Winter Weather, ain't just snow!

I awoke this morning at 5:30 AM to the sound of the wind blowing outside and Chester yowling outside my door. When it got light enough to see I noticed that there was some snow falling (or, at least, trying to fall as it was blown horizontally). Just a light dusting that will, according to the radio guy, end around noon. The temperature fell to 9.9 degrees at 7:30 AM. It's always coldest just about or just after sunrise before the sun starts to warm things up a bit. And "a bit" is all it's going to warm up today. The forecasts at AccuHunch and Weather.com says it may reach 15-17 degrees later this afternoon but with the wind blowing around 15-20 mph with higher gusts, it won't come close to feeling that warm. Tonight's lows will be somewhere around 5 degrees...or less.

The average for this day? From Weather.com:

Day	Ave High	Ave Low	Record High	Record Low
March 2	40°F	18°F	62°F (1991)	-4°F (1994)

I've mentioned to them that it might be a good idea to indicate when record keeping began. After all, to have both the high and low records in the 1990s would indicate there might be sorta a short period during which they have been recording the temperatures. No? Oh, I also suggested they indicate exactly where the freaking records are taken. To say it's for Mansfield, PA is a wee bit misleading. With all the ridges and valleys, you've only got to travel 5 or 6 miles in any direction to find a huge difference in temperature. Example: a month ago it was -6°F at the Aerie but down the hill near the post office it was a much, much colder -23°F. During the summer it can be 5 to 10°F cooler at the Aerie compared to "downtown" Mansfield.

Now, if you'll excuse me, Julie wants me to put another log on the fire.

[UPDATE: Monday Noon: Terry reports that they got just a dusting in the Sumter/Columbia area of South Carolina but that there were 6 inches int he northwest mountains. Meanwhile the MIL and Daughter got about 6 inches in Linden, NJ with a possibility of more later in the day. It has stopped flurrying here at the Aerie and the sun is actually trying to break through the clouds. What snow we got was mostly horizontal rather than vertical. It can seem like more when it covers distance rather than ground.]