The Hartford Courant on January 8th, published a wonderful column by Gregory B Hladky about the Snowy Owl migration to Connecticut. Make no mistake about it when you see one you will know it by their haunting presence. The increase sitings are cyclical and are likely caused by successful breeding seasons in the Arctic. Many of the ones we see here are young raptors that have been chased out off traditional hunting grounds by adults and flown south to find open areas to hunt in peace according to researchers. These long distance travelers trek more than a thousand miles from northern Canada and wihin the Arctic Circle. Recent sitings has been mostly confined to our shoreline marshes, but there have been several sitings in central and northern Connecticut.
It’s worth emphasizing that there are “The Basics Rules” that the majestic, aloof and distinctive Snowy Owls observers are expected to follow (from Project SnowStorm):
Keep your distance
Respect private property
Don’t feed an owl, ever

Word is out that the snow blitz will run over us before the sun rises tomorrow. This area of low pressure will have a frightening look to it on a weatherman’s plotting computer screen. Barometric pressure will bottom out at 950 millibars which equates to 28.05 inches mercury, lower than super storm Sandy in 2012. The positive aspect of this storm is the lowest pressure area will track further off the coast than Sandy. If you have a well calibrated home barometer take look at how low your reading is early afternoon tomorrow when the storm is at its closest. Latest reliable computer models has the storm wobbling slightly more west closer to our coastline. So, wind blown snow will virtually be impossible to measure because of its fluff value and 30-40 mile per hour winds with gusts over 50. As snow bands set up there will varying intensities of snow, but will lighten up by afternoon as the storm pulls away to our northeast. This storm has the characteristics of hurricane without the warm inner core, but its tight wind gradient will create hurricane force winds near the Cape and Islands.
Yes, we may call it a BLIZZ-a-CANE.