I
haven’t moved over great distances in my life. Only a few hundred
miles for the longest move. Still in the northeast. And yet, far
enough to know…
EVERYONE
thinks the weather in their area is the most unpredictably worst.
Growing
up in Rhode Island, I was no stranger to the cliché of:
“If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute.” It seemed
appropriate. The weather around me… in that Rhode Island sense
that includes Connecticut and Massachusetts… was always
changing. The idea of seemingly random, massive swings of possibilities,
no weather true exclusively for any season seemed like a part
of my hometown identity. And, how dare anyone else make a claim
to such a distinct concept.
Yup…
of course… claim they did.
In
upstate New York, in that Buffalo-Rochester-Syracuse string, it
isn’t uncommon to see swings of fifty degrees (or more) over the
course of 24-48 hours. I’ve been in the middle of such New York
locations and such New York weather fun on several occasions.
And
it’s not just watching the weather change above and immediately
beside you.
Oswego
Country—specifically Redfield, New York—just over 62-inches of
snow falling in late December of 2017. In November of 2014, areas
around Buffalo claimed a constant battering of lake effect snow
generated measurements between six and seven feet of snow on the
ground before Thanksgiving. Yet… draw a circle extending out about
five to twenty miles from those massive accumulations, and you
might find only marginal, trace amounts on the ground.
In
areas with mountains, there are of course are images of people
in bathing suits around a pool with snowcapped peaks in the background.
Denver, forgetting about the idea of elevation for a minute and
the weather influences that may provide, is one place where residents
will claim 80-degree days leading to snow warnings for the next.
Chicago
says it.
Florida
says it.
Oklahoma
says it.
Michigan
and Texas and… Australia. Yes, there are versions of the saying
in Australia. And England. And…
And
the list goes on.
Mountains
and plains. Lakeside and oceanfront. Coast to coast. Border to
border. International as well.
Seems
that not too many people are all that thrilled about the inconsistent
weather where they live.
And
yet… yeah… I’m going to say that southern New England wins the
prize.
See…
here’s the funny part. The best match for a source of the quote
is none other than Mark Twain. More specifically, Samuel Clemens.
And it is often offered like this: “If you don't like the weather
in New England now, just wait a few minutes.”
Virtually
every other claim to the quote appears after Clemens had offered
his opinion.
Having
lived in upstate New York, I can say that most places do have
some amazing weather patterns. For years, my eyes were focused
west moving to east, with the occasional glance toward what might
be approaching from the south. Around Syracuse? Not south… rather
what is coming down from the north. And then add in those wonderous
bodies of water, where temperature shifts have it snowing in great
amounts virtually without a cloud in the sky.
When
I was a student in Syracuse I recall saying something I always
found funny, and many of my friends seemed to agree. The idea
was that I always believed there were only two seasons in the
city, winter and July 4th. And while obviously not true (upstate
New York summers can be breathtakingly brilliant), I’m pretty
certain that laughing about year-round snow disqualifies a place
from weather-changes-on-a-dime bragging rights.
Weather
considerations are everywhere. Floods in one region are snowstorms
in another, with hurricanes replaced by tornados. There isn’t
a place that doesn’t have some “we’re famous for our fill-in-the-blank”
weather.
Here’s
the best part though… the only thing that truly matters is how
you deal with it. If you’re planning a mid-summer barbecue, you
don’t want to hear forecasts of a rainy day filled with strong
winds and possible thunder and expected highs in the low forties.
That would be bad.
We’ve
been in the middle of a really brutal cold in the northeast for
the past week or so. Several days with single-digit highs, and
many places never creeping above 20-degrees. Niagara Falls freezing
weather. The other day I went to pick up Terry. As she got in
the car and began closing the door, she looked at me.
“Warm
tonight,” she observed.
She
was right. It did seem rather pleasant. (The temperature was 33-degrees.
I wanted to know. I triple-checked.)
You
want a summary? Ok. Here’s a fine quote I’ll credit to little
old me. “The idea of whether or not the water is hot depends on
you. Are you the chef or the lobster?”