I'm starting to wonder if we're gonna have a repeat of last year.
Those of you who weren't in Marquette last winter may recall me writing about how we didn't actually HAVE a winter. We had one storm—in January—and spent most of the season wearing shorts, walking under umbrellas and canceling all sorts of events that required snow. Well, this year we're now just a few weeks before Thanksgiving, and here's what it looked like outside yesterday--
To me, at least, that looks more like mid April than it does mid November. And based on a long range forecast from the National Weather Service, one that calls for above-average temperatures and below average precipitation for (at least) the rest of the month, you gotta wonder--
Will we have another non-winter winter this year?
Normally, I'd say no. Normally, I'd point out that last year we had a La Nina and a bunch of other factors that led up to a (no pun intended) perfect storm of weird weather. But we no longer live in normal times. We've broken the planet, and that's cause massive change all around the world. Thankfully, we don't have to deal with floods or fires, like some places; instead, we get dusting of snow here and a dusting of snow there. And temperatures anywhere from 5 to 25 degrees above the (very) long-term average. We've only been able to hold a full, complete signature UP event—the UP 200—once in the past six years. And I can't even tell you the last time either harbor in Marquette froze over completely and for an entire season.
I guess that, compared to what winters used to be like around here, it's a radical new normal.
We'll see how it turns out. After all, the odds of us having a non-winter winter for two years in a row would seem to be infinitesimal, at best. But the way things are going these days?
I wouldn't bet against it.
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