So we have our own weather forecasting groundhog here in Raleigh, North Carolina.  And on Groundhog Day 2010, we celebrated when our Sir Walter Wally predicted an early spring. But unfortunately for us, Wally got it all wrong this year.  No early spring here.

As a matter of fact, tomorrow is the first official day of spring.  And guess what?  Tomorrow is the first day it will feel finally like spring around here, too.  It’s about time.  So break out the flip-flops, peel back the convertible tops, and enjoy this spring day that’s been a long time coming.

That’s Life in Raleigh.

Happy one-year anniversary to the R-Line!   The R-Line is our free circulator bus that runs seven days a week, most hours of those days, making a loop through Downtown Raleigh.  The stops are plentiful and the bus comes through roughly every 10-12 minutes.

The R-Line has connected all the parts of Downtown Raleigh, making it much easier for residents, workers, and visitors to get around.  Going to see a play at Memorial Auditorium and want to catch dinner first?  Go ahead, park your car and hop on the R-Line.  It hits all the restaurant hot spots.  Bar hopping?  The R-Line is perfect for that, too.  In the evenings the warehouse district with all its popular venues are added to the route.  The R-Line connects everything without ever having to be behind the wheel yourself or walking farther than you feel like.  Drugstores, coffee shops, hardware stores, beauty salons, restaurants, nightclubs…the list is long.

And the R-Line is always interesting.  The riders are friendly and the price is right.

That’s Life in Raleigh.

The R-Line

And this time it was a wet snow that outlined the tree branches and created a winter wonderland effect.  It came overnight on a Friday with a few inches and the roads were essentially clear and dry by late Saturday afternoon.  That’s the kind of snowfall we like here in North Carolina!

But…we have had enough wintry precipitation this winter!  This is North Carolina, after all.  Bring on the heat and humidity.  We’re ready.  We may not even complain about it too much next time around.

That’s Life in Raleigh.

Thank goodness we have our very own forecasting groundhog here in Raleigh, North Carolina! Our Sir Walter Wally braved the elements and the lingering piles of snow on February 2 to join Raleigh Mayor Charles Meeker in a Groundhog Day ceremony and made a prediction for an early spring here in these parts.

While I do feel sorry for those up north for whom Punxsutawney Phil forecast six more weeks of winter, we’ve had enough winter around here already.  Several years worth, as a matter of fact.  Bring on spring!

But Sir Walter Wally, is today’s 34 degrees and rain really part of our early spring plan?!?!

That’s Life in Raleigh.

Yep, it snowed in Raleigh.   The most snow we’ve had in years, actually.  We only had a few inches, but it’s been a couple of years since we’ve had more than a trace.

It was beautiful, too.  So clean and pretty and made everything so quiet.

Quiet because snow does that, and quiet because our city shuts down when it snows.  See, we don’t want to spend our tax dollars on very many snowplows or snow equipment that we’ll need only a few times each decade.  We prefer to shut down our schools and slow down our pace when we get a snow that sticks.  Kind of charming, actually.  Although a lot of the charm wore off for a lot of the people around here after schools were shuttered for three consecutive days.

Oh, but the next time those kids are home because of snow may be several years away.  Enjoy it now.

That’s Life in Raleigh.

My house in the snow of January 2010

Our family just returned from an evening stroll in Downtown Raleigh.  We admired the holiday lights and the official N.C. Christmas tree, checked out the Winterfest Ice Rink, and warmed ourselves up with hot chocolate at Starbucks on Fayetteville Street before strolling back home.

What a great way to start off 2010.  This is the stuff that wonderful family memories are made of.

That’s Life in Raleigh.

So the National Weather Service is predicting that we may have the longest cold stretch in a generation, possibly lasting more than a week.  The forecast is cold:  Highs between 35 and 42 and lows between 17-25.  Oh, and we’re going to have wind chill on top of that.

Even more remarkable than this “prolonged” cold snap, though, is what I heard on my trusty weather radio this afternoon about the average temperatures here in Raleigh, North Carolina, the first week in January.  Namely that our normal average high is 50 and our normal average low is 30.  In January.

I can look back now on my summer entries regarding the heat and know those temperatures are definitely bearable in exchange for these kind of average normal temps come January.  Except for about a week every generation or so.

That’s Life in Raleigh.