I am not fond of winter but I put up with it for the most part. I live in Cleveland and it is to be expected that it will get cold in winter and that it will snow and there is no sense complaining about it. And for the most part I don’t. But almost every year there comes a point, around this time of year, when I get well and truly fed up.
This is because this is the time of year when the average daily high based on historical data is near 40oF. In other words, we are approaching spring and temperatures should be easing upwards and the snow melting. But because of the statistical fluctuation of weather, there is usually a period of a week or two around this time when the temperature plunges to well below that average and the snow seems to keep falling, so that you get tired of seeing it day after day and run out of places to pile it. Right now, for about two weeks daytime highs have been about 30oF below normal, with some days like today being bitterly cold, and the snow has been falling steadily almost every day. That is when I get sick of it, because of the sustained and deep discrepancy between the expected value and the reality. If this pattern had occurred in January, I would have accepted it more stoically because you expect this kind of weather in that month.
The total snowfall for this year so far has been about 58 ins, roughly the same as the average snowfall for the whole winter. We should normally have had about 48 inches so far, so while it is above average we should be grateful that we are nowhere near the pace for the record snowfall of 118 ins for the season set in 2004-2005.
At least we can console ourselves that this year we are not as being badly hit as Boston which has already received over 100 inches of snow.
Oddly enough, we seem to be having a quite mild late summer in Western Australia (or at least in Perth). Most years I’d be huddled up under the aircon as the city roasts in 40C days (a bit above 100 in obsolete measure). Instead we’ve had a nice 25-32C maximum for the past week.
I’m with you, Mano. Here (suburbs of Boston) we had no snow on the ground up until the last week of January. I was lulled into a sense that it would be an easy winter (which I define by the amount of snow I have to deal with). The local rag has reported that we’ve gotten a total of 70 inches in the past not-quite 4 weeks and the kids had three successive weeks each with two snow days. The volume of snow over time also means that most road shoulders have perhaps 4 feet of snow built up against the curb, making driving … more interesting. I’m trying to hunker down until this compressed winter is over.
You should have stayed longer in San Francisco, Mano.
If I didn’t have to come back to teach, I would have been tempted to spend the rest of the winter at my daughter’s place there!
But almost every year there comes a point, around this time of year, when I get well and truly fed up.
Heh. Now you know how I felt during the summer of 2012. For two months straight, daily highs were over 100 F with lows never much below 85 F or 90 F. Every. Day. For two months. And for much of that time, daily highs were actually over 110 F.
I don’t mind cold winters so much: at least I have heat in my house. But I don’t have a working air conditioner, so I pretty much have to suffer during the summer. (Laughing at other peoples’ electricity bills takes the edge off somewhat, though).
Today in my corner of Canada, the temperature is currently 12C and the cherry blossoms have been blooming for for almost 4 weeks now. It snow for about an hour in November but melted right away.
Which corner of Canada is this? I am guessing in the British Columbia area.
I’m in the southwest corner of Canada.
Just wait for the Spring rains to start and the mud season to begin.
Seconding the Western Australian, from Adelaide. We have had two, maybe three days total above 40C -- a blessedly low number; and had a three week unbroken stretch without a single day above 30C.
Oh and a mere 101% extra rain than the January average. Such a nice summer!
Yes, it’s been unusually cold this February. It’s only 18 degrees outside today where I am.
Then again, you’re using fahrenheit…
With all this talk of inches and Fahrenheit I think I’ve spotted your problem.
You’re stuck in the Dickensian Little Ice Age.
I know but it’s not my fault. I wish they would switch to metric but the attitude here is that We Are The Greatest Nation In The World So The Rest Of The World Should Change Their Systems To Match Ours.
Respect Our Authoritah!
After 14 years in the US, my brain just got used to compartmentalizing things. Indoor temperatures are in Fahrenheit (because that’s what the thermostat displays) and outdoor temperatures are in Celsius. I know what I like for each, no need to convert.