Cold Fronts on the Move... Chanukah Begins. Wondering on What the Winter of 2017 - 2018 Will Be Like. My Guess... Stormy !!

There's snow up in the mountains.

Down this way it's bone cold and getting colder.

We haven't even made it to the Winter Solstice and many are getting tired of winter. Remember those years when no one was buying boots or coats and Chicago was complaining there was no snow? That's not happening this year Virginia and Virginia currently is getting more than North Carolina. Well, there is a boundary line between the two and every day that passes that line dips further and further South.  Everyone around these parts are discussing the recent Southern Snowstorm (don't tell us it's snowed up north in New England it is supposed to snow in New England... ) and trying to make some sense of the early winter records.

Wes is a good meteorologist.

He's my local weather expert.

As of December 11th every state has seen snow thanks to the snow crossing the Florida border last week. It makes me wonder if the historic, never ending hurricane season has sailed straight into the never ending winter of 2017-2018. The last time we had this set up was the winter of 1886-1887 and other than that being the year my family put down roots in Key West it was both a cold winter and a busy hurricane season. Another good Raleigh weather person has been pondering this statistic. 

The 1886 Hurricane Season below.

Looks similar to 2017

1886 was before the satellite era.

2017 is shown below.

Yet those early ship captains kept great logs.

Unless of course their ship sunk in the storm.

I digress. It's cold. It's grey.

It looks like winter.

Well we are on the road to winter!

I watched the sunrise this morning.

Love how it looks just before sunrise.

My house smells of fried potato latkes and if you have ever spent several hours frying french fries in your home well ....that's how my house smells and may smell for days. Spoiler Alert: Latkes are pancakes so basically I made potato pancakes. I'll make Southern Fried Chicken for dinner Friday Night ... cause that's how we roll on Chanukah in my family. Oddly, this year the start of Chanukah seems to be ushered in by an extremely cold, bitters wind as winter reminds people in North Carolina it is here early and may not go away so soon.

In Miami people have pink flamingos on their lawns with colored lights strung through palm trees. North Carolina is different and being a capital city we tend to be boring or as some say "provincial" which basically means "boring" yet color seeps in with red bows and silver stars hanging from trees. It's not Miami and that's okay, because no place is the same and no two people are the same. And, as for winters .... no two winters are the same. There are always similarities and being human we try and compare and contrast and get some sense of control over weather events from hurricanes to blizzards.

We can't even predict the next new trend in kid's toys so how do we really expect to know what this winter will be like other than running models and trying to find woolly bear caterpillars. Spinners are out... Squishies are in.  ;) So don't be stuffing any stocking with caterpillars or spinners kids want squishy toys now. Hard to figure out why but they are kind of find, some smell and they aren't that expensive.  That's not a Little Tikes toy it's basically a cake scented hard sponge! You heard it here first! Presents are already in the mail....

As for me I'm going out tonight somewhere. Going to bundle up and drink something warm! And later when I get home we are going to light the first candle and feel the warm glow of Chanukah. 8 nights of lighting candles and 8 nights of remembering childhood memories and tasting treats from jelly filled doughnuts to potato latkes and maybe an egg roll thrown in their too! It's all about frying foods and remembering the oil that lasted for 8 days. You can Google it if you want! 

http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/605036/jewish/Chanukah-FAQs.htm

Besos BobbiStorm

@bobbistorm on Twitter

Ps.. one of my favorite videos as I remember when my son was looking for little tea lights, lots of them to make a video. :)