Thirty years ago, I moved from Garden City, KS to Sioux Falls, SD for the National Weather Service. At the time of the move, I had only planned to be in Sioux Falls for a few years as in those days it was difficult (and maybe still is) to get promoted on site. Plus, if I'm being honest, I really didn't want to live in South Dakota longer than I had to as I always thought there would be day I would return to the Kansas City area. Three decades later, I've served four different positions at the same office (Meteorologist Intern, Forecaster, Lead Forecaster, and Information Technology Officer), found the love of my life, and raised a family. 

From a pleasant Wednesday here in Sioux Falls with a high temperature of 51 to a day of Winter Weather Advisories with temperatures in the 20s, it can be a frustrating time for any motorcycle rider. Today, both of our Can-Am Spyders sit in the cold garage as I prepare the EGO snow blower to do battle with the snow. The batteries are fully charged and I'll be out in the elements once the snow stops falling. The fact that I won't be riding the Spyders for awhile just makes the snow sitting on my driveway look deeper than it should be. 

By Saturday morning, I'm trading in my motorcycle helmet for a stocking cap any my motorcycle for a snow blower that goes goes from 0 to 3 MPH in 10 seconds.

Since 2008, I've been collecting weather observations in my backyard with a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Wireless Weather Station. Beyond routine maintenance and an occasional replacement or addition of parts, the weather station has been rock solid.

I've heard lots of opinions these past couple months from family and friends that vaccines against COVID-19 work. I've also heard from other family members and friends, some of them anti-vaccine folks, that if/once you have survived COVID-19 you have natural immunity that protects you during future exposures to the virus. To me, the comforting news is the numbers collected here in South Dakota, both sides of this discussion are correct.

Month after month, analysis by local papers and our hospital system have consistently shown the following to be true.

When I'm not able to visit with family or travel to some place warm during the holiday season, my most favorite time of the year to work is the week between Christmas and the New Year. For the holidays, most of the office staff is on vacation, most of my organization's leadership is on vacation, and most on-going projects have been put on hold. In other words, I have found there is no other week of the year with fewer distractions than this week.

It has been no secret that since the start of the pandemic, I've been obsessed with vinyl records all over again. Part of my interest is out of nostalgia for my old records but I've also bought a lot of new music also being released on vinyl. And you know what? I'm not alone. Weekly sales in the United States of vinyl albums jumped to their second largest week since the MRC Data tracking of sales in 1991. According to Billboard.com:

The third feature release of Drupal 9 recently became available. New features and improvements in Drupal 9.3.0 include:

With today's winter storm bringing 6 to 10 inches of snow across the area, I decided to start snow blowing before the snow even ended. I'll do cleanup Saturday morning.

Below is just a quick video from the security camera of snow blowing with my EGO Single-Stage Snowblower.