The joy of living in the Fozen Northland

I think it was Howard Cossell, the sportscaster on the original Monday Night Football broadcast, who used the term "frozen tundra" when referring to Lambeau Field in Green Bay. We've had enough exposure nationally as a place where ice and snow reign from October through March. If it isn't the late season baseball game, the December football broadcast, it's the national weather people telling everyone what they all know, it gets cold in my neighborhood.

But let me tell you it is not getting as cold as people might think. I ride a moped. I will ride until the temperature is not getting above fifty during the day. That means that sometimes in the early morning, I will be riding in forty degree temperature. With the natural wind chill that can be bone chilling if your not protected.

I have ridden as late as mid-November and there have been days after that that I could have used the bike if I hadn't put it in to storage. This year because of a early cold snap I put it away at the end of October and as a result missed a lot of good days. Last week, they reopened four of the county golf courses. Predictably they were rushed by people that wanted to say they played gold in Wisconsin in December.

I know it's going to get cold here. We will have some below zero nights and days when the wind chill will make it tough to get a round. I love it when we get unseasonably warm weather and people will grin, enjoy it and than worry about "paying for it down the line". Every warm day in December is not an automatic credit to the warm day account that needs to be balanced by a cold day in a month when we might expect warm weather. We do not have to look this gift horse in the mouth. It's just a nice day.

Is global warming effecting our weather in Wisconsin? I think so. As I've written before, my memories are sure no scientific proof that we are getting warmer, but recent records bear out that our winters are not only warmer but dryer. I like to joke that global warming will be a net gain for Wisconsin, but I know it won't help us shake the label as the land of the Frozen Tundra.