Monday, January 7, 2008

Power-less

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND JUNCTION CO
1025 AM MST MON JAN 7 2008

...ONE MORE ROUND OF HEAVY SNOW FOR SOUTHWEST COLORADO AND HEAVY
SNOW EXPECTED FOR EXTREME SOUTHEAST COLORADO...

.HEAVY SNOW WILL INCREASE FROM EXTREME SOUTHEAST UTAH INTO
SOUTHWEST COLORADO. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON
BEFORE TAPERING OFF IN THE EVENING. VALLEY AREAS OF EXTREME
SOUTHEAST UTAH AND SOUTHWEST COLORADO WILL RECEIVE ANOTHER 4 TO 8
INCHES TODAY AND THIS EVENING. NEW SNOW IN THE SAN JUAN FOOTHILLS
COULD PICK UP ANOTHER 8 TO 12 INCHES.


We've already had a foot and a half of snow at my house (less than half the accumulation at Purgatory, in case you're interested in skiing when the passes open). It's wet and heavy, and the beetle-damaged trees aren't taking it very well. I haven't had electricity since Saturday evening (which means, most importantly, no water - though it also means no internet). I would like to blog more about it, but it's the first day of classes, and I need to teach a topo maps lab (to the students who made it to town), and then go home and hibernate some more.

I hope Ron is doing all right with his southwestern photography expedition. If you read this, Ron: this is not a good time to take photos of rocks around Durango. :D

6 comments:

Ron Schott said...

Actually I'm reading it from my office in Kansas. I decided to postpone the photography trip in light of the weather. I think that might have turned out to be a wise decision.

Good luck weathering it, Kim!

saxifraga said...

wow, happy hibernating. Hope the weather changes for the better soon and you have your electricity back. I don't know what I'd do if we didn't have electricity for several days as it is our sole source of heating.

Elli said...

i was just about to break into a chorus of "its a small world"--i taught at western kentucky the year following ron's stay. and i used his syllabus for physical geology. thanks ron!

oh, and kim, its 56 here in new york... i think the snow would have been better :)

Ron Schott said...

My pleasure, Elli. What are you up to these days?

So did the snow disrupt the beginning of the spring semester, Kim?

Kim said...

Thanks, everyone. We passed the guys working on the power line on the way home last night, and when we got to the house, the lights were on.

As for the beginning of the semester - well, only about half of my intro lab was here on Monday. There were avalanches over the passes from the north and east - the students coming from Denver had to drive down almost to Albuquerque and then north. They're arriving now, though.

And I had to ditch the part of the topo map lab that involved looking across the valley - we couldn't see across the valley!

Elli said...

ron, i'm actually teaching at vassar these days. its only a one year, so i'm looking for something more permanent.

i can't see mountains from any of my windows... at any time!