Thursday, February 25, 2010

Weekend Weather/Tornado Safety/Income Tax Timing

WEATHER
Spoke to my father-in-law in Iowa and we were talking about what a crazy winter we have had. He said, "yeah, we got a little snow" this year. Talk about understatement. They are both in their 70s and they said this is the worst they have ever seen. Now they have many feet of snow and are worrying about flooding of their basements in the spring thaw. They've never had to deal with the melting of that much snow.

Jet Stream is above 2/3rds of the way down in the US with some waves that are moving though the southern states about onece every 3 days. It will continue to be chilly (highs in the 20s, 30s and 40s) across the northern 2/3rd with the south mostly enjoying 60s. On Friday, there will be some thunderstorms in the eastern Texas/southwest Louisiana and costal California. Look for some snow showers around Great Lakes and rain/snow mix for New York city and rain for DC.

Houston, we have been and will continue to be on a 3 day rain cycle for a while. It will rain Friday and then again on Monday and then again on the following Thursday. This is due in large part to our El Nino winter. Lows will be primarily in the 40s and 50s with highs in the 50s and 60s...looks like a pretty nice weekend shaping up..althought I think skies will cloud up again Sunday afternoon and there could be some showers by late in the day.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do safety or seguridad, pronounced say-goo-ree-DAHD. For some tips on tornado seguridad, see the AND MORE section.

Be sure to tell your friends and family that they can stop at their neighborhood store and buy our award winning Spanish DVDs for children...volumes one and two of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. We have won 3 awards including Dr. Toy's Top 10 Educational Product of 2008. You can also order them from http://www.frankandpaco.com, http://www.amazon.com, http://www.bn.com, http://www.bestbuy.com, or http://www.ebay.com/. Our ESL (English as a Second Language) version can be found at http://www.frankypaco.com

AND MORE
Severe Weather Awareness Week
This is Severe Weather Awareness week in southeast Texas and my topic of choice today is tornadoes. The best place to be is a basement, but since we don't have basements here, the next best place is inside a building, on the first floor, away from glass doors and windows. According to the National Weather Service, there are 137 tornadoes in Texas every year...more than any other state.

The following information is from the Houston National Weather Service web site:

In a home or business, go to the safest place, usually on the lowest floor of the building in a central room away from windows. Get under a sturdy piece of furniture.
Stay away from windows.
Get out of automobiles immediately! They will become flying debris in a tornado. Do not try to outrun a tornado in your car.
If caught outside, lie flat in a nearby ditch or depression.
Abandon mobile homes. Even if tied down, they will offer no protection in a tornado.

To learn more about severa weather safety topics, go to this National Weather SErivce link.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/?n=severe_weather_awareness_tornadoes

POLLS
My poll on Lenten observance is closed. 36% said they pray more during Lent. 9% said they do extra volunteering. 18% said they read the Bible and reflect more and 18% said they attend church more. 54% said they give something up. 18% said they don't observe Lent and 0% said they do something besides this list. Multiple answers were allowed. Thankd to all who participated.

My new poll is about doing your income tax...do you get it done right away? I got the idea because my mother-in-law just turned her's in to her CPA today and I turned mine in yesterday. Maybe you file extensions or maybe you get it in right on time. Only one answer is alllowed. Thank in advance for particpiating.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman