I made it to Volunteer Park today, all bundled up.
It felt colder than the 42 °F (5 °C) reported on my phone’s weather app.
Sunday 
Sunday
Wednesday/ snow on the ground 
It started snowing at around 8 am this morning here in Munich, but it could not have been more than an inch an or so, from what I could tell.
I used the Line 19 streetcar again to get Hauptbahnhof (the main train station), and from there, ran out to Odeonsplatz and a comic book store on Fraunhoferstrasse.
(The sidewalk surfaces were treacherous with the snow and ice, and there were no pedestrian crossings to speak of. Then I realized that is the other use of any U-bahn station: it’s an under passage for pedestrians to get from one side of an intersection to the other).
I bought used three comic books for all of Є8.40. More books to weigh down my luggage but hey, I was still 10+ pounds under the weight limit with both my suitcases when I checked them in at Cape Town.
Tuesday/ a cold day in Munich 
I put on full kit and kaboodle this morning, before venturing out in the frigid weather. I limited my excursions outside to Hauptbahnhof and Marienplatz.
(The day started at -7 °C and the high briefly reached 0°C.)
I used it to run out the Hauptbahnhof (main station), and to Marienplatz. There is a ticket machine on the street car– very convenient, and only €11,10 for a Zone 3 day ticket.
There is not much of the Hauptbahnhof buildings visible from the street, because of a major construction-refurbishment project that is underway.
A federal election will be held in Germany on 23 February 2025 to elect the 630 members of the 21st Bundestag.
Check out this poster.
LET’S TAKE BACK THE FUTURE— with a strong Europe against Trump and Putin.
Friday/ rainy and dark 
Happy Friday the Thirteenth.
It was rainy and dark all day outside (but not quite as dark as in the forest from The Nutcracker in the picture below).
A ballerina from Pacific Northwest Ballet performs “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker” on Wednesday evening at McCaw Hall in Seattle. [Photo by Kevin Clark / The Seattle Times]
Thursday/ a foggy week 
It has been foggy at night and into the early morning— and cold outside— the whole week, with a high of only 42°F (5°C) yesterday.
It is clearer outside tonight, and there will be rain tomorrow.
One more night of widespread fog, as seen from the Space Needle Panocam.
Tuesday/ a lot of gray 
The rainy weather has stopped, and the forecast for the next week or so can be described as ‘morning fog, and partly sunny the rest of the day’.
The lows will be mid- to high 30s (3 °C) and the highs 46°F (8 °C) or so.
(Stevens Elementary School was on a list of schools to be closed, but Seattle Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brent Jones announced just yesterday that he and the school board will no longer pursue school closures and consolidations to solve the Seattle school district’s multi-million dollar budget shortfall.)
Thursday/ colder 
The amigos played pickleball inside at the Sandman’s Courts in Columbia City today.
There was sun outside, but the high was only 55°F (13°C).
Thursday/ gold 
It was a beautiful fall day here in Seattle (63° F / 17°C), with a blue sky and sun this afternoon.
Wednesday/ landfall 
Landfall was to the south of Tampa and St. Petersburg, sparing those areas a large storm surge out of Tampa Bay.
That is not to say there is not a lot of water there. Some areas around St. Petersburg received more than 16″ of rain in the last 24 hours. 
Doppler radar data indicates that the eye of #Hurricane #Milton has made landfall near Siesta Key in Sarasota County on the west coast of Florida.
Tuesday/ on hurricane Milton watch
Tensions are running high in Florida. Emergencies have been declared, with evacuation orders, in dozens of Florida counties.
There are reports of clogged highways and interstates, and many gas stations running out of gas, as drivers make their way out of the storm’s path.
Jason Samenow of the Washington Post explains below why it matters exactly where near Tampa, the hurricane makes landfall (projected to be very late on Wednesday night, or early Thursday morning).
Monday/ here comes Milton
Milton was a Category 5 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico late Monday Eastern time.
Right now the models predict that it will make landfall near Saint Petersburg and Tampa, Florida, on Wednesday night.
Milton is the 13th named storm to form in the Atlantic in 2024. In late May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that there would be 17 to 25 named storms this year, an above-normal amount. This season follows an overly active year, with 20 named storms — including an early storm later given the official name of “Unnamed.” It was the eighth year in a row to surpass the average of 14 named storms. Only one hurricane, Idalia, made landfall in the United States. Typically, the El Niño pattern that was in force last season would have suppressed hurricanes and reduced the number of storms in a season. But in 2023, the warm ocean temperatures in the Atlantic blunted El Niño’s usual effect of thwarting storms.
[Map by the New York Times]
Thursday/ Helene is here
Hurricane Helene is one of the biggest storms on record to strike the Gulf Coast. A few hours before making landfall, Helene had winds of at least tropical storm force, a sustained 39 mph or greater, across some 420 miles.
According to an analysis by Colorado State University hurricane scientist Phil Klotzbach, Helene is larger than all but two gulf storms since 1988: Opal, a Category 3 storm that made landfall on the Florida Panhandle in October 1995, and Irma, a Category 4 storm that struck South Florida in September 2017.
When a storm is so large, it means more people are exposed to its hazards, which extend hundreds of miles away from the point of landfall.
– From reporting by Scott Dance, Simon Ducroquet and John Muyskens in The Washington Post
Monday/ the last week of summer 
The black-eyed Susans, the pretty asters (picture below), and some sunflowers here in my neighborhood are the last of this summer’s flowers.
It was a very pleasant 70°F (21 °C) today, with a blue sky and sun this afternoon.
Wednesday/ it’s still very hot in Phoenix
We’re going to warm up to 88°F (31°C) tomorrow here in Seattle: warm for late summer.
Our summer temperatures are nothing compared to a place such as Phoenix, Arizona, of course.
At 11 a.m. local time this morning, temperatures in Phoenix hit 100° F (38°C) for the 100th day in a row. The longest previous 100-degree streak was 76 days in 1993.
Today’s high in Phoenix was 108°F (42°C). Night-time temperatures do not bring much relief. The low last night was 88°F (31°C).
Tuesday/ wave clouds 
WHIDBEY ISLAND STATION, Wash. — Residents of and near Whidbey Island witnessed a weather phenomenon on Tuesday as “wave clouds” lined the horizon.
Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds or fluctus clouds, as the formations are named, are very rare over Washington, according to KING 5 Chief Meteorologist Mike Everett.
The clouds look like literal waves in the sky, a series of rounded crests that are worthy of a double-take.
Often referred to as “wave clouds,” the clouds signal a difference in wind speed and density between two layers.
– Reported by Olivia Sullivan for king5.com
[Photo courtesy of Cathy O’Keefe, posted on king5.com]
Friday/ rain
Happy Friday.
There was steady rain here in the city today (about 0.5″), and there will be more this weekend.
It was all of 58°F (14°C) as I headed out for a quick walk after dinner.
Tuesday/ fall-ish weather 
A little bit of rain, a little sun, clouds— that seems to be the weather pattern for the week. A high of 71 °F (22 °C) today.
It’s the last hurrah for my deck furniture before I put it away in the garage and the basement.
Saturday/ thunder and lightning 
A large thunderstorm with rain and lightning is passing over the Seattle metro area tonight.
NOAA’s GOES-18 (launched Mar 1, 2022) is the third satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series, the Western Hemisphere’s most sophisticated weather-observing and environmental-monitoring system.
The GOES-R Series provides advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and monitoring of space weather.
[Picture from noaa.gov]
Thursday/ hazy skies 
Here is tonight’s sunset, seen from Capitol Hill’s 14th Avenue at Thomas Street.
That’s a layer of smoke out there, from the wildfires east of the Cascades, and also from those burning in Oregon and California.
Friday/ warm weather 
Happy Friday.
The Blue Angels are in town for Seafair, and the warm weather is back for the next several days.
It was 88°F (31°C) today.
