Winter has officially arrived in the People's Republic of Maryland. Yep, the temperature is much lower than my age, therefore, in my book it's winter.

Tonight, there's a forecast for rain changing to snow by late night and into the early morning, and that's for Baltimore, which is much farther south. Here, maybe a half-inch or so, but that's too much as far as I'm concerned.

I have a policy, which is also clearly spelled out on the contract that I send to every person and facility where I perform. "If there is snow or freezing rain at either the venue or the route to the venue, the performance will be cancelled for that day and rescheduled." Over the past decade, I've had to reschedule at least a half-dozen jobs each year, on average. Some years more, some less.

The way I look at this is it's not worth wrecking your car, possibly getting injured, or worse, for $125 an hour. It just doesn't make good sense. The customers all feel the same way. If's it snowing or freezing rain, there's a good chance that no one will show up for a private party, definitely no show for a restaurant or nite-club job, and while there will be people at the Nursing Homes, Assisted Living Facilities and Retirement Communities, they fully understand the situation and are more than happy to see me when I eventually do get there.

So, as the commercial says "What's in your wallet?" What policy to you utilize when the weather gets nasty? Inquiring minds would like to know!

Gary

39°F (or 4°C ) and cloudy here at 11:35 PM or so on Cape Breton Island...we had hail yesterday, and a bit this morning, so it's dipping into the freezing area.

This winter, for me, will be stress free like last winter, as I'm not gigging, I don't have to shovel snow, my apartment is warm and comfortable, and I'm starting some recording in the next week or so, after fine tuning some of my own styles.

So I'm snug as a bug inna rug.

When gigging, I followed a policy just like yours Gary, "If there is snow or freezing rain at either the venue or the route to the venue, the performance will be cancelled for that day and rescheduled." We get some wickedly deadly snow storms here, and driving can be very dangerous, so I err on the side of caution.

Are you booked for any office Christmas Parties?

Ian

guys it was 82 and sunny here in so cal the funny thing is we sometimes wish for snow . But never get it. Ron

Ron, believe me, you really don't want snow. The attached photo was taken about four years ago. I had to shovel off the deck to prevent the weight of the snow from caving it in. It took three days to snow blow the driveway, and we were not able to get out of our neighborhood for a week.



Ian, I only have about 25 Christmas parties booked this year, which is about 10 less than most years. The parties begin the 1st of December here and continue on till Christmas Day. I'm booked Christmas Day, but that's normal. Just a one-hour job for an assisted living center, then when I get home the grandson and kids come over and rip through all the presents my wife has been buying all year.

Cheers,

Gary

Fridged here in Louisiana, high was only 70 today. We do have a cool front coming this week though, dipping into the 40 s at night.
Schools close here if they even forecast a chance of snow, and many places close. Then everybody stands in the yard and hope to see a few flakes.
DonM

We've been lucky thus far out here on the prairie - hey, it's still only November. Our snow is usually dry powdery stuff, not the heavy wet stuff that Ian gets. That said our temperatures get down to the mid -30s Centigrade, then, when the temperature suddenly jumps up to around the zero mark, the snow's moisture content increases and I've been in the same scenario as Gary's photo above.

I think the the worst thing is being exposed to unimpeded wind, nothing to stop it on open prairie. Last year, or the year before, we were the second coldest place on the planet on one day, -51C with the windchill. We were beaten out by some place in Siberia by one degree. Nothing much moves out here when it's like that.:)

Yep, the prairies are definitely the coldest part of Canada. We sometimes get -24°F (or -31°C ) but strangely, and again like the prairies, it goes up to 90°F (or 30°C ) or more in the summer.

A land of extremes.

Someone told the story, of the power going out one prairie winter, and it got so cold in the kitchen, the picture of grand-dad on the wall had his hands covering his ears. To top it off, the flame on the candle froze solid, and they couldn't blow it out.

So, they tossed it out the window, and that spring, the flame thawed out and set the field on fire.

We haven't had it that cold here in Cape Breton, but one particularly nippy winter morning, I looked out the front window, and saw several men pushing a cottage down the street, trying to jump start the furnace.

Poor Don...how do you manage those awful 70°F temperatures...you guys must be a hardy bunch?

Ian

Gary, My condolences on the nasty weather, my wife and I are getting a little break this week we're in sunny and warm Florida its been in the low 80s every day with low humidity. Been spending our days pool side that's attached to the house. Great way to relax and read all the Tyros5 hype. The bad news we'll be back in the north sooner than later.

In the UK we have had a very good weather year so far every month and even now into November today it's still a reasonable 14C.
Our winters appear to get later each year so the bad months are around Feb..Mar..Apr.
We would all moan if it was very hot all the time. The main object is to wake up every morning knowing we are still here.

Here it is unique. We are at a bit under 5000 ft. and to the north there are the Bookcliff Mountains maybe 15 miles from my front door. To the south Colorado National Monument and Glade Park gets up to 9000 ft or so. To the East is the Grand Mesa at 11000+ ft. It gets the most snow. I can be in tons of snow in an hour and 1/2 on the Mesa, and there is Powderhorn a ski resort.

At 5000 feet it looks like we are in a valley. I shovel snow 2 to 5 maybe 6 times a year. Sometimes 1 or 2 inches. The most I remember is between 12 and 14 inches, but only a handful of times in 30 years that I remember.

We've been in the 60's but cold at night. Later this week we'll be in the fifties, but it can get real nice again until December 21 or there about. It can get cold but still not a bunch of snow. Like I said it's pretty unique around here. I don't like the cold but I don't like even the high 70's especially with high humidity. Anyone know where it stays between 55 and 65 all year round? I want to move there.