Tonight is cold.  My thermometer is reading 27 degrees, and I think it may go lower before morning.  My CoCoRaHS collection tube was frozen together this morning so I had to bring it inside to thaw.  There is a measuring tube inside the larger tube, and a funnel that directs rain water into the inner tube.  When that inner tube that holds exactly 1.00 in. is full, it runs over into the larger tube and is contained there until I measure it.  That whole apparatus was solidly frozen in place, but the rain water inside was not frozen at 9 o'clock when I went out this morning.  I brought the whole thing to the front deck so I won't have to navigate slippery stairs and frosty grass every morning to get to it.  I will remove the inner tube and funnel in a day or so, when we might have snow to measure.  The snow falls into the 4 inch outer tube just fine, then I melt it and measure with the inner tube.  Snow is coming later this week.  Actually, perhaps sooner, like tomorrow.  Aren't we glad we have our winter tires on?
    Did you hear on tonight's news that Killington ski area is opening tomorrow, and one or two others plan to open the day after Thanksgiving.  They are making snow like crazy during these cold days, laying a foundation for the natural snow that's sure to come.
I wouldn't want to put money on the snow they're making staying for any length of time.  I suspect we'll have some unusually warm weather again before the real cold weather sets in.
    On November 3, I posted a note I'd received from Jason Shafer at Lyndon State College, letting me know about the ice-measuring instrument being worked on.  Of course, being here at Joe's Pond and co-chair of the Ice-Out Contest, I immediately thought he meant to measure the ice in the pond.  I responded accordingly, excited at the possibility of having accurate ice measurements come March and April.  However, that is not going to happen, at least not with this particular ice measuring gadget.  What Prof. Shafer was talking about was an instrument to measure the ice coating on trees and other surfaces during winter ice storms. 
    I should have known.  This is something that was explored briefly last winter after an ice storm, but I did not have much success trying to measure the ice coating twigs on our trees, so declined reporting then.  If they come up with a reasonably good method or instrument to accomplish that, I'll consider doing it, but it may not work for me.  The macular degeneration I have messes up my vision so I don't see fine lines like are on a ruler very well.  Fortunately, my distance vision is still good, but even working on the computer, the lines of text sometimes slant up and over and dance around a bit.  Sometimes I can focus, other times it's pretty frustrating.  
    So we'll be heading into some bracing weather for at least the rest of the week.  Friday night the low is forecast to be between 2 and 12 degrees!  That's going to be some kind of record for November 10th, I would think - if it actually gets that cold.