The first eleven days of December were all below
average, some well below average.  Since
the middle of the month we have only seen one day below average which occurred
a week ago today.   Because the first
half of the month was so much colder than the second half was warm, the month
will still finish below the long term average for temperatures. 

Current indications would suggest that we are
probably going to see more big swings in temperatures in the near future.  We seem to be headed for a brief cold snap
the next few days quickly followed by what may be a January thaw late in the
week

I recently received an
email asking why snow appears blue occasionally. White light contains all the
colors of the rainbow ranging from the shorter wavelength color of blue, to the
longer wavelength color of red. When white light passes through ice or snow the
longer wavelength colors, the reds and oranges, are absorbed leaving the shorter
wavelength colors of purple and blue to be transmitted to your eyes.

Normally,
it takes a relatively thick piece of pure ice to absorb enough red light to
leave only the blue light behind (a glacier would be a good example of this).
The reason you can see the effect in snow at fairly shallow depths is because
light is bounced around repeatedly among the snow flakes, losing a little red at
each bounce sometimes giving snow a light bluish hue.

At 12:08 AM this morning the sun‘s
direct rays were over the Tropic of Capricorn marking today as the Winter Solstice. I have always enjoyed the two solstices each year. Why you ask? It’s
all because of the sun angle.

Most people think of the winter solstice as the "shortest day of the year" and the summer solstice as the
"longest day of the year" (are they not all 24 hours?), but I think of
the solstices as the highest and lowest sun
angles of the year.

Today at solar
noon (which is never at noon locally because of our position
in the time zone) the sun
will reach its maximum height above the southern horizon at only 19 degrees. With the snow on the ground reflecting what little heat the sun
is giving us this time of year it’s no wonder our weather can get very cold around the
holidays.

When warmer and relatively moist air moves into this area during our cold season low clouds and fog usually develop. During this process, the warmer air gradually cools to its dew point, or in other words, the warmer air mixing with the colder air produces a relative humidity of 100%.

This crystal growth turns trees and any other object that is exposed to these supercooled water droplets white, giving the landscape that classic "winter wonderland" look.

After receiving a bit more than a foot of snow in the past week some of you are probably already tired of the snow.  If it makes you feel any better we are not the only ones getting snow.  Some parts of the Twin Cities have also received around one foot this week. 

So in other words, we are not the only ones with sore backs from shoveling.