Winter Weather

Lubbock, like much of the mid-west of the nation, is under a winter weather watch.  The local weather report says we have dropped 55° from 74°, since 2 PM today, until almost 10:30 PM tonight.  There is a wind chill factor involved also.

There is the possibility of winter precipitation tomorrow, also.  Schools and other entities are on alert to decide if they need to alter their start times, delay or cancel activities. 

The winter weather is scheduled to continue through Monday of next week. At best, it would be nice to get some moisture. Sadly, the moisture will cause dangerous travel conditions.  We hope the wind does not cause power outages due to wires being downed. The amount of winter precipitation we expect does not appear to be enough to cause major power outages, but could cause very slick road conditions, which becomes very dangerous for motorists.

I had planned to stop at the grocery store to buy a couple of regular items tonight. As is typical for Lubbock when a winter storm is expected, the grocery store was very busy.  The milk supply was low, and people were stocking up.  I usually keep a good supply of many items so I can survive without having to go to the store. The items I wanted today were optionals, but desirables.  I could have done without, but I was not concerned about having to wait in line at the store. 

I wore a light jacket to work this morning. It was so mild, I really did not need the jacket.  When I left work tonight, I could have used a heavier jacket. One thing that helped is that I keep gloves in the pockets of just about every jacket I own, the exception being my "hoodie."  Having gloves helped with my comfort level on the way to the car from the prison tonight. The parking lot at work is wide open and subject to the winds that add to the wind chill factor.  My stop at the grocery store was not bad: the parking lot is not large, and the buildings around temper the effect of the wind.

It is that time of year.  We can expect wintry conditions from now until March.  They occur intermittently, and we are blessed with shirt sleeve weather in between. 

I like West Texas weather.  Except the dust, and destructive hail and tornadoes.