As I mentioned yesterday it is pretty cold here right now. At one point last evening the temperatures were this: Palm Springs, CA +7C (44.6F), Mission, BC -7C (+19.3F) (Mission is about an hour east of Vancouver, BC), Coldwater, ON -7 (+19.3F) (Coldwater is about an hour and a half north of Toronto, ON). This morning those same places recorded the following temperatures: Palm Springs, CA -4C, (+24.8F), Coldwater, ON -4C, (+24.8F) and Mission, BC, -11C, (+11F). Crazy!

To our astonishment, there was only a barely visible dusting of the white stuff on our favourite mountain however some of the others showed more on their peaks. Today we drove up to Twenty-nine Palms for coffee (see our Coffee Blog) and along the way we encountered evidence of broken water mains; water gushing from hydrants and other unseen sources. According to one fellow who has lived in the area for nine years, he has never experienced the cold temperatures of last night before.

It was definitely cold as these undoubtedly confused ducks can attest to; they were slipping and sliding on the surface of this pond, home to them and not usually frozen. We saw skiffs of snow on rooftops despite the afternoon sun and according to forecasts there is no relief for a day or two yet. Though it is cold, the sun continues to shine and as long as we bundle up and dress for it, it is quite pretty. It still beats grey skies, damp air, rain and wet snow so there are no complaints coming from here!