I think it may be a winter miracle.
I had my usual fun time announcing at
the Noquemanon finish line Saturday, even if I was a little hoarse
after reading off 1,300 names in a six hour span. Because the
weather was just above the freezing mark I was able to even do a
little bit of it while standing outside, which is a marked contrast
to some years when it's been so cold that I've been huddled next to
the space heater in the little motor home they stick me (and the
timers) in.
And that's what something hit me.
Here were are, about to wrap up
January, which for us in Marquette is by far the coldest month of the
year, on average. There have been years when we've gone two weeks in
a row without seeing temperatures above zero, and there are few years
with a day when the temperatures are above zero. Yet this January
has seen almost a dozen days with highs above freezing, and zero days
when the temperature went below zero.
What I'm trying to say, people, is that
we're having (for us) a really warm January.
It's kind of surprising, too, when you
consider that we had cold, below zero snaps in both November and
December. I had kind of resigned myself to yet another cold winter,
yet here we stand, with four days left to go in the coldest month of
the year, and we don't even have any ice in Marquette's Lower Harbor. Don't believe me?
Sure, there's still snow and it's still gloomy. When was the last time we could say
that the harbor wasn't frozen over on a January 27th?
I'm hoping that it's a sign we're due
for a nice spring and a gorgeous summer this year, even though I know
winter weather is absolutely no predictor of what will happen as the
year wears on. Accuweather had put out a little thing last week
mentioning that 80% of US cities were warmer than average last year,
and when I put Marquette's zip code in it came as no surprise that we
were one of the 20% that was colder than usual.
We're off to a good start to reversing
that trend this year.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed the rest
of the winter is mild, as well. As I get older I discover that while
I really don't mind snow THAT much (it is, after all, better than,
oh, a colonoscopy) the cold is something that I really wish would go
away. And before you get on my case about living somewhere where
it's cold 10 months out of the year, I know. I'm a walking oxymoron.
And you can take the “oxy” part of
it off if you want.
So, if you would, keep your fingers
crossed that January is just the start of a trend this year!
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