Skaneateles Lake

Jeff, Kim, Hayden and I took a trip up to Skaneateles on Saturday to enjoy the town’s annual Dickens Christmas celebration, which began the day after Thanksgiving and is held every weekend in December through Christmas. The actors portraying the Victorian aged characters made the event a great time for all who attended as they interacted with the guests. We particularly enjoyed the characters playing Jacob Marley, Charles Dickens, and Father Christmas.

If you live in the Finger Lakes region and are looking for something festive to do this, year, drive up to Skaneateles for the festivities!

Hayden with Jacob Marley

Kim with Jacob Marley

Kim with the Ghosts of Christmas Present and Future

Charles Dickens

Father Christmas

Kim, Hayden, and Jeff

Jacob Marley

The weather has certainly been exciting and we are not through! The historic Blizzard of 09 disrupted weekend plans for millions, left travellers stranded, and others delighted dumping snow all of the way up the Eastern Seaboard in a pre-Christmas storm that will be remembered for years. In Pittsburgh, we enjoyed six inches of lovely, white snow.

Christmas is coming and so is another storm. Forecast models are calling for a Northeast ice event but seasoned meteorologists have cautioned us to be slow to jump to conclusions about the temperatures. There is enough evidence to give us reasonable hope that instead of ice, we could have a lovely Christmas snowstorm.

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We have a beauty of a storm coming in time for Christmas. Check out the latest run of the GFS model.

The last two runs have the storm forming a secondary low pressure system off the coast. This should resolve the temperature issues and set up a storm that could very well be a Christmas blizzard. I would love to see a weather map of Christmas 1978. This storm really reminds of what I can remember from that Christmas.

Ice…ice…ice. Roads and bridges remain closed as ice continues to form in Pittsburgh. Although air temperatures are hovering above freezing, surface temps are much lower, wreaking havoc on area roadways. walking is equally as hazardous. The first step could be your last. I nearly wiped out when I ventured out to spread ice-melt.

Temperatures are expected to reach 30 degrees later today but return to below freezing on Tuesday. The freezing temperatures will remain past Christmas and we can expect temperatures anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees below our normal December temperatures in Western PA.

An Alberta Clipper has bwen appearing on the forecast models for next weekend and an amazing storm has shown up for the period around Christmas weekend. Here is what it looked like on this mornings run of the GFS (6z).

William and Lily came for a visit this weekend while mommy and daddy were hard at work getting ready for the big move. They did a great job posing for me after church, even though they were tired and hungry.

Tonight is Light Up Nigh in the ‘Burgh. Last year I spent it up on the West End Overlook with 18 degree temps and a fierce wind. Tonight’s forecast calls for temps in mid-forties.

I can always hope for a “white birthday”.