Weather Goes to the Dogs Today & To the Snow Geese this Winter

It is a big day! It is Hike with your Hound Day at Columbian Park. You can see Tank above in his Superman costume last year. The pets will only briefly dress up because it will be so hot out today. We have got real dog day weather and this is a good reminder to make sure you have a cool place for your pet and that their water bowl is filled up. Dogs cannot cool themselves down as efficiently as humans. The Hike will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and the contests begin at 7:15 p.m. at Memorial Island. The contests include: Best Trick, Best Costume, Dog/Owner Look-a-Like, and Biggest "Doggie" Smile. The weather and this day is certainly all about the dogs.

Today, I have the biggest "doggie" smile you have ever seen. That is right I have started your winter forecast and for all those that really know me, you know that only means one thing. Check back to see what year this winter could resemble (smile grows even bigger). I think the snow geese will be happy and fed well. Snow geese is the affectionate term I use to all those that love snow like I do. Speaking of snow, here is another example of why so many are thankful for the big rain this week. So far this year we have had more snow than rain! Take a look!



We have had 31 inches of snow in 2007, compared to 24.6 inches of rain. This is incredible. But it gets even better. Thanks to the blizzard in February our actual total yearly precipitation is actually .08" above average. This is incredible, especially when you consider 62% of the state of Indiana was in drought conditions as of last week.

Peggy in Shadeland received a grand total of 4.75 inches of rain Sunday and Monday and it was the highest amount of rain in the entire state! The Wabash Valley effect strikes again. To answer yesterday's blog question....if this was snow how much would we have had? Would we have had more than the blizzard of 2007? Well, here in Indiana we usually have a snow ratio of 10 inches of snow for every inch of rain. New research has this number closer to 13 to 1. But we will use the 10 to 1 ratio for simplicity. So Peggy in Shadeland would have had 47.5 inches of snow if this week's rain had been snow! This would have almost tripled our 17 inches of snow we received during our snowiest blizzard on record! Here were the official snow totals from that great day that I will always remember.



Now I will leave you on edge with time to ponder if this winter could bring yet another blizzard. Is it really possible? Just remember the late 1970s when nature went back to back on us with the Blizzard of 1977 and the Blizzard of 1978. Could history repeat itself? What are your thoughts. I will have my thoughts later today with your first official sneak peak to your winter forecast. Let it snow, let is snow, let it snow....