This Can’t Be “January” … Can It?
Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get. ~ Mark Twain
(FYI: the oak trees hold their lower leaves until early Spring)
School was cancelled today. Can you hear the kids (and teachers) cheering? It is January, so school closing due to poor weather is not an uncommon occurrence. January temperatures in Minnesota generally drop to the lowest of the year. In the past, school has been closed for -40º (below) and wind chills lower then that. A blizzard with a ton of snow and high winds is not an uncommon thing to happen in January to cancel a day of school, either … Snow days were invented in Minnesota! Minnesotans are prepared for a foot of snow falling at any time and temperatures dropping to unbearable lows in January.
What we are not prepared for is what is happening right now. School was cancelled today due to extremely icy roads. Thursday gave us a 46º high (above) temperature, some snow melting, followed by rain … yes, rain! It rained all night and it is still rainy and dark at noon today .. rain is pouring down. It is not like a Spring rain … it is a freezing rain. It packs down the snow we had and freezes on contact with exposed surfaces. The temperatures are dropping, a winter storm warning is in effect … we are expecting everything to change drastically and quickly get back to a normal Minnesota January .. high wintry winds, cold temperatures and up to 8 inches of snow.
Even though it is raining, the birds are in a feeding frenzy this morning .. In anticipation of the weather change? (another wet Chickadee with a seed in it’s beak can be seen at my photo blog “Wet and Hungry”). 
January seems to be a month of anticipation … tonight, we are anticipating freezing ice, possible power outages, a lot of snow and wind, as well as being unable to travel the icy roads for most of the weekend. If the weather has been predicted correctly, you can expect some “icy” pictures from me real soon. 😉
Bear in Mind 
We’ve had much the same for the past week or so. Tonight though the temperature is dropping fast. I think this cold front might be headed your way.
Yes, my weather usually follows yours by a few day … but, I think we get much colder.
Winters have been odd the past two years. This one was a little closer to normal with snow and the pond freezing over, but then the warm-up came. We seem to be waffling back and forth now, from cold to thaw. The cold will be here again tonight.
Hope your day off was a good one! 🙂
The weather has been very strange here, too. That is why “Climate change” makes much more sense to me then “global warming”. So many extremes at weird times …
They say talking about the weather is where conversation goes when you really have nothing to say, so every time I post about the weather, I cringe a bit. However, its strangeness and beauty is where my camera takes me … I hope my words about it have something to say 😉