CONTINUOUSWAVE

In Coastal Alabama we always know when Winter is approaching. As November is close we begin to see our Canadian boaters transiting the Intercoastal Waterway en route to Florida. Most of their boats are aft cabin motor yachts with tenders and a lot of protective canvas enclosures on the flybridges. We also see a fair number of motor catamarans and a few sailing yachts. We are also seeing Minnesota and Michigan registered boats. The Canadians tend to fly the Canadian flag but we see few US flags displayed. Some of these water borne "Snowbirds" will be spending their Winter with us and they are most welcome. The Snowbirds have several clubs here, the largest and most active is the Michiganders. These annual Winter Visitors contribute a lot to our economy.

I am still north of the 45th parallel of Latitude, so I am enjoying Fall in the North. I am just here for four days to finish up a few loose ends. This time of year is really very nice. The crowds of summer visitors are gone. The air temperature is in the 50-degree range, the sky is clear--no more out-of-control wild fires in Canada creating unhealthy, stay-indoors conditions and reducing visibility to a few miles. The foliage on the deciduous trees in the forests is changing to beautiful colors, and the water level in Lake Michigan is starting to drop a bit--but the seas have been generally calm. The only boats in the water are anglers looking for some good catches.

The local marinal is completely empty, the fuel dock is closed, and the harbormaster office closed until next Spring.

Most of the homes on the shoreline are empty now, with just a few year-rounders in residence this time of year. Even they often go south for a month or so after New Years Day.

It is very quiet. I am up here by myself. Time to get some projects finished, some stuff organized, and make a few lists for next Spring when we will return.

That sounds wonderful. We are beginning to see Fall like weather with lows in the forties and highs in the low seventies. We are seeing Dolphin pods almost daily which is unusual. I attribute it to the cooler weather. We see a lot of boats in the waterway. I suspect they are getting in some extra boating before the weather becomes to cool for most boaters, not counting anglers.

We have been back at our home in southeast Michigan since early October. Now in early Dece and while technically we are still in the Fall season, the weather has turned to winter conditions. A few days ago the overnight temperature was 17-degrees-F or -8-degrees-C. As often happens when it is that cold, it was a beautiful clear blue sky. The daytime temperatures have been in the high-20’s, but they have been below freezing for about a week, and snow is accumulating. We have about 6-inches on the ground now.

We are counting down to the Winter Solstice, which marks the day of the year with the least daylight and occurs December 21, 2025. For my location at our local noon (i.e., when the Sun is on our meridian) the Sun elevation angle will peak at only 24.25-degrees. Around this date we only get nine hours of daylight.

This morning we are experiencing unusually cold temperatures. At the moment it’s 4-degrees-F here in southeast Michigan. The meteorological explanation is “polar vortex.” But in four days the high temperature is predicted to be 47-degrees-F. There is going to be a significant amount of snow melt when that happens, as we have been below freezing for over two weeks and there has been a lot of snowfall.

JimH, I was in Grand Rapids last week with moderate temperatures (28'-32')and two snowstorms. I'm glad I flew home to Florida on Friday.

Although we enjoy generally moderate Fall weather we can get some unwelcome surprises. Last night from midnight until 8:00 AM we had temperatures below 32F with winds of twenty to thirty MPH. We installed outdoor faucet covers and brought delicate plants inside. The ten day forecast predicts weather above freezing so the plants will be going out again today. Our snowbirds get a good laugh over our "over dressing" for what is moderate weather to them.

Two days ago we enjoyed 70 degrees and wore short sleeve shirts.