Valentine's Forecast/My Experience Winter Olympics/Dates of Last Freeze

WEATHER
On this Saturday before Valentine's Day, 4 large areas in the mainland US are under Winter Weather Watches and/or Warnings (see figure at right). Highs on Sunday will be in the teens and 20s across the northern plains, Great Lakes and northeast. There will be some snow showers in the midwest and Great Lakes and some cold rain in the Pacific Northwest. Milder across the southern tier of states with highs in the 60s (70s for the desert Southwest) and some showers along the Gulf Coast.

On this Satuday afternoon in Houston, the sunshine has returned!!! Some clouds and even showers will return on Sunday as the next cold front approaches and passes. A nice warmup on Sunday with highs near 60 with morning temperatures in the low 40s. Then for Monday and Tuesday, lows in the low to middle 30s and highs in the 50s. Highs will be back up in the 60s Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with some showers end of the week. Cooler on Sunday. A bigger rain coming on the following Monday.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do Olympic Games or Juegos Olímpicos, pronounced HWAY-gose Oh-LEEM-pee-cose. Are you planning to watch the Juegos Olímpicos. Find out about my own olympic "experience" in the AND MORE section.

We are so excited because our Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, Volume 2 has just been awarded the Family Choice Award for 2009. Here is the announcement they sent me:
Your product was featured in the January issue of the following magazines: Los Angeles Family, Santa Clarita Family, South Bay Family, San Gabriel Family, and Ventura Family.

Family Choice Award coverage is targeted directly to parents who seek the winners of these coveted awards as top recommendations for their buying decisions "from the source they trust most".

The Family Choice Awards was founded by the Family Magazine Group, America's largest free parenting publication, and is recognized as the premier resource for the very best in children's and parenting products and services.

I put their award seal at right. Also, our Volume 1 won the Dr. Toy Best Educatinal Product Award and Homeschool.com Best Educational Product Award.

My other big news is that on Friday, we got the biggest order yet and the 6th order in 6 weeks from our distributor. See what all the fuss is about. Order our award winning Spanish DVDs for children...volumes one and two of Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco 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

It Really Has Been Unusually Cold and Wet in Houston
I did some checking and February has started out downright chilly...we're running an average of 6.5 degrees cooler than normal. So, far this month the average high has been 53.8 with the average low being 40.9. And so far this month, there has been 3.36" of rain...normally there should have been 1.32". So the month so far has been wetter and colder than normal.

January was also cooler than normal in Houston with temperatures running an average of 2.8 degrees below normal (average temperature was 49.0 degrees). January was actually drier than normal however with a 1.15" deficit.

December was colder than normal with temperatures 3.5 degrees below normal (average temperature of 50.2 degrees). And it was also wetter than normal with 5.44" of precipitation (a surplus of 1.75").

These data was taken from the National Weather Service web site.

Dates of Average Last Freeze in Houston
According to George W. Bomar's book, Texas Weather, the average last freeze for Houston Hobby is Feb. 18th (and from the National Weather Service the average date of last freeze for Bush Airport is Feb. 25). The Hobby airport number is based on data from 1961 to 1990. I don't have the year's for the Bush Airport number. In any event, remember that this is the average, so there have been half the years with freezes later than those dates. My rule of thumb is don't fertilize until around mid-March and avoid pruning dead wood until at least then.

Southeast Texas Gets 2nd Snowfall in One Season!
The following discussion was obtained from the Houston National Weather Service web site:
THE LAST TIME TWO SNOW EVENTS
OCCURRED IN THE SAME SEASON WAS BACK IN 1985. ACCUMULATING SNOW
FELL ON JANUARY 3 AND AGAIN ON JANUARY 12 1985. HERE ARE THE
SNOWFALL TOTALS FROM ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS FROM LAST NIGHTS SNOW EVENT:

COMMUNITY SNOWFALL

WECHES 3.5 INCHES
LATEXO 2.5 INCHES
MADISONVILLE 2.5 INCHES (PUBLIC)
MADISONVILLE 2.0 INCHES (CO-OP)
CROCKETT 2.0 INCHES
LOVELADY 2.0 INCHES
KENNARD 2.0 INCHES
W. GRAPELAND 1.7 INCHES
IOLA 1.0 INCHES
BRYAN 0.5 INCHES
TRINITY 0.5 INCHES
COL STATION 0.2 INCHES

Only Weather Museum in United States Looks Forward to Several Important Events
If you know any attorneys who are looking for continuing education credit, The Weather Museum will hold a Forensic Meteorology seminar from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm on March 30th at the University of St. Thomas. I'll have more on this as the date approaches.

Mark your calendar for Friday, April 30th when the 15th Annual Weather Museum Classic takes place at the Wildcat Golf Club. The tournament will benefit the educational programs for the museum. Shot gun start is 1:00 pm.

In October, the museum will host a national flood conference. This confernence has the sponsorship of The American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association--the main professional organizations for meteorologists. I'll have more on this as the date gets closer.

Luge Tragedy and My Own Bobsled Experience
The 2002 Winter Olympics were held at Park City, Utah. My family took a holiday there about 6 years ago and they had the olympic park open to visitors, offering a change to got down the bobsled track on bobsleds fitted with wheels. They packed us in 4 tight with a professional bobsledder at the front of the bobsled. We had to go through a safety briefing and wear helmets. The track wasn't as fast as one on snow, but by golly, it was fast enough. I think they said we would go down about 50 to 60 mph. Let me tell you, it was unforgettable, a very rough ride which only lasted about a minute, but seemed like it lasted 15 minutes. Our teeth rattled, our backs were racked and our heads knocked about as we raced down the mountain. I'm glad I did it, but considering the headache it gave me, I don't want to do it ever again. The professional we rode with was training for the next Olympics. Sorry, I don't remember his name. But, he told us that many bobsleddings end up with long term health problems due to the repeated jarring of their heads.

Seniors Making a Difference
Chronicle writer and buddy Leslie Williams sent me this link to an article she wrote recently. I loved hearing how the seniors at The Terrace in Sugar Land are making life better for others. Read all about it:
http://www.ultimatefortbend.com/2010/02/seniors-show-heart-through-support-causes

Sarah's Class has Valentine Celebration
I got to help with Sarah's Valentine's class party on Friday. Sarah's friend Ashwini made homemade crafts for everyone in the class. She told me it took her 5 hours!!! One of the parents took the photo of Sarah and me at right. It really took me back seeing the excitement and joy on the kids' faces. What a fun time!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman