MLK Day / forecast
Today is Martin Luther King Day. Less well-known than his civil rights work is Dr. King’s anti-war stance, which emerged strongly in the final year of his life. This pacifist epiphany occurred when "I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today, my own government." On April 4, 1967, Dr. King delivered an address entitled “A Time to Break Silence.” It included the following words:
"Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America's soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land."
Exactly one year later, he was assassinated in Memphis. James Earl Ray confessed to the murder, but theories persist that Dr. King’s nascent anti-war agitation made him a target of those who were waging that unpopular war.
Anywho. No way to smoothly transition from MLK to the weather.
So here’s what to expect overnight:
Monday will be mostly sunny and breezy today with a high only in the mid 30s.
Rain begins overnight – by 11 or 12. Sleet and freezing rain mix in throughout the early overnight hours, then changes to all rain by 4 or 5am. We could see a small accumulation of ice on the roads and sidewalks overnight—so use caution when driving—but this will be washed away by morning. Rain then tapers by late Tuesday afternoon. (The temperatures will actually rise overnight, from 32 at 11pm to 38 by 9am. Problem is, there’s no classic “trough” to trap to cold air into our area.) Still, we could see a bit of the slipperiness hang around into the morning commute, so I’ll call it:
40% chance of school delays.
15% chance of school cancellation.
The high temperature will actually reach a (comparatively) balmy 46.
Wednesday looks partly sunny, quite windy, and colder, with a high of 36 and an overnight low in the upper teens.
Thursday and Friday look like more of the same, albeit with diminishing winds. (Slight chance of snow showers Thursday night into Friday. No big whoop.)
The weekend looks milder with highs in the low 50s, but also the chance of some (rain) showers.
Snow? Ice? Wintry weather? I see nothing terribly promising through to the end of January.
Of course, all that can change rapidly, so stay tuned…