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