Warming Up in Alaska/New Fish/Ike Conference/Sweet Peas Crop

HURRICANES AND WEATHER
It's finally going to warm up in Fairbanks, Alaska. Check out the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.
TODAY...MOSTLY CLEAR. PATCHY ICE FOG. HIGHS 25 TO 40 BELOWZERO...EXCEPT AROUND ZERO IN THE HILLS. LIGHT WINDS. .
TONIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS 25 TO 45 BELOW...EXCEPT AROUND5 BELOW IN THE HILLS. LIGHT WINDS. .
MONDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. A CHANCE OF SNOW IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHSZERO TO 15 BELOW. LIGHT WINDS.

Wow! Monday's high will be zero to 15 below zero (instead of the 25 to 40 below zero it was today).

There has been a lot of talk about that cold air diving southward...but the good news it looks like the main thrust of the cold air will pass to the east of Houston. Sorry everyone in the Ohio Valley and northeast and Great Lakes!

Monday will be very cold for North Dakota and Montana with highs in the low single digits. There will be snow from the northern plains through the Great Lakes states. Look for rain in Seattle and Florida.

Houston will be mostly sunny and cold in the morning. There will be a light freeze for the most of the area except the coast. There will be only be about 1 to 2 hours of freezing temperatures for the Houston metro and 3 to 6 in the suburbs. A couple more reinforcing shots of cool air arrive early Tuesday and early Thursday. No rain is expected until the weekend.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY

Let's do pet--animal, doméstico or de compañía, pronounced ah-KNEE-mall, doe-MEHS-tee-coh or day cohm-pah-NYEE-ah. It's fun to have a doméstico.

Today I spoke to the children at the Kid's Church at Brentwood Baptist Church. Frank and Paco the puppets joined me as we taught them some Spanish and meteorology. It was a blast and I really want to thank Reverend Barbara Jordan and George Micheaux for the invitation and warm hospitality.

Of course I brought our winning DVD called Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco. You too can enjoy it by ordering from our web site www.frankandpaco.com/. You can also order from http://www.venturaes.com/, www.dololanguages.com, www.carlexonline.com,www.thecuriousmindstore.com, www.amazon.com, www.bestbuy.com, and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/. If you are more interested in a full immersion type product, go to http://www.frankypaco.com/.

AND MORE
I really enjoyed my visit to Brentwood Baptist today. I had met Reverend Thomas at The Little Gym where her daughter and mine were taking classes. Barbara Thomas is also the author of The Melanin Factor and you can purchase her book through Amazon.com. Here is a description:

Jared, a medical researcher, develops a serum that stops the progression of the HIV virus. His discovery, which should have resulted in universal praise, instead places him in deadly peril.
The pharmaceutical company where Jared works leads its field. Bret, son of the company's founder, will do whatever is necessary to preserve the company's wealth and power. But the company profits more from keeping Jared's serum off the market. Colleagues die, intrigue thrives, and a series of odd incidents, convince Jared that he needs help. His friends-a newspaper reporter, a computer expert, and a professional bodyguard, all close since their high school days-bring their experience to the table to help him. Their discoveries confront Jared with surprising revelations about his family. Secrets exposed, each person comes face to face with the truth.

We bought 2 new goldfish today...see photo at right. Sarah named the orange one ICarly and the spotted one Sam (from the show ICarly). Hopefully, these two will make it!!!

And check out my sweet peas. Last summer's crop was okay but this batch planted around November 1st is growing like crazy. We love to open the pods and eat the sweet peas right on the spot. I really should have planted them October 1st, but as you can see, the Houston winter is very agreeable to them.

Our latest poll, about how you feel now that the new year has started, will close on Monday. So be sure to vote!!!

Well I learned a lot at the post Ike Hurricane Conference that I attended on Friday. There were speakers from the energy sector and they said that 60 platforms were completely destroyed. Another 31 had major damage. I also learned the difference between rigs and platforms...rigs are something in the act of drilling. Although Ike did a lot of damage to the platforms, Hurricane Rita of 2005 did much more because it moved over an area with more of them.

I think this kind of workshop may become an annual event put on by The Weather Research Center/The Weather Museum. Don't forget to check out their web site (I have a link at right). There will be a big gala on Groundhog Day on February 2nd at the Houston zoo. Seats are still available. I will be there and my mom and stepdad (Cherish the Music) will provide the musical entertainment, a medley of weather themed songs...very creative!!!

I'll have more on the gala as we get closer.

Have a wonderful week everyone!!!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman