New Year's Eve forecast/New Year's Resolutions

A quick post this evening to let you know that the heavy rain for the Houston area is over. There is only a slight chance for showers on Thursday. On New Year's Eve, there will be some thunderstorms during the day as the next cold front approaches. There will mild weather until the front passes...then a cold front arrives by New Year's eve evening. The rain should be over in time for going out on New Year's Eve evening. Take a jacket because by midnight, temperatures will be in the 50s. New Year's Day will be dry and cool. For several days, lows will be in the 40s and highs in the 50s and 60s into the middle of the coming week.

Next rain for Houston will come in the middle of the coming week.

For nation, trough out west will be in place for the next week or so...that means it will be chilly over the Rockies and northern plains and much of the west for the next week or so. The northeast will also have rounds of cold weather. Thursday, there will be snow over the northern Rockies and northern plains. DC/New York/NJ will have highs in the 30s and 40s and no snow.

My poll on when Christmas gifts are opened is closed. I think I accidentally allowed more than one answer because the percentages added up to more than 100. 74% said they open all gifts on Christmas Day, 28% said they open on Christmas Eve and 14% said they open at all different times. No one said they don't open Christmas gifts, open over the 12 days of Christmas or a little each day until Christmas.

My new poll is about New Year's Resolutions. How long do you usually keep your's or do you even get started.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

A Wet Christmas Eve for Houston

Just a quick note this evening to let you know that there will be some storms--looks like from 5 pm to around 2 am Christmas morning. There could even be some thunderstorms in the mix. However, National Weather Service is not predicting severe storms. If you plan to go to church services Friday evening, take your umbrella...for Christmas morning, take a coat.

Much colder and windy on Saturday, Christmas Day--highs may not break 50. Sun should come out in the afternoon. Then chilly but not windy on Sunday with freezing outlying areas early Sunday morning. Also expect freezing for outlying areas early on Monday.

Expect rain to return mid-week with milder temperatures.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Christmas Week Forecast/Weather Travel Trouble Spots/Winter Begins

WEATHER
This weekend, the coldest air will be over the northern states. Highs will be in the teens for the northern plains and twenties for the Great Lakes and much of New England. Today (Saturday) look for snow over the Sierra Nevada and Intermountain Region as well as over the Great Lakes. On Sunday, there will be snow over Sierra Nevada into the Rockies.

Worst travel days this coming week will be over southern California, the Southwest and southern Rockies on Tuesday and Wednesday and and over the Ohio Valley on Christmas Eve into New York early on Christmas.

Houston, the weather this week will be very pleasant. Lows will be in the 40s and 30s for most of the week and highs will be in the 50s into the 70s. Another shot of cool air will arrive for Christmas Day making the lows in the 40s and highs in the 50s. Rain chances through the coming weekend are almost nil.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do cold or frio, pronounced FREE-oh. It is going to be very frio in the northern states of the US this week.

Our Volume 3 DVD and Volumes 1 through 3 music review CD have arrived!!! We have 1000 copies of each. Within the next few days, our web site will have these available and if you buy Volumes 1 through 3, you will get the music review CD for free. In the meantime, you can find my award winning education series, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, Volumes 1 and 2, on the shelf (in the education section) at Barnes & Noble stores or you can 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. P.S. THEY MAKE TERRIFIC GIFTS!!!

AND MORE
New Poll
My poll on Christmas cards is closed. 100% of respondents said they send their Christmas cards via mail. No one said they send their's by email or combination or not at all. Only one answer was allowed. Thanks to all who participated.

My new poll is about when you open Christmas gifts...Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or some other combination. Only one answer is allowed. Thanks in advance for participating.

Storm Cheer Special Needs APEX Team Wows Crowds
Sarah's special needs cheerleading team had another exhibition last weekend at the United Cheer competition held at the Merrill Center in Katy, Texas. This was a really big event with competitors coming from as far as Lubbock, Texas. Sarah's team came out and gave a superb performance which prompted a standing ovation. As we looked around we saw tears streaming down the faces of the audience. Everyone was so gracious and so kind. It was truly a wonderful day! Special thanks to Storm Cheer for sponsoring this team! The coaches, Jennifer and Brian, have been particularly awesome!!!

Winter Officially Begins Tuesday Dec. 21st
According to the US Naval Observatory, the Winter Solstice ("shortest day of the year" and official start of Winter) will begin on Tuesday, the 21st at 6:38 pm. From there on, the amount of daylight will increase slightly each day (although early one the change will won't be very apparent).

New 3 Month Outlooks and Drought Outlook
The Climate Prediction Center has put out the January through March outlooks for temperature and precipitation. Looks like the south central US will have above normal temperatures while the west and northwest and Alaska will have below normal temperatures. The Ohio Valley and Northwest will have above normal precipitation with much of the south experiencing below normal precipitation chances. Drought- wise, Texas is developing drought again with either persistence or a worsening of conditions expected. There are many other areas increasing in drought--see figure at right.

Safe travels and Happy Holidays to all of you!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Cold Weather Returning/Very Special Cheerleading Team

WEATHER
Western ridge/eastern trough pattern continues into early next week. That will keep the really cold air riding up over the northern Rockies into the Midwest and southward to the eastern Gulf coastal states and into the northeast. It means over the weekend places like Montana and Minnesota will have areas where the high never gets above zero or the low single digits. It means snow for the Rockies, Great Lakes and northern New England this weekend. Meanwhile, much of the southwest will and southeast will enjoy mild afternoons.

Pattern starts changing early in the coming week as the western ridge flattens allowing the cold air to move further south--into the following weekend.

Houston, we'll get a glancing blow of colder air via a cold front on the backside of the eastern trough. This means chilly and windy weather for Sunday with some mid 20s lows for areas north of Houston Sunday night into Monday morning. Bottom line, if you don't like it cold, do your running around on Saturday.

SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do team spirit or espíritu de equipo, pronounced ehs-PEE-ree-tu DAY eh-KEE-poh. To ready a beautiful story about espíritu de equipo, go to the AND MORE section.

Our Volume 3 DVD and Volumes 1 through 3 music review CD should be arriving this week. We have ordered 1000 copies of each. In the meantime, you can find my award winning education series, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, Volumes 1 and 2, on the shelf (in the education section) at Barnes & Noble stores or you can 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. P.S. THEY MAKE TERRIFIC GIFTS!!!

AND MORE
Storm Cheer Special Needs APEX Gets Standing Ovation at American Spirit Competition
Last Saturday, Sarah was part of a special performance at the American Spirit Cheerleading Competition held at Houston's Astro Arena. Storm Cheer has a special team called Apex, made of up of children with disabilities and volunteer high school cheerleaders. Sarah has a wonderful partner Lauren, who gives up her valuable time one day each week to help Sarah enjoy cheerleading. The team is also coached by Jennifer and Brian at Storm Cheer, whose enthusiasm is tremendously appreciated. The team made everyone proud as they did their sommersaults and pyramids. It was absolutely awesome!!! They have another exhibition this weekend. Go Storm Cheer Apex team!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman

Long Dry Spell/Recycling hazardous waste/Large Furniture Pickup and Tax Deduction

WEATHER
We are finished with the Atlantic basin hurricane season as of November 30th. So, until June 1, 2011, the start of the next hurricane season, this section will just be about non-tropical cyclone weather.

The US weather pattern is stuck in a rut with a persistent cold trough over the northeastern US and a part of a smaller trough over the eastern US. This also means that the wet weather will be riding over northern California and then up into the Rockies and through the Midwest and down to the Tennessee Valley and into the eastern seaboard for the next week of so. Just talked to my brother last night. He and his wife Wanda are back up at Mayo doing a followup to her thyroid removal for cancer. He said it was snowing like crazy and it was that really neat dry, powdery snow. Mayo Clinic is in Minnesota. Btw, Wanda is doing very well but is very tired as not being allowed to take hormones right now as part of the treatment. Please keep them in your prayers.

Anyway, it will be very cold over the western Great Lakes states and northeast on Sunday with highs in the teens and 30s. There will be snow over parts of the Great Lakes states. Meanwhile, dry and pleasant across the southwest and southern plains with highs in the 50s to 70s.

Houston, next week will be on the cool side with Sunday through Tuesday highs only in the 50s and lows in the 30s...bundle up Sunday as it will be breezy. Don't look for rain for at least 9 days...very dry pattern in place.


SPANISH WORD OF THE DAY
Let's do window blinds or persianas de la ventana, pronounced pair-see-ah-NAHS day lah vehn-TAH-na. Having a problem with your persianas de la ventana. Check the AND MORE section for the name of an excellent repair person.

Spoke to our CD production guy and he said they are printing the graphic inserts for the front covers of our new Volume 3 DVD and soon to be released music review CD. Very soon, we will have 1000 copies of our new Volume 3 DVD and Music CD for Volumes 1, 2 and 3. In the meantime, you can find my award winning education series, Let's Learn Spanish with Frank & Paco, Volumes 1 and 2, on the shelf (in the education section) at Barnes & Noble stores or you can 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. P.S. THEY MAKE TERRIFIC GIFTS!!!

AND MORE
New Poll
My poll on method for gift shopping is closed. 100% of respondents said they are doing most of their shopping by Internet. No one said they were doing most of their shopping in person at stores, making homemade, by catalog or not giving gifts. Only one answer was allowed. Thanks to all who participated.

My new poll is about how you send Christmas or New Year's greetings--or do you do this at all? Only one answer is allowed. Thanks in advance for participating.

How to Get Window Blind Strings Repaired
We have lovely wide Levolor window blinds in our home. The problem is that they are fairly heavy and occasionally a string (used to adjust the blinds) breaks. It took me a while to find someone who wanted to work such a small job as fixing a broken string or pulley, but I have a great guy for this. He just fixed up two of our windows. His name is Larry Thomas and he is the owner of City Blind Repair 713-664-0444. Give him a call and get those windows working again!

Get rid of that heavy furniture and get a nice tax deduction
Gordy and I just got rid of a bunch of old furniture. One was a sectional sofa with sleeper sofa on one side. We didn't want to pay to have these carted off and we didn't have a truck we could use to move them. So, I contacted The Salvation Army at 713-869-3551. They will schedule large furniture pickups. If you call, make sure you tell them everything you want picked up. And don't expect to get any computer desks picked up. Apparently, they have had trouble getting rid of those and they end up costing them money to unload. You can also schedule the pickup online by emailing SAtruck.org. In Houston, the furniture is taken to a huge warehouse. There are 20 trucks running every day and they fill them up about twice a day. The proceeds go to Adult Rehabilitation Centers Comman. According to long time employee, David, the books are zeroed out each month. Any profit left over is given to the other efforts of the Salvation Army such as disaster relief.

Side note on the huge computer desk I no longer needed. We put it out with the garbage the night before the weekly large item garbage pickup and within 10 minutes, someone had taken it away. Glad someone found it useful!

Properly dispose of Hazardous Waste
While cleaning out junk in my home, I came across 5 portable DVD player batteries and an empty propane can. All said to dispose of properly and NOT put in the trash. Well Sugar Land and Missouri City had no place for dropping off this kind of waste. So I went to the City of Houston web site and they have 2 hazardous waste disposal centers. One is on the north side and one is at Highway 90 and Post Oak. That location takes waste from 9 am to 3 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday and they also have some Friday hours. It is super easy...you just drive through this long open warehouse. You stop at a designated point and they open your trunk and take the bad stuff away for proper disposal. They also take leftover paint. Certain days of the month they give the public the opportunity to take away any unused paint for personal use.

Here's to getting all those deductions by year end and reusing through recycling!

Cecilia Sinclair
Wonder Weather Woman