Early morning snow

03/05/12, 8 am, looking up

We woke to a pretty fall of big, fat snowflakes pouring down through the trees.  Although the snow clung to the grass and cars, it melted on paved areas. It was lovely but not inconvenient.


With about two inches of accumulation, the snow stopped falling by noon and melted by late afternoon. The transition from winter to spring continues.

Giant cumulus

02/05/12, 2:15 pm, looking north

The cold front has arrived overnight on Saturday with rain, wind and lots of clouds. On Sunday, February 5th, the day began with solid cloud cover. The clouds broke up in early afternoon and giant cumulus clouds moved in from the north. They rose from below the horizon to halfway to the sky with dark shadows at their base.


Windy conditions made the sky changeable all day with many dramatic cloudscapes. The temperature rose to the low 40's F and then dropped to 25 overnight. Winter weather, finally!

Last day of the frigid front

Today's low was 17 degrees F according to Weather Underground, but the thermometer on the back porch read 12 when the dogs went out (briefly) at 5:15 am. The temperature will only go up for the rest of the day. Winter is here for the moment but the warmer temperatures of fall/spring are forecast for the rest of the week. 


A warm front moving into Central Virginia and displacing a cold front causes interesting cloud formations. This one was in the south just before 5 pm, a few minutes before sunset. Lots of layers here including cirrus, altostratus and altocumulus. Looks like a muddy gray curtain closing over the sky.

The cold front is here

And, with cold fronts comes rain--in this case we had almost three-quarters of an inch on November 29th. The sky was cloudy all morning with frequent heavy rain. By noon, there were breaks in the cloud cover and blue sky was visible. By 2 pm, when this was painted, the gaps of blue were wider and more frequent. The long cumulus clouds were lined up in rows with a good breeze blowing them northeast. With temperatures going down to 38 F tonight, it's beginning to feel like winter.