Let it Snow!

I haven't been cured of my Weather.com addiction yet.  In fact, it's getting worse.  I grew up in Southern California, where the weather forecast was always the same:  "Late night and early morning low clouds burning off by mid-morning.  Highs in the low '80s."  I could go for weeks without checking the weather forecast, and yet I still managed to dress myself every morning and ride my bike around without any major weather-induced catastrophes. 

Here in Milwaukee, it's a different story.  I guess that's because we actually have weather here.  I compulsively check the weather before each commute.  I study the radar maps.  I analyze the wind speed and direction.  I evaluate the wind chill.  Based on that data, I make critical decisions concerning my wardrobe and bike gear. 

So now that we are under a "winter weather warning," the excitement is almost intolerable.  All pumped up on forecasts of near-blizzard conditions, I left my house this morning looking for accumulations of snow so that I could purposely ride through them.  I took the photo that appears at the top of this post because it was the snowiest-looking street I could find on my commute this morning.  In fact, most of my ride was on clear pavement.  I really did my best to create the illusion (both in my own fantasy world and on this blog) that I braved fierce conditions in order to get to work this morning. 

In fact, conditions weren't that fierce.  Instead, my ride was rather sedate this morning.  The roads were nice.  The winds were light, and the temperatures weren't that cold.  A light snow was falling, but I arrived at work bone dry (I'll take snow over rain any day). 

The weather forecasters insist that the really nasty stuff is still on its way.  We're supposed to get up to 12 inches here by the end of tomorrow.  And if those predictions don't actually pan out, I'll do my best to pretend that they did.