Back when I was a kid one of the family traditions, we had was decorating the Christmas tree on December 18th. Ok some years it might have been a day or two before the 18th but the 18 was the day on most years. That was the day my mother’s family had handed down to her through her parents’ family. I am not sure what my dad’s tree decoration tradition was as I do not recall him saying much about it. Of course putting up the tree means that you first had to go and get a tree. So that was a trip to where trees were sold. At that time there were always many locations where one could buy a Christmas tree (a real one that is) So we would go to several tree lots and look over the tree selection trying to find the prefect tree. So, we would and look over the trees for shape and lack of bare spots. It could not be too short nor too tall. Has to have a some what straight trunk and when shook not drop too many needles. Once we picked out our tree we would take it home and as most were bundled up my dad would cut a inch or two off the bottom of the trunk and maybe a few low branches from the bottom. He would then put the tree in the tree stand and let it stand in the garage for a day or two. My mom would clear out a spot near the front window to place the tree. Then we would bring the tree in and place a white sheet on the floor (to make it look like snow?) and then we would bring out the lights and unravel them and then test them to make sure they still worked. Remember back then they were not the little lights we have now but they were big lights that got real hot. Some sets were wired so that if one light burned out the whole set would not work. Then there were the ones that would work even with some of the lights burned out. After testing and replacing the lights that needed it then the lights were placed on the tree. Then the other ornaments were placed on the tree. Some of the ornaments were from my grandmother and my mom kept very good care of them. I still have many of my mom’s old Christmas ornaments of course the tree lights are now of the newer type. The tree once place would stay up until a day or two after New Years Day.
While there were artificial trees when I was young, they were mostly of the aluminum kind and you could not put lights on them so they had a thing that changed colors that would shine on to the tree. My dad did not like that kind of tree and he let everyone know it. Of course, now I have a artificial tree that we put up. I bought a new tree last year and this one has lights with it. It has been up since just after Thanksgiving and will be up until after the New Year.
The official high on Thursday was 18 while that tied for the coldest high for any December 12th it was only the 3rd time this year (yes since January 1st ) that it has nor reached 20. For 2024 there have been only 8 days of 25 or less and just 13 days of 30 or less. No wonder last winter was one of the warmest on record.
The official H/L yesterday at Grand Rapids was 22/11 there was a trace of snowfall and at 7 AM there was 3” on the ground. For today the average H/L is 36/25 the record high of 59 was in 1975 and 2015 the coldest high of 12 was in 1914. The record low of -1 was in 1943 the warmest low of 49 was in 1973. The most rainfall of 1.32” was in 1973 the most snowfall of 5.1” was in 1907 the most on the ground was 15” in 1970.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND RAPIDS MI
304 AM EST SAT DEC 14 2024
KEY MESSAGES
- LIGHT ICING EVENT TONIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING
- MORE RAIN MONDAY
- COOLER WITH SNOW SHOWERS LATE WEEK
DISCUSSION
ISSUED AT 300 AM EST SAT DEC 14 2024
- LIGHT ICING EVENT TONIGHT/SUNDAY MORNING
SHORT RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE A COMPACT SHORT WAVE
PUSHING A SURFACE LOW ACROSS THE MISSOURI VALLEY TOWARD LOWER
MICHIGAN TONIGHT. WE MAY SEE A LITTLE SUN THIS MORNING, BUT CLOUDS
WILL INCREASE THROUGHOUT THE DAY AS THE LOW MOVES CLOSER. BUFKIT
RH PROFILES SHOW LOW LEVEL RH INCREASING SIGNIFICANTLY AROUND 00Z.
STRONG LIFT AS NOTED BY WIND BARBS PERPENDICULAR TO THE ISENTROPIC
PRESSURE SURFACES WILL SATURATE THE BOUNDARY LAYER QUICKLY BY
EARLY EVENING, LEADING TO CONDENSATION PRESSURE DEFICITS FALLING
TO LESS THAN 10 MB ACROSS THE WESTERN CWA BY 03Z. PRECIPITATION
SHOULD DEVELOP SHORTLY AFTER 00Z IN THE SOUTHWEST CWA AND
SPREADING NORTHEASTWARD THROUGHOUT THE EVENING. THE WARM AIR
ADVECTION PUSH WILL SEND SURFACE TEMPERATURES ABOVE FREEZING FROM
SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST DURING THE NIGHT. GIVEN CURRENT SURFACE
TEMPERATURES WELL BELOW FREEZING...INCLUDING ROAD
TEMPERATURES...WE'LL LIKELY SEE A 3-6 HOUR PERIOD OF FREEZING RAIN
BEFORE THE TRANSITION TO RAIN. THE EXCEPTION TO THAT COULD BE THE
NORTHEAST CWA WHERE THE COLDER AIR IS MORE ENTRENCHED. IN THAT
AREA, THE FREEZING PRECIPITATION MAY LINGER INTO SUNDAY MORNING.
COLLABORATION WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES SUGGESTED HOLDING OFF ON
HEADLINES AT THIS TIME.
- MORE RAIN MONDAY
THE NEXT SYSTEM WILL SEE A COLD FRONT MOVE ACROSS THE NORTHERN
PLAINS SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY WITH DECENT UPPER SUPPORT. ANOTHER
ROUND OF RAIN IS LIKELY LATE MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT. A STRONG
FEED OF WARMER AIR WILL PRECLUDE ANY FREEZING PRECIPITATION WITH
THIS SYSTEM. A THIRD TO TWO THIRDS OF AN INCH OF RAIN IS POSSIBLE
WITH THIS.
- COOLER WITH SNOW SHOWERS LATE WEEK
FAST ON THE HEELS OF THE MONDAY SYSTEM WILL BE A PHASING OF A WAVE
MOVING ACROSS THE CENTRAL ROCKIES AND A DEEP TROUGH MOVING SOUTH
FROM CANADA. THE NORTHERN INFLUENCE OF THIS SYSTEM WILL MEAN
COLDER AIR TO WORK WITH AND WE'LL SEE LIGHT SNOW AND MIXED
RAIN/SNOW WEDNESDAY. H8 TEMPERATURES WILL FALL TO -16C BY THURSDAY
AFTERNOON, ENOUGH TO GENERATE SOME LAKE EFFECT SNOW SHOWERS
BEGINNING THURSDAY NIGHT. HIGHS WILL FALL INTO THE 30S WITH THIS
SYSTEM. HOWEVER, YET ANOTHER LOW IS PROGD TO DRAG A COLD FRONT
THROUGH THE REGION FRIDAY AND THAT WILL SEND HIGHS INTO THE 20S BY
NEXT SATURDAY, ALONG WITH SOME LIGHT SNOW.
San Francisco has its first tornado warning EVER this morning. So in the past week, they had a tsunami warning and a tornado warning. Crazy.
That’s crazy!!!
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 4 AM
EST SUNDAY…
* WHAT…Freezing rain expected. Total ice accumulations up to one
tenth of an inch.
* WHERE…Portions of central, south central, southwest, and west
central Michigan.
* WHEN…From 8 PM this evening to 4 AM EST Sunday.
Love hearing about the traditions!!! Gilmore has an aluminum tree with tht light spinner in front. They do era decorations…fun to go look at all of them.
The halo around the moon was beautiful last night. Anyone know which star or planet is close to the moon right now? it was in the halo. Of course I took a pic of it.
The skiing looks great today! Incredible!
Bring on the next snowstorm!