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The national weather service and the local television weather guys had been talking about it for several days: A deep freeze was on the way. A local, retired, TV meteorologist, Tom Loffman, even predicted that if there was enough moisture in that are that we could receive snow, which is a once every 10-year occurrence in the greater Sacramento, CA area. The gist of the weather forecast read something like this, as reported in the Sacramento Bee on Sunday, January 14, 2007: "A cold arctic air mass has settled over Northern California as very cold mornings continue. Temperatures have been in the upper teens and low 20s, the past couple of mornings. We will experience freezing temperatures again tonight. Expect temperatures to moderate slowly this week."
Left: Our cats know how to cope with the cold weather, as Malachi sites on top of a pile of Casey's laundry, and Adolph stretches out in front of the fireplace, on a cold evening in January. Right: Our back yard in sub-freezing temperatures. That was one way to put it. The moisture didn't appear, so we didn't experience snow, but we did experience cold temperatures, some of the coldest temperatures that I can remember since the early 1970's, when we experienced the all-time recorded low temperature of 16.0 degrees farenheit on December 9, 1972, experienced in Roseville, just outside of Sacramento, where we live. We really didn't get to experience this cold snap "up close and personal," as we were on vacation in a very chilly Laughlin, Nevada, where the temperatue dipped into the mid 20's, and the ever-present wind gusts chilled us to the bone. But our computerized Davis "Vantage PRO" weather station at home kept track of the cold temperatures, and our daughter called us to let us know that a faucet broke in the back yard, due to the freezing weather, and the fact that I'd forgotten to shut off the water in the back yard and to leave the faucets open a bit so the water could drain out. Gee, I learned way back in grade school that water expands when frozen; I guess I was too excited with the prospect of vacation to recall basic science lessons that I'd learned many years ago.
Left: Our tree didn't like the freezing cold, neither did the orange that was trying to get ready for harvest, and just about ready to pick. Ruined. Darn! Right: Sunrise, with a temperature of 23 degrees, on January 15, 2007. How cold did it get in Roseville? Here's a day-by-day log, as copied from the computer printouts generated by my weather station, with all temperatures in degrees farenheit: Friday,
January 12: High 45.7,
Low 19.9... VERY COLD for Roseville! This
temperature was recorded at 0330, which is quite unusual for
the coldest temperature of the day to be recorded in the middle
of the night, as the coldest temperature of the day is normally
recorded just before the sun rises...
Left: A wjote heron watches over frozen Keasburg Creek, in west Roseville. Right: The cattails and part of the frozen beaver pond, not far from our house, on chilly January 15, 2007. Yes, I can already hear you midwestern folks laughing about my weather observations, but please consider that the "average" January day in Roseville, Ca, not Minnesota, usually has a high in the low 50's and a low in the upper 30's, so when we receive temperaturees in the upper TEENS, it's big news around here. I've lived in California's Great Central Valley for over 50 years, and I haven't seen a temperatue drop below 20 degrees for over 30 years. Listening to the news, many folks experienced catastrophic problems with pipes bursting, which can be a very expensive experience for home owners. We only experienced a vey minor problem of a faucet breaking off in the back yard while we were on vacation, which our daughter enlisted the help of a friendly neighbor to shut off the water to the back yard. When I returned home, it took me a total of about 5 minutes, and $8.25 in parts, to fix the problem. We got off lucky. I took the photos on Tuesday, January 15, 2007 during my morning walk, when the temperature hovered betweent the 24 to 25 degree range. I love taking walks in cold temperatures as I don't sweat!
Left: Rocks, ice, and frozen leaves at the edge of Keasburg Creek, in Roseville. Right: Near the center of the photo, a duck manages to navigate away from the ice at the frozen beaver pond. I sort of find this interesting, as only six months ago, in July of 2006, we recorded a record high temperatue of 115.4 in Roseville. Is the culpret El Niņo or global warming? Who knows, but it was fun to experience record high temperatures! It would have been nice to receive some snow in Roseville, but the "deep freeze" of 2007 will be talked about for quite some time, and the banks will continue to receive revenue from all of the broken pipes...
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