I hope you all had a nice relaxing holiday. It was nice to see the flurries here on Wednesday. Not too threatening, not unexpected, and not too much. The cold weather we have been experiencing was felt all the way down into Florida. There were several reports of flurries around the Daytona Beach area yesterday in what could be called an “Ocean Effect” snow, not unlike the Lake Effect snows of the Great Lakes.

I got to see snow over the holidays, as my family & I traveled to the Chicago area between Christmas and New Years. We were driving through the town my wife and I went to High School in (Hinsdale, if you know the area) while it was snowing. I had to tell my girls about how I would walk a mile-and-half to school rather than take the bus when it was snowing. My mother would get so mad at me, but it was so peaceful and quiet as the snow fell. I remember one morning that is was snowing so hard you couldn’t see the end of the block and O’Hare closed down. I was covered in snow by the time I got to school, and loved every minute of it. I know, no wonder I got into meteorology as a career. We ended up downtown Chicago at Millennium Park with big snowflakes falling. It was fun to watch folks walk around gazing up at the snow, smiling. Snow can be magical, even in a big city.

All this snow talk will just be memories as we warm up this weekend into the new work week. Spring-like 60 degree weather will be with us for much of next week, but don’t worry; there is plenty of winter left.