I used to blog all the time. Lately, I write posts in my head all the time but they never end up on the blog.

I was thinking today about one that I wrote in January 2010 regarding Winter, and I thought it was worth re-posting a portion of it:

My most recent pondering has been about Winter. As this is only my second “true” Winter (since I lived in California for 25 years), I am still adjusting to months of frigid temperatures, white powder covering the ground, and salt on the roads. Winter is bleak, yet beautiful. More than anything, Winter has taught me to fully appreciate Spring, Summer, and Fall. Someone recently described Winter as a time when God allows His creation to rest…a time for the ground to cease growth, and even a time for humans to spend time inside resting, enjoying the warmth and the time not spent tending gardens, mowing lawns, etc. Winter makes us more passionate about the other three seasons, and gives us greater joy at their arrival. I still marvel at all four seasons, recognizing that God didn’t have to create four–He could have kept things constant and thereby boring, and we would have never known the difference. This is yet another way God shows us that we are loved. 

I post this mostly as an encouragement to myself, because I am not enjoying winter this year. It was 11 degrees when I left for work this morning. Bitter cold. I long for warmth…

It’s amazing how quickly my sentiments toward winter have changed. This is shown through the amount of pictures I have taken each winter since 2008 (slowly decreasing), as well as the amount of times I have blogged about it. 🙂

In January 2009, I posted this about my experiments with freezing liquids: http://lesaclose.wordpress.com/2009/01/16/the-results-of-my-experiments/

In December 2008, I was thrilled with new weather terminology: http://lesaclose.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/lesas-list-of-winter-weather-terms/

Now I am taking Vitamin D3 and hoping that it’s a mild, warm winter.

All in all, I still know that I am called to be here, and that God never gives us more than we can handle. 🙂 Yet, I still don’t feel like embracing this frigid season…thankfully it’s only three months out of the year!

So, in order to make these absolutely frigid months bearable, I decided to have some fun. It all started last night when I decided to put a water bottle out on the porch to see how long it would take it to freeze (at 15 degrees): it took 3 hours. I put a water bottle in the freezer at work today, and it took 4 hours and 2o minutes.

Tonight, I put out six bottles (salt water, Gatorade, Raspberry Acai juice, Sunny Delight, milk, and water without a lid).

In the meantime, I tried the boiling water trick someone had told me about. It didn’t freeze in midair, so that was a bummer, but it did freeze VERY quickly.

When there’s ice on the INSIDE of your door, you know it’s way too cold! 🙂

After 2 hours: water without lid was solid.

I blew bubbles, but it wasn’t really exciting. Nothing happened–except I got VERY cold since it was 8 degrees! 🙂

After three hours, the results:

Water and milk: Frozen solid.

Juice and Sunny D: Slushies

Gatorade and salt water: not even close!

So there you go. I am going to leave them out overnight (since it will be around 2 or 3 degrees tonight) to see if they will all be frozen in the morning. 🙂 It’s been interesting!!

Prior to my move to Central Pennsylvania, I thought that there were two main types of precipitation: rain and snow. I was very wrong. LOL. This is a list of the terms I’ve heard/experienced thus far, and I’m sure the list will grow!

Freezing Rain
Freezing Drizzle
Freezing Fog
Ice Fog
Sleet
Wintry Mix

And there are even more (taken from USA Today):

Blizzard: Winds of 35 mph or more along with considerable falling and/or blowing snow reducing visibility to less than one-quarter mile for three or more hours. Extremely cold temperatures often are associated with dangerous blizzard conditions, but are not a formal part of the definition. The hazard created by the combination of snow, wind and low visibility significantly increases, however, with temperatures below 20 degrees.

Blowing snow: Wind driven snow that reduces visibility to six miles or less causing significant drifting. Blowing snow may be snow that is falling and/or loose snow on the ground picked up by the wind.

Drifting snow: Uneven distribution of snowfall caused by strong surface winds. Drifting snow does not reduce visibility.

Flurries: Light snow falling for short durations. No accumulation or just a light dusting is all that is expected.

Freeze: Occurs when the surface air temperature is expected to be 32 degrees Fahrenheit or below over a widespread area for a significant period of time.

Freezing rain or drizzle: Occurs when rain or drizzle freezes on surfaces such as trees, cars and roads, forming a coating or glaze of ice. Temperatures above the ground are warm enough for rain to form, but surface temperatures are below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, causing the rain to freeze on impact. Even small accumulations of ice can be a significant hazard.

Frost: Describes the formation of thin ice crystals on the ground or other surfaces. Frost develops when the temperature of the earth’s surface falls below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, but because frost is primarily an event that occurs as the result of radiational cooling, it frequently occurs with air temperatures in the middle 30s.

Graupel: Small pellets of ice created when supercooled water droplets coat, or rime, a snowflake. The pellets are cloudy or white, not clear like sleet, and often are mistaken for hail.

Heavy snow: Depending on the region of the USA, this generally means that four or more inches of snow has accumulated in 12 hours, or six or more inches of snow in 24 hours.

Ice storm: An ice storm is used to describe occasions when damaging accumulation of ice are expected during a freezing rain situation. Significant accumulations of ice are defined as one-quarter inch or greater. This can cause trees, utility and power lines to fall down causing the loss of power and communication.

Sleet:Rain drops that freeze into ice pellets before reaching the ground. Sleet usually bounces when hitting a surface and does not stick to objects. However, it can accumulate like snow and cause a hazard to motorists. Heavy sleet occurs when a half of an inch of sleet accumulates.

Snow showers: Snow falling at varying intensities for brief periods of time. Some accumulation is possible.

Snow squalls: Intense, but of limited duration, periods of moderate to heavy snowfall, accompanied by strong, gusty surface winds and possible lightning.

Watch: A watch is used when the risk of a hazardous weather event has increased significantly, but the occurrence, location and timing are still uncertain.

Warning/Advisory: These products are issued when a hazardous weather event is occurring, is imminent or has a very high probability of occurrence. A warning is used for conditions posing a threat to life or property. Advisories are for less serious conditions that cause significant inconvenience and, if caution is not exercised, could lead to situations that may threaten life and property.

Whiteout: A condition caused by falling and/or blowing snow that reduces visibility to nothing or zero miles; typically only a few feet. Whiteouts can occur rapidly often blinding motorists and creating chain-reaction crashes involving multiple vehicles. Whiteouts are most frequent during blizzards.

Wind chill: The wind chill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by the combined effects of wind and cold. As the wind increases, heat is carried away from the body at an accelerated rate, driving down the body temperature. This temperature is the reading the body “feels” given the combination of wind and air temperature. At wind speeds of four mph or less, the wind chill temperature is the same as the actual air temperature.

I had no idea how complicated Winter is! 🙂

…and yet, I have to remember that I chose this 🙂

“…WINTER STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM EST TUESDAY
THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON…

A SHALLOW ARCTIC AIR MASS WILL OVERSPREAD THE REGION LATE TONIGHT
AND EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. MOIST AIR FROM THE MID ATLANTIC REGION
WILL FLOW UP AND OVER THE COLD DOME TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH
WEDNESDAY MORNING…PRODUCING A MIXTURE OF SNOW…SLEET AND
FREEZING RAIN OVER SOUTH CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.

A LIGHT SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATION OF 1 TO 3 INCHES APPEARS
LIKELY TUESDAY MORNING INTO TUESDAY AFTERNOON BEFORE PRECIPITATION
MIXES WITH AND POSSIBLY CHANGES TO FREEZING DRIZZLE OR FREEZING
RAIN TUESDAY EVENING. A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF FREEZING RAIN IS
POSSIBLE TUESDAY EVENING…PARTICULARLY OVER THE LAUREL HIGHLANDS
OF WEST CENTRAL PENNSYLVANIA.

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT
SNOW…SLEET…OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL.”