Hazardous Weather Outlook
Issued by NWS Central Illinois

Severe Thunderstorms, Snow, High Winds and Plunging Temperatures across Central, East Central and Southeast Illinois during the next 12 hours!!

Low pressure will develop over northeast Missouri Tuesday morning, then rapidly intensify and track into Michigan by evening. As it does, it will pull a strong cold front through central Illinois during the afternoon and evening hours. Ahead of the front, breezy and unseasonably warm weather will persist for much of the day. Temperatures today will range from the lower 50s around the Galesburg area to a balmy 58 degrees in Lawrenceville. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop...with some of the storms potentially becoming strong to severe east of Interstate 55 from 200 pm until 600 pm this afternoon. The primary threat from any storms that occur will be damaging straight line wind gusts.

Once the front passes to the east, very strong west to northwest winds will transport sharply colder conditions into the area. Sustained winds are expected to be in the 25 to 35 mph range...with gusts approaching 50 mph. The high winds will develop across the Illinois River Valley after 200 pm...then will spread eastward to the Indiana border by early evening. In addition...lingering rain showers behind the front are expected to change to snow showers as temperatures rapidly drop through the 30s. By the time the snow comes to an end Tuesday evening, most areas will receive little or no accumulation...however locations along and northwest of a Canton to Minonk line may pick up as much as one inch of snow.

To compound matters, the combination of the very strong west winds and any snow that does accumulate later this afternoon and evening may produce some very difficult driving conditions for a few hours with considerable blowing snow, especially in the outlying areas. In addition, temperatures will drop some 40 to 50 degrees from today’s highs by late tonight as the blast of Arctic air funnels into central, east central and southeast Illinois. Low temperatures by Wednesday morning will plunge to near zero in Galesburg to the lower or middle teens far southeast. Wind chill readings will drop to between 5 below and 15 below zero by morning along and north of a Springfield to Champaign line with single digit readings across the southeast. Winds are expected to gradually diminish after midnight as the potent low pressure system pulls away from the area.

G'Day everyone, Dutch here! Welcome to my little place in the Universe!! Weekend coming up, gonna be a busy one so thought I would do a short blog to wish everyone a wonderful weekend....got another Don Wlliams song to browse with, I like the style of him and Tom T, kind of laid back and mellow, those two have been my favorites for years and this song I especially like...

Soooooooooooooo, put your troubles aside, pull up a chair and visit a spell......

got some little projects to do today to get ready for the weekend, gonna have ham & beans for supper.... on occasion I'll cook a ham on the grill, usually a smoked shank, and I'll cut off a piece of the shank end, around a pound or two slightly larger than a softball and save the hambone, bone, skin and all(freeze)for the beans....when I'm ready I get out this pot...

a 5 quart caste iron pot, it has only one purpose in life cook ham and beans.....you can't have good ham & beans cooked in anything else and you don't have to deal with the problem associated with ham & beans..gas .... first you preboil the beans ( we use 1 pound Great Northern) till the skins start floating, rinse well in cold water, add the hambone and a onion (about the size of a tennis ball), salt and pepper to taste and cook on a Low heat slowly most of the day.... I have a tripod for a fire pit and in the summertime I'll occasionally cook on an wood fire..... over time you can pull the hambone out of the pot, discarding the bone and any fat, just leaving the ham in the pot and let it cook till your ready...add too it some fried taters and homemade cornbread and ........Bon Apititie!!!!!

Well, like I said, will have a busy weekend gonna grille a turkey Sunday, so other than being in and out on occasion, won't do any blogging till next week...Gotta scoot and get this day started....Soooooooooooooooooooo everyone have a smiln' goooooooooooood day full of Peace Love and Happiness and I'll see you next time if the good Lord's willin' and the creeks don't rise...

and without further delay......

"Over the hill and picking up speed"

G'day everyone, Dutch here! Welcome.. Popping in to do a short blog, gonna be busy next couple of days so wanted to be sure and wish everyone;

Got some chili started gonna have Chili Mac and coney dogs with cheese for supper.... while I was doing that was checking some items for a number of walks I'll take this spring, summer and fall....first my still/video camera with audio;

handy little thing and should get some good pictures this year...then there's my walking stick and fly rod;

Don't go anywhere without them...here is a picture of the handle on the walking stick...

Suppose to be the Old Man in the Forest carved on the handle, I have a bolt at the end that I can attach the camera to the walking stick for quick shots and a stable platform.... What's all this mean, you ask, Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeellll when the weather is right I'm gonna join Mr. Loggin and I'm gonna.....

Gotta scoot, finish up the day and get ready for the cold tonight and tomorrow.....Everyone have a smiln' gooooooooooooooood day full of Peace Love and Happiness and I'll see ya next time if the good Lord's willin' and the creeks don't rise....

G'Day everyone, Dutch here! Welcome to my little place in the Universe! Got some morning chores done so thought I would pop in and do a short blog to get the week started.. Over the holidays I purchased a cd of Kenny G, like the sound so gonna let him furnish the music to browse with.

Sooooooooooo, put your troubles aside, pull up a chair and visit a spell...

Getting ready to start a pot of homemade pork BBQ. For anyone interested in my recipe here it is good for 1-2 pounds of beef or pork;

You can tweak however you wish, it's a mild sauce for us folks that don't have caste iron stomachs..... had a little snow in the overnight....

and now with the temps dropping (11 degrees since 6 AM) and winds in the 20/30 mph it's starting to blow around making it difficult to see and roads/walks, etc slick..... purchased some food blocks over the weekend full of corn/sunflower seeds, etc.........

you can see what's left just to the right of the feeder. Suppose to be the equivalent of 8 ears of corn and last awhile, however, the word must have gotten around to every cardinal and squirrel in town ole Dutch was having a buffet, come and get it... ....in cold weather like this they need it and I put out a little extra for 'em..... Worked on some shelves for Kathy over the weekend for storage in the utility room.....

gives her some more stoage back there, especially larger items that won't fit in a cabinet.... Started challenging the ole pc in a game of chess....

I can save the game as I go so I don't have to finish it right away but play along and get other things done...it also gives me time study the board and to contemplate the pc's next move and my countermove.....

Well, I had better scoot, get the pork started and ready for the Alberta Clipper coming this way...Sooooooooooo, everyone have a smilin' goooooooooooooooood day of Peace Love and Happiness and I'll see you next time if the good Lord's willin' and the creeks don't rise....

And not matter what......

It’s early morning on the 20th of Jan ‘08 and very cold here this morning, got wind chills around –15F , snow moving in tomorrow…..waiting for the rest of the world to awake…..got a few inside projects to do so will have something to stay active while it’s too cold outside...put out some extra food for the “little folk”, that’s what I call the backyard creatures (bird’s, squirrels, etc) yesterday.. Got my chess board set up to take on the computer Not all that good at it but it gives me a challenge and keeps the mind going….will work on garden plans today and what’ll I need to do to get things started later….might watch some of the Packers/Giants football game this evening, been a Packer fan forever…had a major internet provider crash Friday and couldn’t get online.. When opportunity permits I’ll blog about it, it wasn’t funny at the time but it is now...Well, better get the day started….gonna listen to some Don Williams I believe…..