Saint Matthew's

Ugh.

The light snow that has blanketed the region has caused a lot of stress for morning rush hour drivers. The roads, in many places in Bergen County, are extremely slick. I can only imagine the hillier areas of the county — this morning is really not hot for driving. I do hope that the local governments will eventually drop some road salt to ease the travel problems. Whether they salt and sand or not, I still have to leave for a local visit at 11am, no matter the road conditions.

Sometime this afternoon, the cold front from out west is going to push through the region, pushing temperatures into a range I loving call “this isn’t right.” An easy translation is that wind chills are going to make it feel zero or below. One positive weather story is that we’re not going to get that snowstorm that the central Middle Atlantic states are gearing up for – from an area just north of DC and southward, heavy snow accumulations are expected.

For us New Jerseyans, while it will be cold this weekend, there is no threat of snow. Therefore I look forward to seeing you in church on Saturday night or Sunday morning.

Last night when the massive Midwest storm finally reached New Jersey, the precipitation was falling as a wet, heavy snow — something that weather forecasters seemed to have missed in their anxious delivery of “don’t worry, this is a rain event” pronunciations. Of course, the weather people were claiming that they did warn of snow for the area, but only those areas north and west of New York City. And those areas are usually the higher elevation areas of New Jersey – the Warren, the Sussex Counties area.

Bergen overlooks New York City.

New York City was getting pounded with snow. At least a couple of inches fell before turning over to rain around 3am-ish.

Yet this snow fall that turned to rain, the mess was left. Slush.

I really don’t like slush.

(Cross posted; reviovine.com)

With the snowstorm “raging” outside, I’m sitting in front of my computer with my XM radio playing in the background (I am flipping around, listening to Laura Ingraham, Classic Vinyl, and The Highway). I am happy that the storm hasn’t dumped a foot of snow on us, an amount that was warned by weather forecasters. Still, we’ve gotten a healthy dose of the cold white stuff.

Having Monday off, I’ve forced myself to stay “snow bound” for the day. Earlier, I was really doing nothing as I plopped myself in front of the TV, watching Fox Business Network and CNBC as the stock market fell through the 7000 point floor. And this after the government sinks another $30 Billion in bailout money into AIG. I was watching an interview on CNBC with the head of AIG; he said that their company is going to sell off some of their associated business to raise cash to pay back taxpayers for the two bailouts they’ve accepted. This makes no sense, at least to me. Look, I’m not a business genius by any means, but selling off parts of your company that are keeping your ship from completely crashing, at least to me doesn’t make much sense. Sell off the good, keep the bad, and in the end, your smaller company is better off. Maybe someone needs to explain this business-thing to me.

What do I know? I can talk theology better than I can talk dividends.

Otherwise, I plan on doing very little today. A little cleaning, a little cooking (planning on making lentil soup), and a little reading. Tonight, I’ll watch “24″ on Fox (a two-hour block tonight! The White House gets invaded and Jack has to stop it).

Oh, I will shovel when the storm comes to an end. I guess that’s good form of exercise.

The past couple of days have been really busy – I’ve been delinquent in writing.

Yesterday, I had a chance discussion with one of our neighbors here on Grand Street about, of all things, the weather. They said that with temperatures slowly rising and the start of baseball spring training, this winter is about over. I said I wouldn’t be too confident in this weather prognostication. 

For a couple of days now, I have had this weird feeling that winter is waiting to remind us that he’s still around. Why do I have this fear that we’re in for at least one more big snow storm?

I am tired of the television news.

Yes, we are in for a cold snap. A couple of days of ridiculously cold weather is not going to remake the New York/New Jersey landscape.

It’s going to be cold.

I don’t need to hear weather forecasters and reporters act as though it has never been cold here. Aaarrrggghhh!!!

Otherwise, my Wednesday is busy. I will be in the church office sometime around 8:45am and be there until 11:30. I have a couple of visits this afternoon and then back to church to get ready for Midweek Divine Service at 7:30pm and our bible class.

This is going to be a cold week here in the New Jersey/New York area – temperatures are expected to cascade downward. By Friday, according to Accuweather, the high temperatures around here at going to top out at 16 degrees. And we can all expect the usual news reports about the cold weather being the coldest weather of the season, how we should check on the elderly, and how we can find ways to keep heating expenses down during this economic downturn. 

The one thing we shouldn’t do during this cold weather is whine.

We’re stronger than the constant barrage of moaning and crying about the weather being cold. It’s winter in New Jersey. It’s supposed to be cold. 

I guess I just wanted to vent before I turned on the news to see the dire weather warnings by anchors sitting in a warm studio.

But this week is going to be a busy one – real life doesn’t change, even if it is cold. I will be balancing my time (when I am not on visits) in the church or home office. Call me on my cell phone to catch me.

That was some rain that fell earlier this morning. It just came down in buckets. Here at Saint Matthew’s, we know it was a heavy rain storm when our front walk gets flooded.

Everything’s back to normal.

With temperatures knocking on 90 degrees and the humidity up to insane levels, today is a perfect day for me to complain and moan.

If you haven’t already guessed it, I don’t like humidity.

It is the one terrible part of being in the New Jersey/New York area — it is always humid.

But I bear this cross with dignity … and lots of whining.

Keep cool.

Tomorrow the temperatures here in the Northern New Jersey area are supposed to fall into the mid-20s with wind chills much lower than that.

Our local news media is already banging the drums, warning everyone that tomorrow is going to be cold, really cold.

I don’t want to hear it. It is winter. It is usually cold around these parts.

And it shouldn’t come as a surprise – it also snows here, too. Well, not tomorrow. But sometime this winter, we’ll get a snowstorm. Of course, the news media will do its best to scare the heck out of us when this storm comes, just like they did earlier this week warning us of a 6-8 inch snowfall, one that never materialized.

So, for the rest of the winter, no whining about how cold it is out.

It was really pretty waking up this morning and looking out the window on the newly fallen first snowfall of the season. OK, winter is a few weeks away, but the winter blanket of snow made everything look very peaceful.

Click on the thumbnails for a quick look.

Can you believe that a tornado hit Brooklyn?

We’re talking about Brooklyn – the place that gives the name for that apparently funny sophisticated accent many New Yorkers have … the home of the egg cream and Coney Island … the real home of the Dodgers (sorry, LA) and the future home of the Nets (sorry, NJ) … and it gets hit by a tornado?

Yesterday morning’s amazingly strong storms caused flooding throughout the tri-state. When the New York City subways are flooded, that’s one heck of a storm! Here in New Milford, we got localized flooding. But nothing compared to what other communities in New Jersey experienced.

However, it is the tornado that walloped Brooklyn that was the highlight of yesterday’s storm. The New York Times has a video round up of yesterday’s Brooklyn’s very first tornado.

Oh, and the weather forecasters expect more heavy rain tonight…

Last night’s violent thunderstorms have knocked out the United Water plant in Haworth. That means all of us have to boil water for consumption until they give us to OK to drink it right from the faucet. It is OK to wash clothes and dishes and take a shower.

Those storms were horrific. The lightning seemed to go on for an hour before, during, and after the storms. I was out this morning (just got back) and there are numerous tree branches down all throughout our Bergen County area. Power was out in parts of Bergenfield. The train crossing guard arms at New Bridge Road was acting up – the arms would come down every two minutes even though no trains were coming.

Hopefully everything, including the water system, will be back up and running sometime today.

I don’t care what people say – this heat and humidity has to go.

Everyone I met today was complaining about it. I visited with a member this morning and they couldn’t believe the heat. Even the residents at Woodcrest Healthcare Center on River Road. They couldn’t believe it was that uncomfortable outside. And they don’t go outside when it gets this hot!

I’m sitting in the home office right now – air conditioning off (I forgot to turn it on) – and I am looking at my schedule. Two more visits and a stop at Cablevision await me this afternoon. I am not looking forward to going outside, even though I will be sitting in an air conditioned car.

I know, I know … it’s summer time and it is supposed to be hot. But it doesn’t mean that I have to like it.

I wonder if Jesus’ disciples ever complained about the heat?

Ugh. The latest weather forecast makes me sick. Could get upwards of 6 to 10 inches of snow, maybe more, starting overnight and continuing until Saturday.
A winter storm warning is in effect for all of us here in Bergen County (starting Friday morning). After the jump, read the latest National Weather Service storm warning report.

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Huh? I just watched weathercaster Nick Gregory on FOX 5 and I don’t believe what he said. Oh, it is going to get cold again; who expected 80 degree temperatures to be the norm for mid-March around here? But he used that four-letter word: SNOW. Yes, he said – right now – we are looking at a good mix of snow/rain/sleet around here on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. But he mentioned that NYC could – stressing the could – get upwards of 6 inches or more if scenarios break against the current forecast. And since we’re close to NYC here in New Milford, we get what they get.

I thought the snow-thing was over.

Snow? Ugh.