Less Science.

I will not today explain the difference between umbra and penumbra. I also will not explain in any detail how this afternoon and later this evening cold dry air is supposed to filter in either over the top of or underneath the storm ratcheting its way here out of the southwest, and give us one more sort of halfhearted wintry mix. Ice this time, they say. Or sleet or snow, depending on which they you want to look at.

Instead — thanks for tuning in out there, folks, and keep it here for the latest developments — I can give you the report from the ANYLF WeatherDeck, which is that it's cold out there, just above freezing, a thin sunlight filtering in through a nearly white sky. High, high clouds that don't mean anything other than that something may well be coming in behind them. The pansies look good. Thirsty, but good. The hydrangeas, still carrying the flower heads from last summer, do indeed as advertised add interest to the winter landscape. We have birds. There's also a dude wandering up and down the street with the kind of satchel that makes me fairly certain that he'd like to chat with me, just for a moment, about Jesus. And who can blame him? That whole penumbra/umbra thing is in want of some answers, and this morning I'm not of a mind to begrudge anybody's chosen way of explanation. I've got mine and don't much care to talk with him about his, but maybe he'll find a doorbell behind which is somebody a little bit more open-minded than me.

Or maybe not. He's got his job to do, and I've got mine, and so long as our days are parceled into completable blocks, perhaps that's all that matters. Ways and means of making it through until after nightfall this evening, when the rain, if we're getting rain, should change over to freezing rain as the temperatures fall below thirty-two degrees. There may be a little sleet mixed in. We're not expecting much icing, but that still depends on the track of the storm system and the surface low and whatever else it is that's headed our way. So stay with us throughout the day for updates. Remember: ANYLF is the name you can trust.