Two winter storms and a blast of cold air are on the way to Central Illinois this week.
After generally 1-3″ of snow fell across Central Illinois Friday night and Saturday morning with about 3″ in Decatur, the light snow Sunday morning will come to an end.
It’ll be cloudy today with temperatures in the 30s and it’ll remain dry through Monday afternoon.
A “Winter Storm Watch” goes into effect Monday evening through early Wednesday for Cass, Menard, Morgan and Scott counties. More than six inches of snow could fall there.
With the first storm, heavier rain and wind moves in Monday night through Tuesday afternoon. Across the northwest, this could be a wintry mix or snow.
Much of our accumulating snow will fall Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning. Most of us will see 3-6″ with more in the “Watch” area and less to the southeast, 1-3″.
Once this storm departs early Wednesday, it’ll be quiet until Friday.
That’s when a second powerful storm could bring another round of heavy snow and wind to Central Illinois.
A bitterly cold blast of air will follow.
For my friends in the Quad Cities area, you could see 6-12″ of snow from the early week storm!
And, even my Peeps back home in western Kentucky could see some light snow with the late week system!
You know I love writing and sharing my thoughts with you. I’ve been doing with my blog for eight years now.
Today, I’m sharing some thoughts about my future — more specifically, the spring of 2020 — and I’m doing this in other people’s words!
I hope you find this deviation interesting and enlightening!
CHRIS McCANDLESS
In 1990, after graduating from Emory College with degrees in history and anthropology, 22-year-old Chris McCandless gave away his $24,000 in savings to a charitable organization that fought against global poverty.
He then hit the road to live a vagabond life.
In late April 1992, he was last seen alive on the Stampede Trail around the northern boundary of Denali National Park in Alaska.
After spending months in the frontier, with little food and equipment and inexperienced with the layout of the area, McCandless headed back to civilization. But, he was trapped by melting snow and flooding!
His journal entries indicated 113 days in the wilderness, but his last real thoughts were noted on day 107.
McCandless died in August 1992 at the age of 24.
While Chris met an untimely and sad ending, I’m inspired by his young thinking mind!
McCANDLESS: “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future.”
McCandless goes on to say, “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
Jon Krakauer’s 1996 book, “Into the Wild” about McCandless’ life and death was made into a movie the next year starring Emile Hirsch.
“RHINESTONE COWBOY” (GLEN CAMPBELL)
In my career life, the cities have always chosen me: Rhinelander (WI), Lubbock (TX), Youngstown (OH), Mansfield (OH), Salisbury (MD), Moline (IL), Rock Island (IL), Panama City (FL), and Duluth (MN).
The only times I’ve chosen the city to call home that wasn’t career-related, it was Chicago. And, both times, it was the best decision I’ve ever made!
“I’ve been walkin’ these streets so long/Singin’ the same old song
I know every crack in these dirty sidewalks of Broadway
Where hustle the name of the name of the game
And nice guys get washed away like the snow and the rain
There’s been a load of compromising/On the road road to my horizon
But I’m gonna be where the lights are shining on me”
“BEAUTY AND THE BEAST”
Belle: “There must be more than this provincial life.”
“XANADU”
“A million lights are dancing and there you are, a shooting star/ An everlasting world and you’re here with me, eternally/ Xanadu, Xanadu”
“Xanadu, your neon lights will shine/for you, Xanadu”
REBA McENTIRE IS TALKING TO ME!
No matter what’s going on in my life, good or bad, happy or sad, when Reba McEntire releases a new album there’s a song that I feel is just for me.
On her spring 2019 release, “Stronger Than The Truth”, there were two songs!
Neither are happy, but one offers some hope.
“THE CLOWN”
My life in 2017 was played out tragically in song with “The Clown”.
“After a couple of bottle of red wine, the truth finally came out/ The words ‘I don’t love you anymore’ spilled from his mouth”
But, in the restaurant, the piano kept playing, cell phones kept ringin’, glasses were clinkin’, and everyone was laughin’, dancin’, and singin’
“So I painted a smile on my face to cover the frown/ In that room full of jokers and jesters, I was the clown”
“THE BAR’S GETTING LOWER”
If you don’t have Reba’s “Stronger Than The Truth” album, it’s fantastic.
“The Bar’s Getting Lower” is the song that really sings to me. It punches you in the gut, but it also offers hope!
Reba sings of a woman whose mother told her to hold out for a good man, which, many years ago, sounded like a good plan. However, as we know, life doesn’t always go as planned!
“She was hoping for pink champagne/ But she’ll settle for well whiskey
She saw herself in a long white gown/ Not downtown gettin’ tipsy
And that one-night stand walking through the door/ Ain’t the marrying kind, yeah that’s for sure
But she’s gettin’ older/And the bar’s gettin’ lower”
So, does she go home with the one night stand or not?
“She could thank him for the drink and walk away/ Live to love another day
But she’s gettin’ older And the night’s gettin’ colder And the bar’s gettin’ lower”
Take a listen to the song here if you haven’t heard it.
And, I’ll end this look at my future in the words of others on a very happy and sexy note with Kylie Minogue.
In 2018, she turned 50 years old. And, after beating cancer in 2005, she’s still as popular and busy as ever.
“Golden” was the title of her 2018 album and subsequent tour.
The lyrics of the title track are so inspiring!!!
“Tomorrow has all the answers/ Today says we’ve just begun”
“We’re not young, and we’re not old/ We’re the stories not yet told/ Won’t be bought and can’t be sold/ We are golden”
“Don’t you feel the sun on your face?/ Hopeful hearts of the human race/ Wrapped in the arms of love”
We’re golden/Burn like the stars Stay golden/Straight from the heart We’re the voice that’ll never give in/ Getting knocked down, back up again We’re golden, golden That’s who we are”
Here’s the very stunning Kylie Minogue with an array of beautiful men helping her out, including Jake Leigh and Anders Deeno Nielsen.
In my future, when the rain comes falling down, may it rain glitter!
And, here’s a bonus just because it’s so damn hot and summer is coming!
A much quieter and cooler weekend is on the way for Iowa and Illinois after an evening of stormy weather Thursday.
Fast-moving storms prompted several “Tornado Warnings” for the Quad Cities and some nearby counties.
On Friday, meteorologists from the Quad Cities National Weather Service office will be surveying damage to determine how many tornadoes touched down and how much of the damage was caused just by strong winds.
The first “Tornado Warning” was issued at 10:15 p.m. Thursday for Muscatine and Scott counties in Iowa.
A trained weather spotter reported a possible tornado at 10:19 p.m. near Highway F70 and U.S. Highway 61 on the east side of Muscatine, Iowa.
Another “Tornado Warning” was issued at 10:33 p.m. for Scott County, Iowa, and Rock Island County, Illinois, until 11 p.m.
A trained weather spotter reported a tornado on the ground near Stockton, Iowa, in Scott County, for about 12-15 minutes.
Two more tornado warnings were issued that included Henry and Whiteside counties in Illinois.
There were many reports of limbs down and trees snapped off across Muscatine and Scott counties. Davenport and Bettendorf were two of the hardest hit areas.
At around midnight, MidAmerican Energy reported about 21-thousand customers across the Iowa and Illinois Quad Cities without power.
Most of those were in the big cities: Davenport (10,818 customers), Bettendorf (4,942 customers), Rock Island (3,089 customers), and Moline (1,901 customers).
By 1:35 a.m., crews had restored power to many and the outage number was down to 12,556.
Once the front passes through early Friday morning, the sun will return for the weekend.
Highs will be in low-to-mid-60s Friday and closer to 70° for the weekend. Overnight lows will be near 40° Saturday morning and in the 40s Sunday morning.
My friends, I told you I’d let you know as soon as I could. I can now tell you that my vacation is almost over!
As you know from our friendship, I loved waking up very early in the morning and bringing you the first forecast of the day and I look forward to doing it again beginning Monday, March 4, 2013 for CBS4 in Rock Island, Illinois.
Friends, go to their Facebook page and “Like” them as a thank you for me.
Thank you CBS4 for welcoming me to your team. I am thrilled to be back to television and forecasting.
What's Peeps Thinking About Now? It's Probably Random! 