(Like the song says, “Oh, the weather outside is frightful….”)
There’s a Winter Storm Warning in progress this afternoon, which may become a blizzard if the storm sidesteps a tad. Either way, it’s not a day to go for a leisurely stroll.
Folks on morning radio recited a long list of school closings and event cancellations.
None of which affected me. Not directly.
My weekly hour at the St. Faustina Adoration Chapel was yesterday. It was sincerely cold, a bit windy but no snow.
About the Adoration Chapel. We’re not adoring St. Faustina. I’ve talked about that before. (December 13, 2019)
Sauk Centre’s city website (saukcentre.govoffice2.com) includes a Snow Emergency statement:
“Snow Emergency
“Effective at 11:00 p.m. on Friday, January 17, 2020, a Snow Emergency has been declared for the City of Sauk Centre till 11:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 19, 2020. Vehicles parked on the street are subject to ticket and towing. *On street/overnight parking is not allowed.*”
Makes sense to me. And I hope that folks who have vehicles but not reserved off-street parking find spots for their cars and trucks.
While I’m thinking of it, hats off to the folks running snow plows, emergency services: and working at stores and businesses that are open today.
Today’s Storm and Perceptions
(From National Weather Service, used w/o permission.)
(National Weather Service’s early afternoon map. (January 17, 2020))
The current storm — it’s expected to taper off Saturday evening — and others like it are part of the Upper Midwest experience.
I’ve spent the bulk of my life in this area, and grew up on the Minnes0ta-North Dakota border. For me, this is “normal.”
Other folks probably have different perceptions. Like the fellow I saw while living in San Francisco. I was walking to work. To a bus stop on my way to work, actually.
Anyway, I was wearing a windbreaker and a cap: more than enough to deal with the mildly cool temperature.
This other fellow was walking to some destination: wearing a snorkel parka with the hood extended, hands in the parka’s pockets. Maybe he’d lost a bet. Or thought he looked cool in the metaphorical sense. Or something else. Or maybe it really felt that cold to him.
Oddly enough, I don’t remember any wannabe prophets declaring that our usual winter weather is an anger-prone God’s judgement on us.
Maybe because it is our usual weather. Which has encouraged us to have equipment and procedures ready. And that’s another topic.
I’ve talked about weather, scapegoating and the Siloam tower before. (February 23, 2019; November 17, 2017; September 17, 2018; August 27, 2017)
What’s Next?
On the other hand, this sort of weather raises a question: what are we doing here?
Why did my ancestors decide to live in a place where water is a mineral for much of the year?
Denouncing non-tropical human settlement as an affront to the Almighty is an option.
Provided I take an ‘if God meant us to fly, we’d have wings’ attitude. And hope that nobody notices where I live.
Besides, I’m not bothered that humans can’t survive here without technology. Fire and clothing, at a minimum.
Partly because we have the necessary tech. The environment next to my skin is at a pleasant 77° Fahrenheit. Thanks to clothing, insulated walls and a furnace.
That temperature’s right around daytime conditions in part of humanity’s homeland. It’s a little cooler there at the moment, and an hour to two past midnight.1
Getting back to why humans moved here, and elsewhere. As I see it, we’re here because we’re human. Humans, some of us, travel. We wonder what’s over the next hill, and I’ve talked about that before. And probably will again.
Meanwhile, more snow has fallen. And I haven’t decided what to write next in the post I’d planned to work on today.
Maybe I’ll come up with an idea tomorrow. Then again, maybe not.
Not-necessarily-related posts:
- “Another Death in the Family”
(December 28, 2019) - “Another Saturday”
(October 26, 2019) - “Commercial Spaceflight: Another Step”
(March 8, 2019) - “Mars and Beyond”
(February 16, 2018) - “Disasters, Deaths, Decisions”
(September 17, 2018)
- Many Definition [sic] of Minerals
Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky - Minerals
Guillermo Rocha, Brooklyn College - Nairobi, Kenya
Weather.com - Nairobi Climate
Climate-data.org
