It snowed yesterday.
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Sure, it’s April, and we’re still getting snow. But it’s been a dry few months, and any water is welcome. Especially when it’s this pretty on the hills.
This is the view out my bathroom window, by the way. We have a frosted pane, so I had to open the window and remove the screen to get this. But still.
If you went to BadAstronomy.com and found yourself here, never fear: the BA Blog has moved to its new home at Discover Blogs. The original BA site (with the Moon Hoax debunking and all that) is still online, too.
Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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April 5th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
You’ve got one hell of a great view.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Must be that doggone global warming….;P
April 5th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Sweet! Those look pretty close.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
What does this have to do with astronomy?
April 5th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
It’s a picture of a planet, QUASAR, showing its mountains and certain atmosphere phenomena, along with the evidence of life.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
It snowed in April here in Salt Lake City too. I thought: Finally! A normal winter for once. My 11 years younger brother was horrified and surprised. I went back and looked at the weather records … turns out snow in April was indeed a very common thing here, up until about the late 1980s. Since then, it’s been quite rare.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
@ WJM
Ahhhhh hahahahaha! That’s so rich!
I thought this was an astronomy blog not a daily life blog!
April 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Check out this 4 part series!
April 5th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
@ Big Al
Well, this is what you get thanks to ignoramus politics and greedy human nature!
April 5th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
QUASAR, I suggest you read: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/07/15/politics-science-me-and-thee/
Honestly, you are starting to sound rather like a whiney and petulant child. I personally enjoy Dr. Plaits blog and ALL it’s content. Sorry that you are apparently impossible to please.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
So, Phil, how’s the skiing?
If snowfall has been minimal, has that impacted the ski resorts? I just ask because one of these days I’d like to sample the slopes in your area.
GAry 7
April 5th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I am jealous.
From my bathroom I have a view of the neighbor’s house three meters away. I keep my curtains closed.
April 5th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
I was delivering at a local sandwich shop when it was snowing. I appreciate the view a lot more when I’m not riding around in it.
Wish my place was that close to the flatirons…
April 5th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
@ LarianLeQuella
I’m not impossible to please, you’re just thickheaded!
April 5th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Beautiful! I have a similar view from my bedroom and kitchen. (Vancouver)
April 5th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Phil Plait’s blog. Phil Plait can put whatever he wants on it.
April 5th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
No need to call someone names.
I just said you sound unpleasant (which you further backed up by being more unpleasant). Methinks there is a bridge that that is missing its resident. 
April 5th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
As Phil forgot to close the window, his life would be altered forever as the Google Map Car snaps a rather “candid” photo of the Bad Astronomer…
April 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
You pictures showing his “telescope”, that has already been done. No I do not want to see it again.
April 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
sorry suppose to be “You mean pictures showing”.
April 5th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Oh, thank god, spring has arrived in Germany… We hit 20°C on Friday and gonna hit it again tomorrow. Damn, I’m happy!
April 5th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
From my upstairs bathroom window I have a view of an alley and the back door of a Chinese restaurant. Not as picturesque – but occasionally some nice aromas.
April 5th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
This night I saw seven tea lights lantern/balloons floating by my bathroom window, let the UFO reporting begin…..
April 5th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Snow? Man, here in North Carolina it’s snowing pollen. The sticky green stuff that coats your car. Hope the trees enjoy all the sex.
Antihistamines, anyone?
April 5th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
I used to enjoy such a view from my kitchen table. The mountains were much closer but now I am far from them and so I admire your view instead.
Enjoy it as long as you have it. It sure is nice in the morning sunlight, innit? And in the moonlight, too.
April 5th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
It’s probably still not as spectacular as the views from the US and Russian bathrooms on the ISS.
April 5th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
@Jon, don’t you mean the Colbert rooms on the Space Station.
April 5th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
I think you should post this on a UFO blog with the caption “PROOF OF ET EXISTENCE!” and see what people think you’re talking about.
April 5th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
You waste a beautiful view like this on a bathroom??!!
viv in nz
April 5th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Picture is awesome. Time to get a couple more ski runs in before it melts.
April 5th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Thus spake QUASAR:
No, you’re a troll who makes off the wall comments on every posting here trying to stir up…ummm…poop.
You’re not even consistent in the “stance” you take. One anti-vaxx posting had you crying about injecting our kids with toxins, another post, same topic, had you decrying the anti-vaxx movement saying it was going to send us back into the stone age.
I believe the only way to please you is to have every comment thread here turn into a shouting match while you sit back with tented fingers muttering “eeeexcellent!”
April 5th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Oh, and nice pic Phil. If there’s one thing I miss about living n Reno, it’s the view, which was very similar from my balcony. The Sierra are quite the Rockies, but still make for some darned nice vistas.
April 5th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
You know, I moved from San Diego to Boulder last fall. I was told the winters were mild, something about an adiabatic effect. It was true. Very little snow. They didn’t tell me about SPRING, though.
April 5th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Yes, the more snow the merrier! Otherwise it’s just gonna be fire season.
April 5th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Well… I just can’t get the image out of my head. I know what Phil looks at while using the facilites.
April 5th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
Looking to move to CO soon. Can’t wait.
April 5th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Speaking of great views…does anyone know if the bathroom on the ISS has awindow?
April 5th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Speaking of great views…does anyone know if the bathroom on the ISS has a window?
Yes, but it’s just a view of floating blue blobs and poo.
April 5th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
I immediately regret writing that.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:24 am
i KNEW that view looked familiar. nothing like an april snowstorm to get in the way of biking around town, no? yeah, life’s rough in the bubble.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:38 am
Sure, it’s April, and we’re still getting snow.
I’m tellin’ ya. Ice age a comin’ real soon now. You may all scoff at me with your little globally warming hoo ha, but it’s a cold, white future for us.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:31 am
Time to put in a toilet webcam – just make sure it points *away* from the toilet.
I remember snow in mid May in Arizona and oldtimers telling me I should go to Twin Peaks (is that our version of Les Grandes Tetons?) if I wanted to see snow in June and July; I have no idea if the oldtimers were pulling my leg though, although I wouldn’t find it hard to believe that the peaks have ice all year around.
April 6th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Yeah, pretty pic, but up in NW Montana I’ve had it up to HERE with snow and I’m ready for spring.
April 6th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Beautiful view you have there. I have some nice mountains in New Hampshire, but they’re not quite that close.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:00 am
Well, I live on that mountain and my view is spoilt by being able to see straight into some bald feller’s bathroom. Buy a bathrobe dude!
April 6th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Ah the flatirons… why did I leave Boulder??? Oh, right — the job that I’m not doing right now because I’m too busy reading this blog. Oops.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:44 am
If I had that view out my bathroom window, Phil, I’d install a picture window… (with one-way privacy glass, of course.)
April 6th, 2009 at 8:36 am
@ justcorbly, you’re living in the wrong part of North Carolina! I’m in Boone, and we’re expecting 2-4 inches of snow tonight and tomorrow! Come over to the dark (cold and mountainous) side of the state!
The view from my bathroom is of the playground next door… so I can never open my window!
April 6th, 2009 at 11:04 am
@QUASAR:
If this blog is not to your liking, please, by all means, make use of the exit. Try to ignore the cheering sound after the door shuts behind you.
April 6th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Reminds me of a site called http://whatiseeoutmywindow.blogspot.com/ where anyone can share their view from their rooms. It is quite an eye opener if I may say so.
April 6th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
The view out of my bathroom is of a Catholic cemetery. This makes for some very interesting situations since the part of the cemetery closest to my house is also the newest section where they are actively planting people. I’m amazed how many people visit our home and get creeped out by the fact that we are so close to all those graves. We think it’s kinda funny, besides, my kids can legitimately take a “shortcut through the graveyard” to get to school.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Phil, you’re making me homesick. I moved out of northern NM a few years ago to southwestern VA. The Appalachians are nice, but not in the same leauge as the Rockies. And the snowboarding sucks here.
April 6th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Phil, do you know the name of that “hill”? Looks pretty mountainous.
April 6th, 2009 at 7:19 pm
@ Chris A.
I wasn’t talking to you and, go screw yourself!
April 7th, 2009 at 3:27 am
Looks like someone missed their happy pills…
April 7th, 2009 at 8:06 am
um…. for the love of god…. why would you have a frosted pane on a window with a view like that? there doesn’t appear to be a risk of voyeurism in the immediate vicinity – unless of course there are perverted yetis with access to telescopes on that mountain. which there might be.
April 7th, 2009 at 10:13 am
The jealousy-it burns! And this from a gal whose back yard smells of jasmine and orange blossoms.
If our bathroom had a view like that, I suspect my husband would spend even more time in it, so maybe it’s a good thing that I have to admire from afar…
April 7th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
@Ted Judah:
That’s Green Mountain, and the rock formations on it are the Flatirons. They’re about a mile and a half away from where I currently am in my room at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Here’s an excellent picture taken from chataqua park near their base:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Flatirons_Winter_Sunrise_edit_2.jpg
April 7th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
** Crud – that should say “Chautauqua Park”, not “chataqua” (apparently, my u key is a bit stuck)
(Why isn’t there an edit feature?)
April 8th, 2009 at 9:42 pm