Winter Arrives

Until today, winter had been docile. It was chilly. It really hadn’t gotten cold. All that has changed.

Frank has just cleared the driveway with his plow. There’s not a lot of snow – maybe 3-4″ of very fluffy, easily plowable powder. It didn’t take him long.

I can hear the wind blowing. If I look out my second floor window, from time-to-time I see ‘clouds’ of snow carried in the air. This is the stuff drifts are made of.

It’s still a few hours before I leave for work, but I’ve been looking at the temperature. My thermometer, in direct sunlight, says 27&#176. That’s a lie. It’s really closer to 10&#176 outside! The closest official reporting site to me, Markham Airport in Meriden, is reporting 7&#176.

It’s like this in full bright sunshine. Tonight, with no insolation and the snow holding back much of the ground’s long wave radiation, it will easily go below 0&#176.

Right now there’s really no place in America that’s warm. The wind chill at Massena, NY is -54&#176. Key West, the nation’s hot spot as I write this, is in the mid-60&#176s. It’s all downhill from there.

My folks in Florida, and friends in warmer areas, will read this and chuckle. Today I have no snappy comeback.