Blatherskite

I’m really creeped out by the weather Frank and Dianne (and Jamison) are getting on the East Coast. It’s in the 70s? You have got to be kidding me! Dianne took a picture of her Daffodils sprouting! In early January?!? That is just wrong.

The weather here is cold. It’s been snowy and cold. But there are some subtle things about it that seem kind of strange. Not like the winters of my childhood.

I guess since I have moved from here (in around 1989) Spokane has these freeze and thaw cycles in winter. It will snow heavily, get really cold and then warm up above 32 degrees and melt. Last year it was really cold for weeks and then we got a “Chinook wind” and melted the snow for a few weeks and then it snowed again. And the snow stayed on the ground for a few weeks until another Chinook blew through. I guess this has been the pattern for the past 10 years or so here.

When I was a kid here I remember snow being on the ground all winter. I remember this because It would really start to get to me in March. Sometimes it would stay until April! I remember getting lots of snow. So much that we could build snow forts and had snowball fights. It doesn’t really seem the same anymore. kids are still able to do these things, but there is a much smaller window of opportunity before the snow melts.

This winter has been strange. Yesterday was a good example. I woke up yesterday morning, looked outside and saw fresh snow on the ground. Lots of it, actually. In fact, I was debating whether I wanted to brave the roads to go meet my mom for breakfast. When I talked to her on the phone an hour later she replied (in a tone that sounded like she thought I was losing my mind) that it was raining out and there was no snow to be seen. Sure enough, I took another look outside and all of the snow was quickly melting. All of the snow we got that night melted by the afternoon. That seems kind of strange to me. It’s like the weather is on steroids or something.

Wish me luck tommorrow. Send good thoughts and vibes for my presentations. They are going to start at 8am pacific time :).