Snow, snow, and more snow.

Well, winter has arrived early in northern Michigan. We had what our hydromet prediction center (HPC) an anomalously low 500 mb heights of the 4th to 5th standard deviation. What this meant was there was a big area of low pressure in the upper atmosphere. This usually translates into lots of cold air moving into the region. This air was cold as snow has been falling over the interior of the northern lower Michigan. At the new house in Boyne Falls, we are about 300 feet lower in elevation so the we haven't received as much snow, but in Gaylord (elevation around 1300 feet) there has been about 5 or 6 inches in the last 24 hours. In fact, there were a few places that received 10 to 11 inches in the last 24 hours.

I'll see if I can't get some pictures uploaded.

This makes a big challenge to drive around here. This is a heavy, wet snow that makes the road pretty greasy. I had trouble going up hills and one time on the way into work, spun and ended up perpendicular to the road. Luckily, no one was around on M-32 so I quickly got the van moving the right way. I would normally drive the truck, but the 4 wheel drive isn't working at the moment, and I didn't want to drive a rear wheel drive on a light back end of the truck.

Otherwise, we have had Kaleb and Karlie at the house for the last week. This has been fun, and has taken a bit of getting used to. Mary and I have to make sure that rides to and from school are in place. Kaleb usually can get a ride from his girlfriend, who is 16 and has her license. She usually stops by and picks him up or drops him off after school. Karlie, however, needs a ride more often from us. Karlie goes to Concord Academy (Boyne) and Kaleb to Boyne City Public. Because of Mary's new job (well new as of July), she has the flexibility to go into work later and come home earlier, not to mention she can sometimes work from home. With my rotating shifts, I can help out depending on my schedule. So we are getting used to having meet our new responsibilities, however, to me, they are good responsibilities to have.