Wednesday, 7:45 am: And I thought yesterday was cold. At the moment it is –27° (F.). Fortunately there is no wind. Luckily I remembered to plug in our car’s block heater last night.

Even though we’ve had several days of arctic-like weather, overall this winter has been relatively mild. Since January 14, 2007 we have had no day over freezing (32° F.). On January 7 our high temperature was –7.3° (F.). I’m curious what today’s “high” temperature is will be. I’ll keep my readers posted.

Our drive, yesterday, to Presque Isle was uneventful. On the way my wife and myself managed to solve the world’s problems, end hunger and resolve strife. Boy are we some bright folks. Yeah right! Unfortunately even between the two of us we can’t agree on many things. Is her, well-thought out, way the best, or is my off the cuff way the best? I’d make a poor politician. My wife would be much better, but you better not slouch.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: -26.7° (F.)

Barometer: 29.853 & steady

Humidity: 64%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 26.7° at 7:45 am

High wind: 1 mph at 12:54 am

Tuesday, 8:45 am: It’s Maine, it’s winter, it’s cold. And there’s no doubt about it being cold. When I got out of bed this morning it was a finger-numbing -18° (F.). It has warmed up dramatically to -10° (F.). Well maybe not dramatically.

This is one of those days when we drive to town, and we have to start our car about thirty minutes early; enough to warm up the engine and the inside. I hate it when my fingers freeze [stick] to the steering wheel. It is the reverse of when we lived in Arizona, where we would start our car early to let the air-conditioning cool it down.

Other than the cold, all is well in this part of the Saint John Valley. I got up twice last night to throw some logs into the stove. I went out a few times to see if the aurora was visible, which according to the radio, there was a viewing possibility. It didn’t materialize though, but I was up anyway. My writing skills today haven’t caught up with me and I am asleep at the wheel. My brain is on cruise control. More next time. Ciao!

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: -10° (F.)

Barometer: 29.786 & rising slowly

Humidity: 61%

Wind: NNE at 5 mph light & variable

Wind Chill -13.3° (F.)

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: -18.6 °(F.) at 6:20 am

High wind: 10 mph at 9:11 am

Low wind chill: -19° (F.) at 6:20 am

Friday, 1:55 pm: It’s the afternoon and it’s -5° (F.) and the wind chill is -17° (F.). I’ve already brought in my daily allotment of firewood, plus a little extra for this evening. Now it’s time to kick back and relax. It seems that life in the country, work is never really done, just brief respites.

I forgot to get up last night to stoke up our woodstove, and our inside temperature plummeted. When I finally did get up at 5:30 am the temperature had dropped to a chilly 48° (F.). Within a half an hour or so the temperature was back up into the 60s.

My wife has been complaining about this writer’s recent choice of foods. Ruth thinks I’m nutritionally challenged. She states, I am eating too much processed meat and bread and not eating enough vegetables. Yep, she caught me alright; I am guilty of eating too many hotdogs, hamburgers and assorted cold cut sandwiches. I plead no contest. Hmmm, and I thought I was intellectually challenged, at least today. Always onward!

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: -5° (F.)

Wind Chill: -17° (F.)

Barometer: 29.631 & steady

Humidity: 44%

Wind: NNW at 9 mph -- variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: -15.5° (F.) at 6: 25 am

Low wind chill: -24.8° (F.) at 9:15 am

High wind: 18 mph at 11:20 am

Tuesday, 12:15 pm: No more snow, but it is still very cold. After bringing in several loads of firewood I warmed up with some hot tea. Yesterday was even colder; I brought in one armload at a time and warmed up in-between loads. Now I know why tall people have a difficult time retaining body heat in extreme cold weather conditions. I think I need to be shorter and more compact.

Weather to a degree is predictable, which means conversely it is also, to some degree, unpredictable. Many times when I’ve written a weather blog and mentioned our current weather conditions, it will frequently change dramatically within a few hours. Trust me, I have eaten my words on more than one occasion. So whenever I write about the weather at our house, take it with a grain of salt. It reminds me of when George Carlin does his Hippy Dippy Weatherman routine.

Meanwhile, back at the homestead; we’ve made our reservations to fly to downtown Europe [sic] on April 22. At the airport in Zurich we pick up our rental car and blast north on the Swiss Autobahn for a short distance into Liechtenstein where we will spend the night. The next day we continue north skirting the eastern end of the Bodensee [Lake Constance] into Germany. From then on we just play it by ear, with no set itinerary until Berlin. I prefer Bavaria, but my wife is from Berlin, so we are [she is] obligated to visit family there; then back to southern Germany and the Alps. To my local weather:

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 9.8° (F.)

Barometer: 29.810 & falling slowly

Humidity: 50%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Scattered high clouds

Precipitation: None

Lows since midnight:

Low temperature: -16.8° (F.) at 7:02 am

High wind: 5 mph at 11:14 am

Low wind chill: -17° (F.) at 5:56 am

Sunday, 9:35 am: It’s January, and not surprisingly it’s cold outside. The National Weather Service continues its Wind Chill Advisory for our area and most of northern Maine. A few times yesterday and today during high wind gusts the wind chill was -39° (F.). Generally the wind chill is in the minus mid -teens to the low -30s° (F.). What you read below in my weather data is based on a ten minute wind speed average, so it is misleading when first read.

The wind blew so strong and continuously that is was almost impossible to get some solid sack time during the past two nights. Unfortunately the wind blew mainly from the northwest which is the side our bedroom is on, and even today, it continues to get pummeled by snow and wind. I had to shovel our back stairs five times yesterday, the blowing snow just kept coming down. Strangely it was and continues clear outside. The wind driven snow is what is being blown off the ground. Just bringing in firewood requires bundling up with multiple layers of clothing. Frostbite is just around the corner if I am not careful.

In Germany and large parts of western and central Europe they were also hit with high winds causing widespread damage and power outages. My wife called some of her sisters to check on them. Lucky for them they live in solid [an very ugly] Stalinesque concrete high-rise gray apartment buildings. The architectural design is my satirical name, since most of her sisters live in the former DDR. In any case they were mostly unaffected by the winds.

As in so many other days, I’ll be heading downstairs to brew some espresso, eat a slice of some creamy chocolate cake and then it’s off to hauling in firewood. Tomorrow the whole cycle repeats itself . . . life in the fast lane.

Current Values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Current temperature: -3° (F.)

Current wind chill: -18° (F.)

Barometer: 30.028 & rising rapidly

Wind: NNW at 19 mph & variable

Humidity: 56%

Visibility: ca. 3 miles

Skies: Clear with blowing snow

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: -4.1° (F.) at 6:22 am

High wind: 31 mph at 12:06 am

Low wind chill: -21° (F.) at 4:49 am (Based on a ten minute average wind speed)

Sunday 8:40 am: Brrr! It’s cold out there. So far this winter season, last night has been our coldest night with a low temperature of -12.1° (F.). Yep, that’s “M” as in minus. Even our dogs cut their outside visits very short. Luckily our home is pleasantly warm. It’s so odd to see the low dew point at -20° (F.). And it’s difficult to imagine any precipitation at that temperature, except flying chunks of ice. That’s gotta smart -- ouch. I am just kidding of course.

As I am writing, my African Gray parrot is sitting on my shoulder nagging me to scratch his head. It difficult to type with one hand, and keep a “too smart” bird content with my other hand. I need an extra set of arms. When I ignore him, he tugs on my hair or beard until I respond.

Back to my weather stuff: At least we've had seasonable weather the last few days. I was beginning to think winter passed us by. However winter isn’t over, yet, and maybe this is all we can expect, or is there more cold and snowy weather in store for us? Stay tuned folks.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: -2.4° (F.)

Barometer: 30.354 & steady

Humidity: 71%

Wind: Calm

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: High overcast, ca. 50% cloud cover

Since midnight:

Low temperature: -12.1° (F.) at 12:25 am

High wind: 2 mph at 6:46 am

Snow at the 10 inch mark

Wednesday, 1:45 pm: Still more schizophrenic weather. Two days ago we had six inches of snow, yesterday it was almost clear, and today we have about four new inches of new snow. I was out earlier using our snowblower, which hasn‘t been used much this winter. At least I know it still works, more importantly I still work. Arthritis is creeping up on me like boxer shorts with a worn out waistband.

Oddly, since sunrise the outside temperature is going down instead of up. It just dropped into the high teens. I need to unfold my long johns “again”, and bring in some more firewood. I wouldn’t be surprised if by tomorrow it will be clear and warmer, and I’ll put everything away again. It’s a coin toss, I think.

A squirrel has moved into our mud room, and of course making a mess. I need to get out our live trap and resettle the mischief-maker a few miles down the road. My version of catch and release. My bet is on the squirrel.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 18.9° (F.)

Barometer: 29.768 & rising slowly

Humidity: 86%

Wind: WNW at 4 mph light & variable

Visibility: ca. ½ mile -- snowing

Skies: 100% low cloud cover

Precipitation: ca. 4 inches snowfall

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 18.6° (F.) at 1:22 pm

High wind: 12 mph at 11:49 am

Sunday, 5:45 pm: A late blog today. Hey, I’m lazy, I guess. Today has cooled down a bit. Within the last two hours or so the temperature has finally dropped below freezing. I suspect all the melted snow is now quickly turning into ice. It has also been very windy today. The high wind gust was 27 mph.

Before sunset one of our dogs, Bobbi, was frantically barking at something across the road. It frightened her enough that she ran inside from the porch, and hid under our kitchen table. Normally she’s a fearless girl. Our other "brave" dogs watched cautiously from our stairs, safely behind our front door. Not the stuff heroic dog movies are made from.

Because the weather has been so mild I had to skip a day of bringing in firewood. We weren’t burning very much wood and what I brought in, for the most part, remained unused. I had too much wood stacked up inside. So for me it was a leisurely day of listening to my collection of eclectic music, washing the dishes, and getting a jolt from too much espresso. Actually that should be that should be reversed: I didn’t do the dishes until after the espresso. Such are my caffeine induced chores. Normally I am predisposed to laziness.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 27° (F.)

Barometer: 30.159 & rising rapidly

Humidity: 64%

Wind: NNW at 3 mph light & variable

Visibility before sunset: ca. 3 miles

Skies: Mostly clear

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 27° (F.) at 5:40 pm

High wind: 27 mph at 9:19 am

Friday, 10:25 am: Back to more totally weird weather; the seasonable weather has once again ended. Yesterday the high temperature was 44.3° (F.). Today it barely dropped to 32.1° (F.), not long enough, or not quite low enough to freeze. Melting snow is everywhere. As I write, it is raining -- in January. Can you believe it? I hope this is not an ominous portent of things to come.

I’ve been taking my digital camera along every time we go to town. Unfortunately most things scenic have yet to appear this year. Not even a moose. Unseasonable weather [rain] is difficult to photograph: Wide swaths of gray skies lacks appeal to most people, including this person.

Typing this blog has a few subtle advantages. I am listening to my small collection of James Brown songs. It’s my personal tribute to the Godfather of Soul. My favorite is Night Train. Once again this has absolutely nothing to do with weather. Somewhere deep in the woods of northern Maine a lone blogger is rocking out in front of his computer. The perils of weather blogging.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 38.4° (F.)

Barometer: 29.710 & falling slowly

Humidity: 100%

Wind: SSE at 3 mph

Visibility: < 1 mile -- raining

Skies: 100% low overcast

Precipitation: .06 inch rain

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 32.1° (F.) at 12:25 am

High wind: 12 mph at 7:23 am

New Year‘s Day, 10:50 am: We continue to have seasonable weather, which is a catchphrase for “it’s snowing“. Unlikely as it may seem, this winter has been very mild. We still have about 6½ inches of snow, as measured at our snow stake. And it’s continued to stay below freezing the last few days.

Last night 2006 passed quietly into the past in our home. My wife and I enjoyed, well at least I did, watching old detective films from the 1930s. Certainly not cutting edge cinematography, even for the 30s. I wonder what was state-of-the-art back then?

My wife is getting several telephone calls from her family in Germany wishing us all good luck for the new year. They are also updating her on the latest family gossip and news, although I am not certain which is which.

Back to our weather such as it is, or was. For 2006 our high temperature was 88.8° (F.) on July 2, our low temperature was -21.7° (F.) on March 1. Our high wind was 44 mph on January 18, and total precipitation was 37.14 inches, rain and snowmelt combined. To view a complete month by month summary of 2006 please click here.

Current values from our wireless Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 19.3° (F.)

Barometer: 30.04 & falling rapidly

Humidity: 88%

Wind: S at 6 mph -- light and variable

Visibility: < 3 miles beneath cloud base

Skies: 100% low overcast

Precipitation: ca. ½ inch mixed snow, rain & sleet

Since midnight:

Low temperature: -.3° (F.) at 12:10 am

High wind: 12 mph at 9:01 am