And greetings from my back yard!
Well, actually, greetings from my back yard yesterday afternoon, where I'm sitting in the 60+ degree sunshine and enjoying the final few hours of my three-day weekend. As I'd mentioned Thursday, I took last Friday off just to have a day off. Little did I know that Friday, as well as Saturday and Sunday, would give us early May weather in the middle of March.
Boy, did I luck out.
I spent a large chunk of the three days outside, obviously. I got my bike out early and went for a couple of rides. Loraine and I got our soccer balls out and kicked them around for a couple of hours. And although I haven't yet looked in a mirror to make certain, it feels like I may have gotten a slight sunburn on my face.
Yes, in the middle of March.
I don't wanna sound like one of those people who constantly says “Back when I was a kid”, but it sure seems like things have changed since (ahem) back when I was a kid (or at least when I was a college student and would come home for spring break this week every year). While I can't vouch for every single year around this time, most of those years were filled with huge snow banks, cool temperatures, and even a snow storm or two. But now?
Well, on three of the past five years on this weekend there have been warmer than usual temperatures and a real lack of snow. Not like this year, but certainly a whole lot different than in years past.
How some people can still deny climate change is well beyond me.
Of course, it's supposed to return to closer to normal conditions as this week wears on, and maybe that's why the amazing weather this weekend was so welcome. We expect chilly temperatures and rain (or even snow) this time of the year. To see people out flying kites and running without shirts was a reminder that we're there—we're almost there—as far as kicking out winter and saying “hey” to spring.
I know I've been mentioning in here quite a bit on just what a mild winter we've had. If you're keeping score at home, in fact, we're still waiting for that first storm that dumps a double-digit total of snow on us. But this past weekend kind of took things to the extreme. I have no idea if it portends a really warm (or even hot) summer. But having paid attention to what the weather's doing up here for all these years, I have a sneaking suspicion it might. Now, I'm not a meteorologist (nor do I play one on TV), but the fact that there's no snow on the ground nor no ice ion the lake means that Mother Nature doesn't have to get rid of that all before she starts warming us up for the year. It means we're starting from a much higher base.
Logically, you'd think that maybe—just maybe—we'll have one of those summers that we'll talk about for a long, long time.
At least that's what I'm hoping. Keep your fingers crossed!
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