Weather Journal
Written by Stephanie Brazell
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Date: February 12, 2006
Today I was driving back to Kalamazoo from my home town of Dearborn. I was never so scared in my life! It was nice outside up until I reached Marshall. Snow started falling. Little by little the snow got thicker and pretty soon I couldn’t see anything but whiteness. I slowly moved into the right lane because the roads were getting slick and I’m not that experienced of a driver in the snow. I thought I would never get back to my apartment. There were no warning signs of snow. At my home in Dearborn the skies were clear and sunny. Once I got to Battle Creek the snow slowly stopped. I was able to pick up my speed from 35 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour and picking up my pace as the roads got better. I was so happy that the snow had stopped. But I wasn’t home yet. All of a sudden all I could see was red lights all around. I put my foot on the break and thought to myself, “What now?” I went only 5 miles in 45 minutes. I was freaking out. I knew it had to be a car accident but my car is old and has been breaking down A LOT so I just wanted to get home as soon as possible. Once I finally got past the accident, it was smooth sailing from there. I can honestly say that the weather that night was the worst that I had to drive through myself.
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Date: February 25, 2006
Location: Dearborn, Michigan
Time: 6:10 p.m.
Tonight is Saturday and my sister is home from Pennsylvania. We are going out tonight. I am so very excited because I don’t get the chance to go out to the bar with my sister since we live so far apart. It just started to snow here and the roads are getting bad. Normally our dad picks us up from the bar but he is going out of town tonight and won’t be able to. I really hope that I don’t have to drive tonight.
Tomorrow I will be driving to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania with my sister. I hope the weather will be okay. It could get nasty in the mountains. And it’s such a LONG drive. My sister said that it is usually like 10 degrees warmer there than it is here in Michigan. I am looking forward to that change because then I can wear flip flops. I know that 10 degrees is not that big of a change of warmth from the mid 20s but I wear flip flops once it hits 40 degrees so hopefully I will get my wish.
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Date: February 26, 2006
Well driving to Gettysburg is no fun. However it is interesting to see the difference in weather when we drive through the mountains. The weather at the top is so different from the bottom. We had to pull over because the snow was coming down so fast and heavy. But once we got to the other side there was no snow and a few miles past the mountains there was sun. It’s nice here in Gettysburg. NO SNOW! YAY! That’s nice since there is a few inches on the ground at home. We got into town around 6 p.m. The weather was nice up until the mountains (which I said before). I hate how your ears pop when you are going up the mountain. I have noticed that the sunsets are a lot earlier here
Tomorrow my sister is taking me to Philadelphia. I know I should be excited but I don’t overly want to go. It will be cold and a lot of museums are closed on Mondays and everything.
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Central Park, NYC.
Date: February 27, 2006 (Monday)
Time: 9:05 p.m.
This morning my sister woke me up really early to go to Philadelphia. I really didn’t want to go. Nothing was open because a lot of the sights aren’t open on Mondays and the other places aren’t open until March. So I was being a brat. I got dressed and my sister told me to change so I was annoyed. Once we got into the car I fell asleep. I didn’t sleep well the night before. I woke up 3 hours later and saw a sign for New York City. My sister surprised me. I was so excited, I have never been and I always wanted to go. We parked in the Lincoln Tunnel and started walking toward Times Square. It was freezing. All the tall buildings blocked the sunlight. Today the temperature was about 38 degrees even though walking around Broadway felt like 10 degrees. We went to Dean & DeLuca for coffee which was a highlight for me because on one of my favorite TV shows (Felicity) worked there. After coffee we went toward Central Park. Central Park is HUGE. A lot bigger than what I thought it would be. We saw many of the statues and all the playgrounds. But it was so cold. I could barely feel my legs. And even now they are still tingly even though it was a 3-hour ride home and we’ve been back for an hour. We walked and walked in Central Park for 3 and a half hours. It was about 35 degrees, partly sunny--at least it wasn’t snowing. Our main purpose of Central Park was to find Strawberry Fields which we finally did around 3:30 p.m. After that we went back to Times Square and stood outside TRL and then went to warm up in Planet Hollywood and got something to eat. The drive home was a little scary. We got lot in New Jersey and then it started snowing like crazy when we got back to Penn. People in southern Pennsylvania don’t know how to drive in snow because they don’t get too much. I’m hoping it snows a lot because then maybe my sister’s school will get cancelled. It only takes a few inches.
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Date: March 1, 2006 (Wednesday)
Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Today was such a nice day out. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the lower 50s. Even right now it’s still nice out. My sister and I just got back from a walk on the battle field. You are not allowed on the battle field after dusk. I have noticed that the sun rises earlier here and sets sooner than it does at home. Tomorrow is supposed to rain. My sister says that next week it is supposed to be in the 60s and 70s. I wish our spring break was next week. My mom told me that Dearborn, Michigan (where I’m from) is supposed to have an ice storm. I’m glad I don’t have to worry about that.
I can’t wait to graduate and hopefully get a job somewhere warm. I’m ready to move out of Michigan and leave. It’s crazy weather. Southern Pennsylvania is nice. My sister says that it has 4 seasons. However, the winter is less intense then Michigan’s and fall lasts longer. I could definitely deal with that.
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Date: March 2, 2006
Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Time: 4:07 p.m.
Today’s weather is cold and rainy. Well it’s not that cold. It’s about 42 degrees. But the rain makes it feel a lot colder and depressing out. I am sitting in my sister’s classroom. I helped some students out with their homework. As I helped them I asked what their favorite season was. 3 out of the 5 students I asked said winter because they love snow and it’s the season when Christmas comes. One of the older students said when it snows out even if it’s only an inch or two they have no school. To me that’s crazy. We could have had 6 inches fall and still have school. I guess that’s the difference between southern Pennsylvania and Lower Michigan. The other two liked summer because they didn’t have school. When I flipped the question many said spring was their least favorite season because that’s when the tourists come back into town. It was interesting to sit and listen to what the students had to say.
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Washington, D.C.
Date: March 4, 2006 (Monday)
Location: Washington, D.C. / Canton, Michigan
Time: 7:46 p.m.
Today I had to leave my sister. I hate spending so much time with her and then having to say good-bye and not know when the next time that I will get to see her. This morning we woke up early to drive to Washington, D.C. because I was flying out of Reagan Airport around 5:30 p.m. So we spent the day walking around D.C. The temperature was in the 40s and so much warmer than NYC. I didn’t have to wear a jacket, which I love. It was very windy out which made it a little colder but it was sunny and I could walk outside all day in that temperature. We saw all the monuments and we went into the National History Museum. The part about D.C. is there is so much to see and it’s all free. In the next few weeks the cherry blossoms will be the main attraction in D.C. I can just imagine how amazing they look.
Flying out of Reagan was so cool you could see the Washington and Lincoln Monuments and I think I could see the White House. It was cool. When I walked out of the airport the temperature was a little different probably like 10 degrees but now it is the night time.
Tomorrow I have to drive back to Kalamazoo. I am afraid that the weather is going to be like it was last time and I’ll get into a car accident. I can’t believe my spring break is over. I can’t believe I actually went somewhere other than my home town. I’m not sad that I didn’t go somewhere warm. I had an amazing time hanging out with my best friend/my sister and I got to go to NYC (which was the first time I’ve ever been there) and to D.C. I’m glad I went.
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Date: March 5, 2006
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Time: 8:35 p.m.
Today is the last day of my spring break. I have to say I had a lot of fun going to all the different cities. It’s funny how different the weather can be only miles away. While driving home today was much more relaxing than the snowstorm I drove through last time. However I just came home in the nick of time because it’s snowing pretty hard right now. I will be so upset if it is still snowing when I wake up tomorrow. It needs to be summer. I think winter is making me crabby. But I hope when spring gets here I won’t get spring fever and blow off school. However I think that might have already started. I think that spring gets me giddy and when it gets nice out all I want to do is play outside. It’s hard to want to do any school work.
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Date: March 7, 2006
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Time: 11:36 a.m.
Today was such a nice day. I am glad that spring is on its way. You can almost small it in the air. This morning it started out cold. I was disappointed to see that there was frost on my car because someone stole my car scraper out of my car last week and I don’t want to buy another one. So I had to wait for my car to defrost. I hate that. But I am glad to see the snow is melting and later this week it will almost be 60. That is very exciting. I am hoping that we get a few good thunderstorms too. This weekend is it supposed to rain but I don’t mind because that is the mood I am in. When it’s nice out there is so much things you can do outside. I love to go running or for short walks. I can’t wait to go and play tennis with my friends. I just love the spring.
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Date: March 10, 2006
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
“Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day.” All it’s been doing is raining. It’s nice to have a little rain break today. Hopefully it doesn’t rain tomorrow or later today. I’m wearing FLIP FLOPS! YAY! I LOVE IT. I just got back from tanning, which makes me in a better mood. It’s soooo nice out. I love it. I think I am going to go running outside today.
The air smells so nice and fresh. I can’t wait to see leaves on trees and the smell of a fresh cut grass. I know that it’s kind of weird but to me that is the smell of spring and there is no sweater smell.
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Date: March 12, 2006
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Time: 8:16 p.m.
Tonight we are supposed to get some thunderstorms. I think that is why I love spring so much. I love storms. I hope they come soon because I hate it when thunderstorms wake me up. Today was such a nice day out. So warm. I think it was in the 50s. Yesterday was also nice out. It started to rain late though. Next week it is supposed to get cold again. Like it’s supposed to snow. Yikes! It sucks because it will be nice for a few days and then it will be cold again so fast for a week. But that’s Michigan for you. I was hoping that next weekend would be warm like this weekend but I think it’s going to be in the 30s as highs. BOOOO!
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Date: March 13, 2006
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Well, I definitely got my storm last night. Around 2:50 a.m. I was woken up by the storm rumble. After I was woken I was in and out of sleep, but then at 3:30 a.m. lightning hit what seemed to be right outside my window. What seemed to be a second after a huge crack of thunder came which made my heart skip a beat. Then moments later a second lightning bolt hit. The rain was pounding. After the two hits the storm started going away. But I couldn’t get back to sleep. I was so annoyed. This morning when I woke up I thought it would be cold out but is was surprisingly nice out. The air smelled fresh and I was happy. Walking up to school there were worms everywhere. Another sign of spring. Later on in the day it got really windy. You could hear it from inside.
The Weather Channel says it is supposed to snow tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to that. I can’t wait for this semester to be over because it will be nice out and I will have a nice break from school, which I am so ready for.