Fahrenheit.
(Yes,
Fahrenheit.)
I
swear… though I didn’t rewind it and didn’t doublecheck it… that
meteorologist just said to expect high temperatures for eight
of the next ten days to struggle to reach twenty.
Twenty.
Twenty.
Twenty
degrees.
Fahrenheit.
For
about a week.
But
the scary part was what came next. Meteorologist went on to say
we could bundle up, but with the snowfall about two feet below
average for this winter and the temperatures five or so degrees
above normal, things have been pretty mild to date and we’ve got
nothing to complain about.
Twenty-degrees
Fahrenheit, basically as the high temperature for a run that will
last solidly more than a week, but we shouldn’t complain.
What
the heck?
If
I go outside to get the mail, slip and fall into a mud puddle,
I’m going to complain. I’m not going to be thankful for the hundreds
of other puddles I successfully navigated and days I managed to
stay dry.
Let’s
slide away for the temperatures for a moment to add a bit of context.
We
live in an area where it can snow constantly. As in, no snow in
the forecast, no storms sweeping along, but just a bit of moisture
in the air and frigid temperatures and lake effect and *POOF*
measurable snow on the windshield the next day. Over four days
this past week, we got about four inches of snow over two days.
No real fast buildup of it. Just a half-inch overnight, then a
quarter-inch during the day, another half-inch the next night,
and by the end of four overnights there was four or five inches
to trudge in. Seriously, if you were here to experience you would
agree, it just snuck on in and there it was.
We
also live in a neighborhood where the wind comes in without a
buffer. Few trees and brush to block it. Houses spaced nicely
apart with few fences in place. That means, if you don’t put up
a snow fence (and even if you do), the snow is going to get swept
along to fill in your driveway. It is seriously not unusual to
wake up and find your perfectly cleared driveway, during an overnight
when the stars were out, now covered with a layer of snow thanks
to the wind blowing it across the yard and filling the space.
No snow falling. Two or three or inches of accumulation.
Forgive
me if I hear about how the mild winter so far should excite me.
Forgive me that the low snow totals to date don’t have me staring
at the calendar with the voices in my head explaining that we’re
going to get through this winter without a few more significant
storms. History has taught me… this past week has taught me… that
there is always something.
The
next ten days is bringing along with it some bone-numbing numbers.
It’s not the worst stretch imaginable, but there’s February in
the near future. And cold is still cold.
Overcast,
snowy, cold.
That’s
the forecast, no matter what the thermostats say, and it’s likely
to be the forecast into April. But I’m not supposed to complain.