Hot and Cold

Eastern moon rise. Dec. 2011

On Monday, busylizzy and I were walking in the park. It was a cold and windy afternoon and we were dressed in our warmest jackets and wearing gloves and hats. We noticed, off to our right, some mini whirlwinds that were swirling leaves and other debris into the air. They were getting closer and were soon upon us. We both exclaimed at the same time that the air in those little air funnels was like a blast from a hot air furnace. We were near a parking lot and my first thought was that a big truck was sitting there, idling, and a quirky breeze blew the hot exhaust our way. But, then it happened again, a few feet further down the trail. Soon it was warm everywhere with only a few pockets of cool air remaining in the most sheltered spots. I had never experienced anything like it. It was a warm moist weather front pushing back the cold dry air. The humidity increased along with the temperature and I was soon unzipping my jacket and taking my gloves off. Moments later, a light rain came down.

I was once in Alberta and experienced the wild temperature fluctuations of a Chinook wind. It was even more dramatic than this, the leading edge of what is known as 'the pineapple express'. We got a little wet, but certainly warmed up a lot too. We arrived at home and checked the thermometer and saw that the temperature had risen about 6 degrees in the short time we had been walking.