Goodbye, January. Hello, February. Not much change.

Updated Wednesday morning:  It's the 7 o'clock hour right now and the storm is just now blasting into our region.  Some very light snow began about the time Gator Wife and I were arising around six.  But it has now picked up and is coming down moderately right now.  Before it ends tonight, we should get between 12 and 18 inches, according to the Ch. 6 weather staff, and it might mix for a brief while with sleet and freezing rain this afternoon.  The local TV stations have a crawl along the bottom of the screen announcing storm closings.  I think the list could be cut by at least three quarters if they only showed who's open today.  I won't say all, but certainly the great majority of schools are closed today.  For many it's the fourth of five built in "snow days" built into the school year.  At least Gator Wife is home today, even though the place she normally works on Wednesday is open.  She had twisted her knee over the weekend and is still recovering.  And Gator Daughter is on vacation from her work this week.  It's nice to know I don't have to worry about my family's travel on a day like this.

Updated Tuesday late afternoon:  Storm #1 is all but over.  We have about 4 inches of new, very light and fluffy snow.  Storm #2 is expected to hit around midnight and drop up to 20 inches of new snow.

Updated Tuesday noon:  Feb. 1st and the first storm is now well underway.  Snow is already collecting.

The last day of January, one of our coldest and snowiest months in recent history, dawned with beautiful sunshine.  The weather reports, though, say the beginning of February will be very close to what January started...snow and cold.  Perhaps even some ice.

Three storms, count 'em, three, have their sights on southern Maine this week.  The first is scheduled for Feb. 1, Tuesday, and could leave plowable snow.  The second one, Wednesday's, is the "big one."  Snowfall of anywhere from a few inches to 18 or more is forecast in various prognostications.  Some serious icing could be included with this one.

The third looks like it will slam us Saturday.

Of course, the forecasters always include that familiar caveat:  It all depends on the track of the storm.

The weather was our main topic in January.  It looks like it's continuing in February. 

GiM