It has been clear and cold now for twelve days. Such cold snaps aren't uncommon. January and February are known to be our coldest months and under a dome of cold, clear air, there is little motion to our weather. With the jet stream passing well to our south, we could face another week or so of such weather.

It was twelve degrees below zero this morning at our house. Denny noted the temperature when he went outside at nine to plug in the Suburban. Those of you who live in northern latitudes know what that means. Those in balmier climes need to know that we outfit our vehicles with subsidiary heating elements that will warm the oil, the battery and/or the engine before we start (or attempt to start) the vehicle.

The town of Homer is situated mostly along the shoreline of Kachemak Bay at an average elevation of fifty feet or so. We live up on the bluff at about the eight- or nine-hundred foot level. Homer is warmed by its proximity to the open water, so town is warmer in the winter--and cooler in the summer--than we are at our location.

I have seens the temperature at the credit union colder than this only once or twice. And when it is this cold at mid-day, you know we are having a cold snap.