Real Life in Jackson, Wyoming

Cold and Wet = Spring in Jackson.

After the wonderful weather earlier this spring, Mother Nature decided to stamp her feet and slap us around.  I had a tour cancel yesterday because of rain and lightning, and today it has decided to snow.  It looks like early November but with the trees still having leaves.  Shit.  No bikee ridee today for sure.  Good day for paperwork.  I have been seeing on some sites (and specifically the natgeotv.com site) advertisements for "Spring in Jackson Hole" alluding to the fact that it is a wonderful time to visit and a closely guarded secret in the community.  Really?  WTF have those folks in that advertising firm been smoking/drinking/eating?  Whatever the it is I want some.  Spring in JH being a secret?  Yeah, in the sense it normally sucks so bad we don't talk about it because it is depressing.  Christ,  I can't remember the last Memorial Day weekend when it didn't snow, rain, sleet, and generally suck donkey dicks.  The only secret about spring in JH is the locals know enough to get the F out of town.

Photo from the webcam:

Fickle Weather Gods.

Holy cow the weather gods must be pissed.  After almost five weeks of some of the finest weather I have ever seen in April and May, winter decided to fuck with us some more.  It is snowing right now and kinda nasty.  The Park Service finally opened up the new bike path from the southern sign above the fish hatchery to Moose yesterday and I thought why not ride to Moose today and enjoy the new path.  The path was great; nice smooth new asphalt and no crowds or cars, but a real strong tailwind out the way out so of course a real strong headwind.  And to make it just that much more enjoyable, throw in rain/snow and a wet bike path with mud and debris getting all over a new bike.  Still had fun but if the weather doesn't improve, time to bring out the bike with fenders.  Damn.

Photo from the house.

Rainy Days.

There were thundershowers all day here in Jackson Thursday with just enough frequency that a bike ride wasn't an option.  With all the lightning, I didn't want to chance it.  Spent most of Thursday swapping parts off a bike in anticipation of a bike swap Saturday.  Time to thin the bike herd here at home.  It rained pretty hard most of the night so we are good and wet again.  A nice change with all the good weather we have had; I certainly don't want to burn up this summer.  Video of the bird feeder action.

 

 

Unbelievable Weather.

I have been out and about on my bike several times in the last week or so and cannot believe the good weather we are having.  This is probably the best spring weather I have seen in 15 years or more.  Hell, I was running around yesterday in mid-seventy degree weather.  It is like early July in mid-May.  Of course, this may mean we are going to burn up later this summer.  Let's hope not.  My sister and her family were under an evacuation order yesterday from a forest fire near their home north of Ft. Collins.  I hope we stay a little damper than they have.  And sadly Alex, I didn't get back up to Yellowstone for a ride; the weather moved in the next day and it was raining up there so no go.

Raining Hard.

Woke up this am to probably the crappiest day thus far this spring with a cold rain falling.  No desire to do anything other than clean house, cook soup, and stay dry.  Hopefully this means the next few days improve greatly and we get the weather we had a couple weeks ago back.  May even be snowing on the southern part of Yellowstone (bad news for any riding up there this week).

Fickle Weather.

Cold again last night with temps in the high twenties.  Good thing I didn't take the bait last week and plant anything in the ground; I think it would be dead now.  At least the geraniums I kept over the winter and put outside are now free of these little aphids (I think the cold killed the little bugs but the geraniums should be fine; they're pretty hardy.)  Sounds like things warming up tomorrow and Monday.  It is still nothing like last April so even with this brief period of snow and cold rain, our weather has been much better.  No tours yet but that's fine.  I have a lot to organize, clean, and store for the summer (all my winter crap.)

La Nina = La Fizzle.

That's right Lingus, I thought we were supposed to have a La Nina this year.  Guess it fizzled out.  Our weather has been great the last week in Jackson; probably the longest stretch of good weather I have ever seen in April.  Mid sixties on April 25?  That's like June.  It was raining hard last night and the forecase did say it would get cold again so of course there is a fine dusting of snow on some of my lawn and in the taller grass.  Nothing on the pavement; too warm to stick even with the colder temps.  And it is still nice this am with some clouds over the Tetons and that is it.  All in all a great spring, but I hope it doesn't mean we burn up in July and August.

What a Difference...

a year makes.  Went for a short ride up Cache Creek yesterday to gauge the snow and mud situation, and there were only a few muddy/snowy patches until you got to the old parking lot, then there was lots of snow.  The sidewalk and a lot of Putt-Putt was clear but larger snow patches still linger in the trees.  Tiny Hagen is probably two weeks off before it is clear of snow.  All in all, we are probably six weeks ahead of last year in terms of snow melting off the trails.  Hell, my lawn is clear of snow and for the first time since I moved to this house I haven't had to shovel snow off it.  I just hope we don't burn up this July and August.  Today is supposed to be a stellar spring day with temps in the high sixties.  Then it is supposed to get crappy again for most of the week.  Go figure; spring weather.

Back to Winter.

After lamenting the end of our season on Saturday, things turned around on Sunday (naturally.)  What was the reason?  Simple:  a downhill race was scheduled so of course the weather was cold, foggy, and snowing hard.  The temps over Saturday night dropped to just the freezing mark but cold enough that the course held up, and it snowed off and on again all day.  The new snow was needed but made for difficult skiing; hitting a patch of the new snow was like hitting glue:  very, very grabby conditions and you had to ski carefully.  This am it is in the low twenties so I think our season is saved.  We will probably reopen Bearcar, Exhibition, and Belly Roll tomorrow and so long as it stays cold the Hillclimb should go off without too much trouble.  Crossing fingers and all that.

Photo from this am:

Spring is Here (Maybe.)

It has been quite warm here since last week, and especially since Saturday.  It didn't freeze last night or the night before at my house, and it doesn't sound like cold weather will return until sometime near the end of the week.  Suits me; melt out the driveway and roads, break out the bikes, and enjoy spring.  Only poopy thing about spring (and this seems to be the norm in the last five or six years) is lots of rain.  I love bike fenders.