Nival is the word today from A.Word.A.Day It means of, growing in, or relating to, snow.

Snow.

That substance that we have none of, here in Stumptown. That white, sometimes fluffy stuff that the PDX news media was all over yesterday like hornets on your best BBQ’d steak.

I admit I took some perverse pleasure in hearing the news teasers go from “Stormwatch 2005” to “Snow: How much, how soon?” to “The storm will miss us but another one is coming!” to “OK, not this time.” I did think a little too much time was devoted to reporters standing out in the rain in the usual places (Troutdale, the Sylvan overpass, etc.), saying “it’s raining.” But, then, I usually think that too much time is devoted to reporters standing out in the usual places saying, “It’s snowing/sleeting/icing/hailing.”

I wasn’t too worried myself. My favorite weather predictor is NOAA’s NWS Northwest River Forecast Center 10 Day Temperature & Precipitation Info. Don’t let the name “River Forecast Center” put you off. The link goes to a set of maps of the entire Northwest region that forecast minimum and maximum temperatures and precipitation for the next 10 days. The current day’s precipitation is further broken down in 6-hour steps. And at the bottom is a map comparing the prediction from the previous day with the actual observations. They are almost always more accurate than local news, and often beat The Weather Channel.

The forecast is currently showing that PDX will not drop below freezing until next Tuesday, and there is no precipitation expected at that time — i.e. clear and cold overnight, but above freezing later in the day. So I’m still not worried.

Weather Channel. is predicting high 47, low 40, rain for next Tuesday.
The Weather Underground and Hamweather (makers of the software that runs the weather in the left-hand sidebar) both predict high 45, low 35, partly cloudy with a slight chance of rain.
the NWRFC shows high between 40 and 50, low between 20 and 32, no rain.
It will be interesting to see who’s closer this far out to what actually happens.

I’m not worried. I’ll just keep knitting away on Sock Scarf Two. Even at the rate I finish projects, it should be finished in plenty of time!