Friday, Feb. 22 2013 7:51AM
Enough winter already
By John Beaudoin
jbeaudoin@lsjournal.com
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ReprintI think it was last Saturday when the first bit of noticeable panic (or joy, as it were) started to creep across faces of our local meteorologists.
A winter storm was approaching (insert slightly giddy tones) and we could, gasp, get ice, snow, sleet and maybe even some fire. Heck, after what happened in Russia, I think they might have added meteors to our forecast.
When you go a few winters without actually having, you know, a “winter,” people seem to forget what exactly happens when precipitation freezes in the atmosphere and falls to the ground.
And when these storms come crashing in from the Rockies, it always forces us, it seems, to recall times when the weather was actually worse than what we are predicted to get.
Take last summer, for example.
During our 40 days of insufferable heat, I am sure we would have all welcomed six inches of snow. Or 10 inches. Or some sleet and ice.
Remember a few years ago when we had the Christmas Eve blizzard? Surely, that blowing snow and frigid wind chills will not be repeated this time around.
Or that fun little ice storm from 2001? I am sure we all remember the constant sound of tree limbs snapping and the blow glow of breakers blowing up all around us.
HyVee and Price Chopper will be a madhouse; people will be praying for the power to stay on so they can watch nonstop coverage of the weather event that is going on right outside their windows.
All the while, our neighbors to the north are quietly chuckling at how we act when we get more than 2 inches of snow.
Frankly, I’m done with all of it.
I loved the 60 degree days in January and non-white Christmases from the last few years.
Lower heating bills and no snow? Sure, sign me up.
Soon, things will return to normal. It will be 45-50 degrees next week and we will all flood to the hardware stores for windshield wiper fluid and reminisce about the latest “storm of the century.”
For me, I am waiting for spring.
Thunder belongs in May, not during a snowstorm.
