Winter in Wonderland

We got another 4-6 inches of snow last night (December 15, 2007). That snow is lying on top of God only knows how much more snow that has been falling for weeks. We are in this cycle of cold and dry, than warm and wet which produces snow or freezing rain, than back to cold again.

Today all of that fluffy white snow that fell all day yesterday will be blowing back onto the sidewalks and streets from which we removed it last night and this morning. This Wisconsin in the winter. This is how it should be. We are latitude of seasons. Our summers are hot and winters are cold. it is part of the environment that produces the hardy and optimistic people we are.

I know, you hear people that live here complaining about our weather, but than people in good families complain about their relatives also. We complain about the weather because it's fodder for small talk. Secretly, we are proud of the fact that we experience these extremes. I for one do not know how much I would appreciate a great day in the summer if I had not gone through the splendor of fall, the white fury of winter and the rebirth of spring.

Wisconsin has not experienced winters of white fury as of late. The season has opened with a historical record for snowfall. Since these trends seem to get stuck in a cycle, we have no reason to believe this trend won't continue. If the jet stream moves a few miles north or south, if the arc of it's structure loops further north or south, it can change our weather in days, sometimes hours. What I'm saying is that we may lose all of this snow in a week and never see anymore until next December, but that is highly unlikely.

What makes this opening act noteworthy is that we haven't had a winter like this for years. Young people think it's unusual. More experienced residents know better. This is the kind of winter we could count on almost every year. This winter is like hearing your favorite oldy done by a new group in a movie sound track. The memories come in rush and you wonder if it was that vivid in the reality or if the event only rests in your mind in the filtered form you currently feel.

I sound like an old coot when I talk about a winter in the early sixties that had thirty plus days where the temperature never went above zero degree's . When I tell about winters where the city not only plowed but hauled snow away because there was no pace to plow it anymore. And yes, horror of horrors, we actually built tunnels and ice igloos in the drifts.

I don't know if we are going to see that kind of winter this year, but the severity of this winter should not be looked at as unusual. It's actually the kind of winter we used to have. It's the kind I remember