Snizzle to Snausages!! A Treat of A Day on the Way!

A dazzling sunset was captured on Renaissance Cam yesterday. Today make sure to watch for more artistic views courtesy of nature!


We will make it two beautiful days in a row! This time of year when you break freezing and have the wind lay low for most of the day you are in good shape. The sun will even brighten our day up today. This is a lot better than the snizzle or the flurries with a little patchy drizzle we had earlier in the week. When things are going well I usually yell snausages!! I got this from the treats that BJ our family pet loves to snack on. The dog days of December are here and Riley below loves the tranquil weather as well. But we we need to enjoy it while we can before we get into another dogfight with nature beginning tonight and Friday. For now though we will just enjoy the present!


Snausages! Did you catch last night bright and beautiful moon? If not Jaime Long has you covered. He is one of our many wonderful videographers we have on staff and I appreciate him going out in the cold last night. This moon will be called the full cold moon on Friday night when we should get our next good look at it. What will make it special is that it will be at perigee at the same time its full. This means the moon will be about as close is it can be from the earth as it orbits us or only 221, 500 miles away. Look for it to be a little brighter than it usually is and it will be higher in the sky longer because it is opposite of the low sun. The full cold moon was named "cold" because this is the time of year with our longest nights and shortest days allowing winter to take firm control of our weather. But I have some great news for you! Our evenings will be brightening up once again on Sunday. Take a look below!


Even though the shortest day of the year is technically on December 21st we do start gaining daylight in the evening starting this Sunday. We gain a whopping one minute. But by time we finish out the year we will have already gained 10 minutes. Every little bit helps this time of year. The reason for this discrepancy is the earth's orbit is not a perfect circle around the sun but it is an elliptical orbit. This should keep your glass half-full today and if that is not enough here are some beautiful pictures of the clouds and sunsets from Wednesday across the area.


There is nothing like taking in a good sunset and that is just what Bob Barker from Lafayette did yesterday in Lafayette. Usually the brilliant colors are blocked out from his neighborhood but not yesterday the scene was brilliant and bright as altocumulus clouds illuminated the sky. Teri Trent also gives us a look at the nice break we had from our cloudy season yesterday. These were the same cloud types taken earlier in the day and since the sun angle was higher in the sky we didn't get the brilliant purple and pinks but those clouds still were impressive and seemed as if they were painted in the sky by a great artist.


Now back to reality! These clouds that are refracting and reflecting our sunlight giving us heart-warming displays are a sign of a very turbulent pattern taking place across the country. Yes, every rose has its thorn or in this case every beautiful sunset cloud comes with a warning. We have a maritime tropical air mass colliding with polar and pacific air masses across the old US of A. You add in a meandering jet stream and hold onto your seats! It has gotten so wild across the country that Houston, Texas had snow early this morning. You have to see it to believe it on the satellite and radar imagery below!

The snow wasn't heavy enough to stick but it did ice up some of the bridges around the area as temperatures fell to 32 degrees. It was Houston's earliest snow since 1944. It usually only snows in Houston once every four years. This reminds me of something way more important. I have dear friends and neighbors of ours that have had an unexpected longer stay in Houston. Our WLFI family and the Prangley household wish the Yocum's the best. Mike Yocum continues to get stronger and I cannot wait to see him and chat with him on his famous porch in Buckingham just in time for our January thaw. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mike for a speedy recovery. The good news is that he will be home in time to enjoy his St. Louis Cardinals garage and games on the radio before he knows it! I have never been in a more impressive garage and that is because I would rank him at the top of the list of best Cardinal fans and we all know how rabid they are. I say this in a complimentary way! Mike stay strong, get better, and we all love you here in Lafayette. Mike is not a big fan of snow and I am sure I will be blamed for this Texas snow when he sees me again here in Lafayette. That is okay by me!

Tonight make sure to tune in for the volatile pattern on the way. I aim to please everybody in the forecast and it just may be possible in the seven day forecast. Have a wonderful day! Snausages!