develop late this past fall and is now becoming a mature event. It remains to be seen what impact that will have to our current warm weather pattern. The latest computer models do not suggest any below normal temperatures for the next 7 days. We have already tied the record for the second longest streak of constantly above normal days in a row...at Grand Rapids since 1963. At this present time it is to early to say if we could break the 1998 record of 53 days...which would carry US through the 19th of February.
The Weather Underground — Public Information Statement
1:06 PM EST Sat Jan 21 2006:
The snow began to fall across southwest Michigan around 6 PM on Friday...January 20th. The snow was heavy at times through most of Friday evening and into early Saturday morning near and north of Interstate 96. The snow was mixed at times with freezing rain near Interstate 96 until around midnight. Up to a tenth of an inch of freezing rain was reported near Lansing. South of Interstate 96 the precipitation started as mostly rain around 6 PM Friday...then changed to freezing rain and sleet before midnight near Battle Creek and around 1 am near Jackson. That changed to snow near Battle Creek by midnight and in Jackson by 2:30 am. The snow ended from west to east between 5 am and 8 am Saturday morning.
Storm total snowfall reports:
Ottawa County – Grand Haven, 7.0; North side of Holland, 7.0
Muskegon County – Muskegon Airport, 7.9; downtown, 9.5; North Muskegon, 10.5; Norton Shores , 8.3
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