When I woke up this morning, it was 34 degrees F., 10 degrees higher than yesterday, which was nearly 10 degrees higher than the day before. This is how it’s supposed to work when we get one of these cold spells. Brrr for a while, watch your pipes, wait for the inevitable thaw.

It’s now 31, although that happens. Sometimes the temperature doesn’t bottom out until after sunrise. Normally I would barely pay attention; I just glance at my desktop icon and get going about my business.

Today I’m watching a little more, just a little. I know what’s coming. The temperature plays a part, but that’s not what we’re going to notice unless we lose power. No one’s going outside to battle the elements, not for a few days I suspect. We’ll stay as toasty as possible.

I live just south of the 48th parallel, essentially the same as Seattle proper, although I live about 10 miles north of the city limits. I’m almost directly on the I-5 corridor that runs between Seattle and Everett, known to locals as the Puget Sound Convergence Zone.

This image gives you an idea. Systems split at the Olympics and converge again on the other side over Puget Sound, and that’s about where I live. So we get interesting weather sometimes that doesn’t match up with the rest of the region. Add to that a somewhat high elevation (I’m about 600’ ASA here) and sure, we’ve seen more snow than others. At times. Sometimes no snow (kind of a shadowing effect).

This isn’t a convergence zone event coming up, although it tends to always play a part. For us, it’s more our latitude at this point, and elevation. But everybody’s getting a lot of snow. I don’t think we’ll stand out, particularly, and if we have 22 inches and down south a bit they have 15, no honors are given.

So here we are, as prepared as we’re going to be. We’re fortunate to be off today; this storm is looking to start around noon and get heavy around rush hour. With a week to prepare, I’m wondering what businesses are going to do and what disasters await on the interstate.

It’s funny; at this moment, around 7:45am, there are a few flurries around as it’s cold and there’s a bit of moisture, and the weather people are busy saying, “THIS IS NOT IT. PAY NO ATTENTION TO THESE LITTLE FLAKES. MORE FLAKES ARE COMING. MANY MORE FLAKES.”

As for me, at some point I’ll head out to the store to pick up an Rx for my son and maybe some nonperishables in case we lose power, but we’re pretty much set for the duration. Unless the duration endures, which is really the big question, which is why this is so interesting.