Weather is rotten, but so far not nearly as rotten here as elsewhere in SD. We were awakened about 4 AM last night when it sounded like house was being blasted with heavy pouring rain. But when I looked out, we were getting sleet and that was a lot like getting pelted with small marbles. Maybe an inch of that accumulated and then a few hours of something approaching clearing. Not too long ago, snow started falling in a 20mph wind. Temperature still around 34F, but chill factor more like 20F. So far roads are warm enough that snow and sleet has melted off.
On a totally different tack, I put a Patsy Cline CD into the car player. Unlike the slurred, mumbling that seems a current fashion every word of her mostly sad songs is easily understood. Classics like "Crazy", "San Antonio Rose", "Back in Babies Arms Again" and a few I have never heard before all remind me of what a loss that plane crash that killed her and others really was.
Hope the weather is better for you that that here, and I hope we all get back to something a bit warmer and drier. And I hope TV weather forecasters get over their apparent glee about relating blizzard forecasts and weather compared to one more gray drizzly day with moderate wind and temperature.
***Stay tuned for more of fhis less than profound Information---- Doug Wiken
On the first day time went back to standard time, we woke up to a wet frozen snow that stuck to windshields, doors and the rest of the car. Started it up until the defrosters started working and that layer could be slid off. That was enough "winter" before official winter arrived, but this morning we saw two more inches of snow, but this time it was fluffy and swept off relatively easily.
Streets and highways were another thing in the early morning however. County and State had spread some sand and salt but that left a few inches of slush. Every time we met a vehicle, we had to run the windshield washer to see ahead. Then on the road were idiots driving with lights off and only a little hole of snow off the windshield. None of the snow brushed off. They were like camouflaged snow drifts blending into all the other whiteness. Anyway, by this afternoon the county had the slush of the highway north of Winner. So traffic was back to "normal". I was driving right at speed limit or a bit more or less when I was passed like I was standing still. Anyway, below is a photo of snow on cars this morning.
This snow brushed more or less right off with no difficulty. The frozen stuff the day before was a whole 'nother can of worms however.
***Stay tuned for hopefully cheerier news...not too likely with Trump still in White House--- Doug Wiken
I had no luck getting a photo of the eclipse in Winner, SD. The weather was dark enough here because of black storm clouds that some people thought the eclipse had happened at 10 AM. I guess it was closer to noon, but because of clouds I never saw it let alone photographed it.
Today, I talked to Jeremy Clay at Winner Farmers Union Insurance office. He gave me a copy of the photo his son Jacob Clay took yesterday with a cellphone. I think it was taken near Colome which was apparently not quite as clouded up as was Winner. In any case, below is a somewhat cropped copy of his image.
I have the Welding glass for a helmet in the right combination for my camera, but nothing could I find that would be relevant to the Solar Eclipse. I guess the Winner Advocate may be here this afternoon. Maybe somebody else got a photo. Some days in the area, the difference between a good photo and a mediocre or uninteresting photo is just a matter of minutes as the light changes. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this view of a little history in the Winner area even if I did not take the photo.
*** Stay tuned, maybe I will have better luck with a camera in the future. In the meantime, Thanks to Jacob Clay---- Doug Wiken
Temperatures in the area have been mostly dreadful. Something like 104F for high yesterday and it stayed hot until temp finally dropped down to 75F this morning. Did not take long for the bright, burning sun to again push temperature up to around 104F today and there was some humidity which was good for crops, but made the heat more miserable.
A little good news this evening, Wall of clouds filled the northern sky and we got a bit of rain. Just enough to leave puddles on asphalt and settle the dust. But, the tiny shower came with a temperature drop down to 71F or 81F depending on which report or thermometer. Breeze actually felt cool which was markedly different than winds this morning and yesterday which felt as if they were coming out of an open furnace.
Looks like some of the corn around here unrolled with the drizzle and temperature drop.
*** Stay tuned even if it is really to hot to waste time on the internet--- Doug Wiken
The Winner, SD weather and for that matter most SD weather this spring has been a bit strange going from near unseasonable lows to near record highs. The recent 90F plus degrees caused flowers of all kinds to burst into blossom. Below is a my wife's old peony plant.
Another with nearly all white blossoms had about a dozen blossoms, but the pink above seemed a bit more interesting.
** Stay tuned for less flowery posts ---- Doug Wiken
Too many times in the past years, the first blossoms of spring have ended up barely sticking out of snow or frosted with ice. Same seems to have been true for Pamida..now Shopko..getting in a bunch of cold-sensitive plants. I am hoping that the tulips in the photo below are true harbingers of nice spring weather and not omens of wet cold blizzard.
Very nice day in Winner, SD today. Not much wind and 66F degrees or so. Reliance weather radio is predicting rain and possible thunderstorms coming soon however. In any case, grass is growing and will soon have to be mowed.
It is a Sunday and sabbath gas bags are in full wind mode of course. Mostly what I am hearing is dispair over Trump and Trump Administration demonstrating dangerous ignorance and bravado in foreign affairs and promotion of truly idiotic economic policy which if enacted will greatly harm the very people who most strongly supported Trump in the last election. But, nothing much new in that. Some awareness from Democrats that they truly fowled up the last election....which has been obvious to many of us in the boondocks for months. Those on the coasts and flying the friendly skies have been a bit slower or more reluctant in that direction.
*** Stay tuned for whichever way the wind blows and how fast and how hot or cold---- Doug Wiken
This morning visibility was not good. Fog blanketed the area and apparently it was over enough of SD that transportation was interrupted. Some specialists did not make it into local hospital today. For some of the patients wuo made it to town, the video system apparently worked. I don't know any details at all about that, but weather was a factor for sure.
This evening, the setting sun is fiery red and haze is evident even if Wiley Field weather shows clear skies.
Meanwhile in the "news", The HARPERS magazine that came today has a couple pages of type analyzing if Trump is really a populist. The writer concludes that he is not even if he appeared to campaign as one. That what we really have with the Trump administration is plutocracy. Those who thought they were "forgotten" when they voted for Trump should already know that this Trump administration could care less about them and has not only failed to remember them, but also has forgotten everybody who isn't already obscenely rich and influential.
If we and the forgotten don't get a strong message to our congress critters, healthcare is threatened, education is threatened, world peace is threatened, and the economy will go bust, etc.
John Dean of the Nixon administration and Watergate testimony days, was on Charlie Rose a night or two ago. He said that Nixon and Trump share arrogance. Trump and Nixon differed in presenting it. Nixon was basically shy. Trump is not. Nixon did not make his arrogance grossly public, but it was apparent to his co-workers. Nixon was well informed and experienced. Trump flaunts his arrogance and ignorance. Dean and others have noted that Nixon could look you in the eye and lie and lie. Trump has been described by lawyers getting depositions from him as a liar..and a thief, a bully, and a crook. His business dealings reek of arrogance, deceptioon and dishonesty. Dean noted that Nixon's tendency to lie and not even regard it as a problem seems to be shared with Trump. Nixon's arrogance and too skillful lying got him and the country into serious trouble. Dean hopes that Trump will get his act cleaned up or the United States is in for another mess of trouble. And if we don't see Trump's income tax records, we will not know who he is actually representing. Congress is very remiss in not demanding those records immediately considering what appears to be a Russian connection to his election and administration members.
Trump is disgusting, but even more disgusting are the GOP) congress critters and voters who would criticize Obama and Clinton if they stepped on a sidewalk crack but are blindly supporting the Trump Administration as it stumbles from one lie and deception to another often with both BS-smeared feet in their mouths.. Their hypocrisy and willing blindness and deafness to problems, lies, and deception is even more disturbing in many ways than is Trump himself. By now they should know what he is and why he and his policies can be very dangerous both to the country and to the very Republicans supporting him as well.
*** Stay tuned for more "weather reports" on smoke and mirrors-- Doug Wiken
By noon today, most of yesterday snow on the flat ground with grass and stems sticking out of it had already disappeared. At 4PM, the buttes northwest of Winner, SD. were still bright white with snow. I went to get my camera to take a photo, but the battery went dead. I tried the other battery which I had forgotten to charge. It was dead. Well, I had other things to do. Let the battery charge for an hour or so.
Well, all that bright white on the buttes disappeared late this afternoon. No good photos. I guess temperatures got up to around 70 degrees and it is still warm enough for just a shirt and no jacket. Even if South Dakota may not be a real land of infinite variety, we do have some often rapidly changing weather. We have the benefits of forecasts which are mostly close to what happens, but it is easy to undrstand how pioneers walking or riding these plains on horse or in a wagon could easily get far enough away in good weather to be suddenly caught in blizzards too far away from home to stay warm and many often died as a result. Happened to truckers too even in the 1950's when forecasts did not have satellite observations and radar and were often not much better than a good guess on these open plains far from stabalizing temperatures of the oceans.
And if the weather isn't quite enough, we have the hot air blowing from the Trump administration or off them with heated press coverage to keep things interesting. Apparently ignorance at the White House extends to being unaware that Hitler gassed tens of thousands during WWII. Perhaps the statement would have been correct even if nearly irrelevant had Spicer said Germany did not use gas on the battlefield of Europe in WWII. The White House needs to hire speech and fact checkers with solid knowledge of history and law and current events. Perhaps that would keep their BS-smeared feet out of their mouths.
The White House is not a good place for learning how to be a President when the inane President has zero government experience and the people he chooses to work for him are such ideologues that they aren't aware of the real world that surrounds them and which is not described by alternate facts.
*** Stay tuned and watch your weathermen as the stand in front of the weather maps so we can see their smiling faces for the thousandth time --- Doug Wiken
Yesterday, weather forecast from Reliance, SD weather radio was something like "light dusting of snow only collecting on grass at higher elevations". That did not sound too bad. I woke up about 4AM and could see some white on grass and street, but street lights reflecting can play visual tricks.
This morning, outdoors in daylight looked more like a spring blizzard than a light dusting. My wife made it to to work with the 4-wheel drive Explorer, but said driving was nasty, streets slippery, and snow coming down fast enough the vehicle wipers were not doing very well with it. I am not sure how many inches of snow, but I would guess something between 2 and 4 inches by now. (Note-- After snowing died down came the shoveling. I think it was more like 4 to 6 inches and was wet and heavy. More like shoveling dirt than snow. By this evening most of snow on streets and roads had melted) Local airport weather indicates wind about 22mph wind from NW gusting to 30. Precipitation totals including rain yesterday and snow overnight total almost exactly one inch. Weather at Wiley Field, Winner, SD. Image gives an idea of blowing snow and limitation on visibility.
Temperature seems to have gotten back up to 32. Maybe the sun can do a number on this latest snow.
***Stay tuned and check the weather before driving anyplace in SD today..conditions vary wildly--- Doug Wiken
SDPB is having another photo contest. Photos had to be taken the week of February 13 to 20 and can still be submitted. Contest was supposed to be a winter photo, but by the time February 13 rolled around almost all SD snow had melted. I just submitted four photos to the contest. Here is the link SDPB Photo Contest 2017.
Note of Mar 3, 2017: The photo albums for the February 2017 contest have been posted There are albums for three categories. Link to the Amateur Photo Album 2017. Lots of good photos.
Below is a photo I did not submit. I figured cat photos would be worth something less than a dime a dozen. The cat is a pet of our daughter and son-in-law. He is a veterinarian, so the cat with the extra toe was named "Polly" since the label for cats with extra toes is "polydactyl" . The cat is wary. For the first day or two around it, it watches you from a safe distance. Once it decides you are not a threat, it will be in your lap in no time. It even sat still for long enough to get a half decent photo which is not the usual situation with cats and cameras.
Weather is still mostly nice in Winner, SD. But, wind has started blowing and gusting from NW. Unseasonably high temperatures have caused almost all snow to have disappeared and some frost is out of ground so field driveways can be muddy messes. Hope you enjoy the 10 millionth internet cat picture anyway. You can view an album of hobbyist photos for 2016.
***Stay tuned for a story on HD Radio and antenna...maybe.----Doug Wiken
Residents of South Dakota. Check your broadband speed with the SD Speedtest. Your test will both let you know how speedy is your ISP and also help get us better service in South Dakota.
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