Author: andrew puntch

married, dog owner, current events, politics, history, baseball, weather/climate

Weather data collection

Weather data collection

I like to track weather and climate data. Though my instruments are non-precision they help me track daily high and low temperature, rainfall, and snowfall. I write the numbers on the calendar then transfer them to a spreadsheet, in which I keep the data in tabular and graphical form. It’s a cool way to see what happens during the month, year, and over the years since I have lived in Dresden. It’s also neat to compare against climate data collected here by Environment Canada during the years 1971-2000.

Here is the graph for January through yesterday morning. The red line is the high, the roughly corresponding line is the low, green = rain and lighted blue = snow. Up and down the temperatures have gone. Despite that big dip our average low of -6 is three degrees warmer than the historic average of -9. Another big dip looms in the next few days, which should bring that average low more in line with the historic data. The green spike is a day of rain, and we have already exceeded the average snowfall by a comfortable margin.

Back to winter

Back to winter

The winter thaw has departed so it’s back to winter for the duration, the length of which remains to be determined. We have had about 12cm of snow in the last 36 hours or so and tonight’s low temperature will be around -12. Good curling for curling up on the couch with some movies. Our choices are In Her Shoes, Chasing Amy, The Human Stain, The Ides of March, and Swing Vote. Not sure which one or two will catch our interest.

Solar- and wind-powered clothes dryer

I wrote about our dryer several months ago. Despite what you may think it’s effective in mid-winter, stuff does dry well when there is sunshine and a breeze, both of which we had until a short time ago. All of this stuff Faye took off the line is hanging in front of the furnace to get the last bit of moisture (what little is left) out, and that little bit will put a bit of welcome humidity in the air.

image

Acclimated

This is a little more like it.

Snowshoeing with Stella in Saratoga Swamp a few years ago.

For laughs

For laughs

When I emailed friends in Texas about our first snowfall in Goderich, I included this photo of how such a foreign experience affected me – curled into the fetal position, thumb in mouth. My friends were amused, replying ‘Yeah right.’

They were right.

It’s not that bad now

It's not that bad

I took this photo in December 2007, my first winter in Canada after relocating from Texas. We lived in Goderich at the time, which Ontarians will recognize as being in the snow belt. And boy, did it snow that December. There was a week during which Faye and I shovelled the driveway and sidewalk daily, ant not only to have something to do. Sometimes we shovelled twice daily. THAT was quite an introduction to winter, which I so contended I wanted to live in, to experience.

Open water

Open water

Another old photo, taken when visiting friends at a cottage outside Port Albert. Two people enjoying a sunny, breezy day.

Bentley glowing brightly

A marking peculiar to the Australian Cattle Dog is the Bentley. It’s a white blaze on the forehead of many cattledogs. The name comes from Tom Bentley, an early owner and breeder, whose ‘Tom Bentley’s Dog’ had one.

ChiliDog is an ACDx, his Bentley glows as brightly as it did when I brought him home in May 2006.

image

Winter thaw 6 – outside

Weak sunshine and very little wind drew all five of us outside – if only for a short time. Achilles, Kendal, and Stella surveyed the backyard for a moment.

image