Words From Jerry

Greetings fellow Weatherfun members and welcome to your February 2006 newsletter. Well, here we are the beginning of February and as you might have heard that critter called Phil has seen his shadow and that means we have six more weeks of winter ahead of us. Well, all I can see is if the six weeks are like what we have had so far here in Warren, we will have it made. It has been and continues at this writing temperature wise to be above normal. Matter of fact January proved to be some 5 to 10 degrees above normal for my area. Snow fall is also down as of this writing, with only 19.75 inches of snow here in Warren as of this writing. This time last year we were measuring the snowfall in feet. Not bad at all as you know in my book. Yes, it has been a Jerry kind of winter. The big questions though is will it continue that way? Forecasters are now saying that February will prove to have temperatures below normal for this time of the year, with increased snowfall. That is not etched in stone as the TV forecasters say, but all indications are saying that the jet stream will make a change that it has not in quite sometime and bring those below normal temperatures and increased snowfall. But, as you know we are getting on in time for winter, and each day we get closer and closer to spring. By, the way check out the spring clock that Bill has put up on the Weatherfun website and you will not only know how many days until spring, but also hours, minutes and seconds. Check it out at the Weatherfun Homepage Our next big activity of course is the 2006 Weatherfun Family Reunion to be held in July. Plans on being made and finalized as I write this issue of Jerry's words and we hope to make the big announcement very shortly. Look for that announcement to come very shortly. As you know this will be the 5th Weatherfun Family Reunion and it promises to be the biggest and the best one yet. If you have not made plans to attend this reunion, why not consider it now, and as the man says on TV come on down. We have had a great time in the past and we plan to do the same this year. We have a few surprises that we will be announcing shortly, and I am sure you will like them and make this one the best reunion yet. We will also be making a big announcement shortly pertaining to a new moderator on Weatherfun. That announcement will come shortly from Weatherfun Headquarters. As I have said in the past folks, the moderators are a very important part of Weatherfun and they help me to run our great group. Without them I could not continue with the group. They are and will continue to be a very important part of our group. They are part of the planning of our group, and I count on them very much. At the end of each message that goes out from Weatherfun each moderator is listed. If you ever have any questions or suggestions please feel free to contact me or anyone of the moderators, or all of them by their e-mail address, and we will get to your problem or ideas immediately. If you have any suggestion on how we can improve our great group, also please feel free to contact us. We are here for you and we will listen to you. We are a great group and have some great plans for Weatherfun down the line. Remember this is your group and newsletter. If you have any ideas or articles that you would like to see on the newsletters please let Bill or I know and we will see that it is added. Have a great month ahead, and we will see you in the March newsletter.

January's Weather 1st: Heavy rain and wind again in California causing floods and mud and rock slides. While in Colorado and Utah, avalanches took 3 lives. Texas and Oklahoma continued to have numerous record High temperatures and wildfires continued. 5th: Unseasonable warm temperatures continued in Texas with many cities setting record Highs. Tropical Storm Zeta surpasses 1954 Alice #2 as the longest-lived Tropical Cyclone to form in December and cross into the next year. Zeta also becomes the longest-lived January Tropical Cyclone. 8th: Record warm temperatures with very low humidity continued in Texas with an on-going threat for wildfires. 9th: After several days of wildfires in Colorado, it snowed helping firefighters control the fires. 12th: 25 consecutive days of measurable rain in Seattle as the city nears the record set in 1953 of 33 days in a row causing a number of mudslides. 13th: Grass fires driven by high winds destroyed at least two dozen homes and forced hundreds of evacuations in Oklahoma. Storms and tornadoes sweep through the southeast killing 0ne woman and injuring 13 children. 14th: 2 snowmobilers missing in Montana avalanche. 15th: Seattle's rainy day string ended at 27, six days short of the record set in 1953. A snow/ice storm caused over 22,000 power outages in parts of Connecticut. 18th: A powerful storm raced north from the south to bring heavy rain and strong damaging winds to many areas along the East Coast. At one point 380,000 homes and businesses were without power, big delays for rain and air travel and one death in New York were just some of the results of the storm. 22nd-24th: Santa Ana winds in southern California fanned wildfires. 25th: Some rain with hail fell in the drought stricken southwest, which is running way below normal in rainfall, whilte Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska were each in their 38th day of above-freezing temperatures, a record for the two cities. 27th: Heavy rain and mountain snow in the Pacific Northwest, while much of Texas got some very needed rain. 29th-30th: The second of a "one-two punch" for the Pacific Northwest with strong winds, heavy rain and mountain snows. Several roads were closed due to mudslides. 31st: January was a record warm month for much of the nation with some areas being almost 15 degrees above normal for the month, while the Pacific Northwest had one of the wettest January's ever.

CAM OF THE MONTH Lake Superior viewed from Duluth, MN

Links 4 YouThe NOAA Photo Library has great Winter Pictures from historical storms.	Hello New Members johnnysarahkellermia@yahoo.com
Did You Know? 1816 was The Year Without a Summer	WEATHERFUN Sites WEATHERFUN runs a Monthly Contest and a Hurricane Contest. Why not take a few minutes and visit the WEATHERFUN Hall of Fame and see the long list of winners. You too can be in the Hall of Fame by winning one of the Contest. Just go to the WEATHERFUN Homepage and click on the link for the Contest that's in season. Good Luck

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