Spring: Finally!

Sunday, April 28, 2013. I've decided that it's finally spring. We've waited until nearly the end of April, but temperatures finally got up to almost 'room temperature' outside. Close enough for me to wear flip-flops for the first time this year, anyway.

There's been a fairly steady progression this week, some of which I caught on-camera.


Tuesday: a little more snow, but not quite enough to cover the grass. Not everywhere, anyway. April 23, 2013.


Wednesday: the street sweeper comes by again, stirring up dust; and picking up a winter's accumulation of sand. April 24, 2013.


Sunday: Most of the snow is gone. There's a bit left below this picture, near the north side of the house.. April 28, 2013.


Friday: this winter's snow from the Wal Mart parking lot. April 25, 2013.


Friday: A closer look at the same pile. April 25, 2013.


Friday: Coborn's parking lot, pretty much the same thing. April 25, 2013.


Friday: From here, the Wal Mart piles don't look quite so big. April 25, 2013.


Sunday: Even less snow. April 28, 2013.

Saturday was reasonably springlike, too. I spent part of the afternoon in Coborn's, near one of the entrances, helping with an  annual fundraiser where we ask folks to help support Camphill Village, Special Olympics, and some other programs for folks who have intellectual disabilities.

I think I heard thunder a few minutes ago, around 9:30 p.m. Or maybe a truck went by. Either way, it's a welcome change of pace from the winter storm warnings we've had this month.

More Snow in Tomorrow's Forecast

Sunday, April 21, 2013. I was out of town most of this week. While I was gone, we had another winter storm with the usual trimmings: schools closed, travel not advised, and so forth. When I drove down South Ash Friday evening, someone had set a big Santa decoration in their front yard. By the time I got back with a camera, Saturday morning, the Santa was gone.

I did, however, get a few photos of springtime, Minnesota style.


A lovely spring day: bright sunlight, nearly-clear sky, about a foot of snow on the ground. April 20, 2013, 6:45 p.m.


A snow family: with plenty of snow left over. April 21, 2013, 6:45 p.m.


Brown's Park in south Sauk Centre. April 21, 2013, 6:45 p.m.

A weather forecast says there's a chance of more snow tomorrow, then maybe rain on Thursday. It might get above 60° Fahrenheit on Saturday. Then again, maybe not.

Another Day, Another Winter Storm

Sunday, April 14, 2013. Another day, another winter storm. It feels like that, anyway. Today's Winter Weather Advisory expires at 1:00 a.m. - by which time we're expected to have one to three inches of snow on top of what fell in Thursday's storm. (Sauk Centre Journal Blog, April 11, 2013)


The view through my webcam this evening. April 14, 2013, 6:45 p.m.

Sauk Centre schools didn't open on Thursday. A little closer to home for my household, Soo Bahk Do classes were canceled Thursday and this evening.

I'm sincerely glad I don't have to travel tonight. Temperatures are right at freezing, so the "light snow" that's falling has a good chance of melting on pavement: then refreezing to a high gloss.

I'm told that folks in some other parts of the country don't talk about weather as much as we do here. That's understandable. I've lived elsewhere: where the weather was boring, by my standards.

No School Today, Travel Advisories, and All That

The storm didn't look too bad in town, but I'm told we had whiteout conditions in the country. That would explain the early-morning automated phone call, telling us that school was cancelled today. A prudent decision, I think.

I see that folks south and west of us, in and around Worthington, lost power during the storm. That's more than an inconvenience. Folks employed at factories won't have work until power is restored: which could take a day or two. There's the matter of keeping homes warm, too. It's not particularly cold, around freezing, but most heating systems need electricity.

Travel in Benton County, about an hour east, isn't advised. The Sheriff's Office there probably doesn't want to be recovering bodies later on, and I don't blame them.

My wife and #3 daughter stayed home this morning, instead of going to their usual out-of-town destination: again, a prudent decision in my opinion. Some folks may not have had much choice, and had to get somewhere today: or decided that whatever they had planned was worth the risk. The good news is that, as far as I've heard, nobody got killed.

An accident closed Highway 23 near St. Cloud, I-94 westbound near Munich was closed by another crash, two semitrailers hit each other on I-94 near Alexandria: but aside from power outages, travel advisories, and accidents, it's been a fairly uneventful storm.

In the news:

• "Minnesota News Briefs: Winter storm knocks out power in western Minnesota"
  Pierce County Herald (April 11, 2013, 3:09 p.m.)
• "Winter storm causing crashes in Douglas County"
  Al Edenloff, Echo Press, Alexandria (April 11, 2013, 12:10 p.m.)

Opportunity or Bad News Downtown

Sunday, April 7, 2013. The west side of Main Street ("The Original Main Street," as the signs say), between Sinclair Lewis Avenue and 4th Street South, is either opportunity or bad news. It depends on how you decide to think about two empty storefronts.

I've mentioned Serenity Studios before. They opened in late 2010, where Winter's Drug had been. I had hoped that an art studio could make it here: maybe another time.

Legend Insurance, on the northwest side of Main and 4th Street South, isn't in their old location: which is all I know about them.

I haven't been motivated to do much recently, apart from blowing my nose at intervals, and trying to not make my left wrist and fingers hurt. More about that my Through One Dad's Eye blog:

• "New-to-Me Keyboard"
  Through One Dad's Eye (April 4, 2013)
• "Easter Morning"
  Through One Dad's Eye (March 31, 2013)
• "Stearns County Fair This Week, Serenity Studio, Main Street Theatre"
  (July 26, 2010)
• "Sinclair Lewis Days Parade Rained Out; and Serenity Studio"
  (July 18, 2010)