Back Online

The webcam was offline for a few minutes, or maybe an hour, this afternoon. I noticed the situation when I returned home, and got the picture back in a few minutes.

My guess is that we had a temporary interruption in Internet service here. There's been rain, lightning, and thunder since roughly 2:30 local time.

Changing Seasons

The forecast says it'll be a degree or two below freezing tonight, so I took the hummingbird feeder in. I'm quite confident that the hummers have long since headed south: leaving central Minnesota and the rest of the north.

Next, I should start thinking about what to set out during winter.

I took some photos yesterday afternoon, from 'webcam' window. The folks across the street from us lost a branch that's maybe three or four inches in diameter.


Mid-afternoon on South 9th. October 26, 2010.


A closer look at that downed branch. October 26, 2010.


About 4:20 in the afternoon: brisk weather for a walk. October 26, 2010.

Well, That's Odd: Webcam is Back Online

This webcam was offline for - several hours, most likely - today.

It's back, though: showing the end of a gray October day here in central Minnesota.

Hummingbird Feeder & a Tornado Warning

I washed and refilled the hummingbird feeder about 40 minutes ago. The hummers had nearly drained it.

And, I see there's a tornado warning for areas just to our north. That would explain the clouds.

Tornado Warning

About 3:00 p.m. CDT the sirens went off and the family and I went to the basement.

That may be when we lost the webcam: which is back online now.

Apart from a whole lot of rain and wind, nothing much happened in our part of Sauk Centre's south side. For which I'm thankful. I hope everybody else is okay.

Blizzard Coming: Maybe

There may be something to watch tonight. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the part of the country.

More:

• "Well, That's Interesting: Blizzard Warning"
  Sauk Centre Journal Blog (January 25, 2010)

Christmas 2009 Midwest Storm, Christmas Day

The plows have come by, again, since last night: and I'm pretty sure they'll be by again before this weather passes.

What You're Looking At

This webcam looks out a window on the north side of a house in Sauk Centre, Minnesota. This town is almost exactly in the center of Minnesota, so when you hear "central Minnesota" - it doesn't get much more "central" than this.

For those who know Sauk Centre, or live here: The house is on the corner of South Ash Street and 9th, about a block west of the high school parking lot.

The camera is looking northwest, more or less.

This is one of the busier corners in residential Sauk Centre. Obviously, it's no Los Angeles freeway: and I don't mind that a bit. South Ash street is one of two north-south arterial streets in this town, and South 9th - when it isn't used by a horde of highschoolers driving away from school - connects to State Street, which connects to County Road 186: so anyone driving into town from the southeast and headed for downtown is likely to drive by here.

Where's the Howling Wind? The Driving Snow?

For starters, this webcam doesn't have sound. Not yet, anyway. I could set things up so you hear what's happening inside the window: but I don't think either of us really wants that. I do most of my work here, so there's a lot of keys clicking and the occasional rustle of paper. That, and my occasional muttering to myself.

At this moment, there's light snowfall. You'll see the occasional flake caught near the window, in silhouette. And not all that much wind. Driving around it town is pretty easy, thanks to the plow crew. One of the plows went by as I wrote this post.

In open country, between towns, I'd just as soon not try to drive. Unless I was on a snowmobile, or some other cross-country vehicle that's designed for these conditions.

As the National Weather Service puts it:

"A winter storm warning for heavy snow means severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring. Significant amounts of snow are forecast that will make travel dangerous. Only travel in an emergency. If you must travel...Keep an extra flashlight...Food...And water in your vehicle in case of an emergency."
(Winter Storm Warning / Stearns (Minnesota), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service (Last update: 12.25.09 - Fri - 01:26:13 PM (EST)))

I'm inclined to take reasonable precautions in weather like this. As I wrote in another blog:

"...Storms like this are potentially lethal. I won't soon forget the time a father and daughter thought they'd drive on the road running across the south side of Fargo's airport. I saw the meat wagon go out for their bodies, when that storm had passed...."
("Christmas Blizzard/Winter Storm Coming" Sauk Centre Journal Blog(December 22, 2009))

As it turned out, this is more of a winter storm than a blizzard here - not enough wind.

That's Funny: It Doesn't Look Like a Storm

Like I said, here in town it's fairly nice weather - for central Minnesota in late December.

This webcam's at least a sixth of a mile to the edge of Sauk Centre's urban forest. Those trees make a big difference.

Out in the country, it'd look a bit different. I grew up in the Red River Valley of the North before it got built up, so the farmland around here looks crowded to me. But it's not all that hard to find a stretch of road that's a quarter-mile or more from the nearest tree, and when snow is falling and wind is moving around a few inches of snow that's fallen: sometimes you won't be able to see where the road is. And it won't matter, because your car is stuck in the snow.

The Lovely Snowy Landscape of Wintertime Minnesota

With a little common sense and forethought, though, you can enjoy the Currier-and-Ives winter scene. And watch other people getting their sidewalks cleared.

Christmas Eve 2009 With Snow: and Freezing Drizzle on the Way?!

Looks like last night's forecast was accurate. There's several inches of snow on my oldest daughter's car, parked out back. That'll be a job to shovel out, when this storm passes.

Right now, the forecast on Wunderground.com for this area is:

"Snow and patchy light freezing drizzle in the morning... then snow in the afternoon. Snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches. No ice accumulation...."

Well, "no ice accumulation" is nice. I could do without the light freezing drizzle. The plows spread sand on the streets, near intersections: but icy sand is still icy.

Christmas Eve Storm 2009

We're just about guaranteed a "white Christmas" this year. There's a winter storm on its way - the leading edge is here, it looks like.

The forecast says there'll be two to five more inches on the ground by morning.

Winter Storm Coming: Christmas, 2009, With Map

The forecasts are changing a bit, but the gist is still the same: quite a lot of snow and a fair amount of wind is coming, starting sometime tonight or early tomorrow morning.

I'm sincerely glad I don't have to travel.

I took a look at national weather: and this is not a small storm. And, I'm glad to live in central Minnesota. Central and Southern Illinois are in for flooding, it seems.

U.S. Severe Weather Map

(from Wunderground.com, used w/o permission)
Image from 2:10 p.m. Central (December 23, 2009)

Looks like we may have two to five more inches on the ground by tomorrow morning.

Or, not. Minnesota weather isn't particularly monotonous or predictable.

Winter Storm Coming: Christmas, 2009

This should be interesting:

• "Christmas Blizzard/Winter Storm Coming"
  Sauk Centre Journal Blog (December 22, 2009)

I'm hoping the storm - due to hit here very late Wednesday or Thursday morning - doesn't interfere with power or the local Internet connection.

First Serious Snowfall of the Season

I've been tracking this thing, and most of the snow went well to the south and east of us. Can't say I'm disappointed. We've finally got snow covering most of the yards, without the inconvenience of drifts.

The plows have been by already, and most folks have their sidewalks shoveled. Which reminds me: I need to see what ours are like.

Webcam's Back! - After an Overnight Delay

Sorry about that! The last reliable log data I've got for this webcam is from about 13 hours ago. (About 10:30 last night, Central time.)

Somewhere along the line, the software I use to keep the video going became unstable - in the 'opinion' of the operating system - and got shut down. I've re-started my computer, and seem to have everything running again, but still don't know what went wrong, or when it happened.

But, most importantly - the video feed is back.

So you can watch yet another day of rain in small town America.

This is Cold: Even for Minnesota

It's about 29 below zero, Fahrenheit, outside. And, four in the morning.

Normally, I'm not up this late, but there was a project milestone that had to be reached.

My household got an automated call from the school system, letting us know that school was canceled tomorrow: along with evening activities. Smart move, I'd say.

Now, I gotta get some sleep.

Behind the Camera: This Will be a Chilly Week

Our furnace quit, night before last.

There's a remote chance that a replacement part will come tomorrow: but it's more likely that it'll arrive Friday. Or maybe next week. As I posted in another blog last night, "I'm Sick, the Furnace is Kaput, There's a Storm Coming: but Other Than That, Things are Fine!." (Through One Dad's Eye (December 29, 2008))

This shouldn't affect the webcam: we've gone the night without popping a circuit breaker, so it looks like my wife's planning with the electric heaters was efficient as ever.

This Winter's First Storm

I've heard that parts of Minnesota got something like eight inches of snow this weekend, but around here it was more like three to five inches.

This morning Interstate 94 was shut down between Jamestown, North Dakota, and Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Later, I understand, the stretch from Fergus to Alexandria was closed, too.

Here in Sauk Centre, it's anyone's guess what the school will decide to do.

White Christmas, Here We Come!

Snow over the last few days gave this part of Minnesota a traditional, seasonal, look.

It also made driving treacherous in spots, but that's par for the course around here.

I've found myself singing "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" off and on. You can see why.

Lightning: Not Good for Computers

This webcam had to be down part of this afternoon, and again this evening, starting at 7:00 Central time. We've had thunderstorms coming through.

There's a flash flood watch for central Minnesota: small potatoes, compared to the tornado watches running from southwest Minnesota to central Oklahoma.

The problem for me is, lightning can cause variations in the household power supply: and that isn't at all good for computers.

I'll have the main computer up and running, when the weather settles down a bit more.