Whoo-hoo, springtime in Ohio! Day two. Let me count the ways…
Ummm, well, when I got up at 3:30 a.m. with the usual back pains, gimped into the great room, fed another log to the woodstove, and huddled under a blanket in the recliner for another try at sleep, the outside temperature read a measly 18˚F. Rather nippy for a vernal First Act.
Okay, bad example. Let's consider something more recent…
Right now it's a full eight degrees warmer, 26˚F on the big thermometer and the same according the National Weather Service's web site. Not much of an improvement, perhaps, but at least headed in the right direction. The really dramatic part is that it's snowing to beat the band—great big flakes swirling and blowing in a thick white slurry. I can barely make out the shape of the island across from the cottage. My mother would say the old woman is really shaking out her featherbed.
And I guess that's the gist of the day's report. While it's certainly spring in fact, it isn't very much spring in appearance and feeling. But historically, early spring in Ohio is—more often than most of us like to admit—an act of summoned faith…less about weather than belief.
And possibly a little bit like falling in love in that your head needs to follow your heart. Spring is truly here. I just know it!
8 comments:
Didn't reach down to 18 here in PA this morning, but it was in the low 20's and snow flurries here, too. I'm told by the weather people this is caused by a Greenland block--high pressure there giving the Canadian low no place to go. I just hope that when it clears I don't immediately have to turn on the air conditioner!
Carolyn…
I'm voting that what happens in Greenland needs to stay in Greenland!
Just so you know you're not the only one who has paid attention for a decade or two, noted a worrisome trend, and also fears we'll jump from winter to summer, weatherwise, with an abbreviated or entirely absent spring. I was just listening to some Alison Brown banjo music on local radio a few minutes ago, and the DJ said a year ago today, the high was 86˚F…which was downright depressing, in more ways than one. Spring as such, last year, was way early and all too brief. We've missed the early part this time around, but the season can still just happen all at once with none of the slow build that I so dearly enjoy.
All that gardening and mowing will come soon enough. We neighbors to your west are supposed to have snow on Sunday. Are we sharing that with you? ;)
Debbie
Debbie…
Lord, I sincerely hope not! The snow, I mean. Send it to Atlanta…Atlanta can always use snow—it gives the entire town the day off, drivers abandon their cars in the middle of I-75 and temporarily move into the homes of the nearest strangers, nobody knows how to walk or drive and they skid and skate, slip and slide and execute the most amazing slow-motion fender benders and pratfalls—it's like a film festival of America's Funniest Videos.
Yup, find them nasty ol' snowclouds and point them southeast…a woman of thoughtfulness should never let such a good deed opportunity pass her by!
I hope you are right Grizz - here in the UK the whole country is suffering from huge falls of snow. We have been lucky to only get around ten centimetres, many other places have forty centimetres. There is a powerful east wind blowing and the snow is drifting. It is certainly the day for
putting another log on the wood burner. Sorry about the back pain.
Weaver…
Well, I'd like to be more or less rid of snow for this half of the year, but not at the expense of having spring pass too quickly, all in a rush over a matter of a few weeks, with no time to explore and savor. And though today was sunny and 41˚F, the outlook right now is snow Sunday and the the first few days of next week.
No spring rush here, I reckon.
Despite the cooler than normal spring, the longer days of sunlight, the incessant chirping of birds, the amorous adventures of our outdoor furry friends...all speak of spring a-coming.
KGMom…
Oh, yes—spring is coming indeed! I now have purple and white crocus in bloom, in addition to the yellows which have been cheering up various corners of the yard for some time.
Incidentally, I think this is a fairly typical spring considered over the long haul of a half dozen or more decades, though cooler-than-normal compared to the last few years. A snowy March is like old times…and quite a few not-so-old times, too. I'll certainly take this over last year.
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