Monday, February 06, 2006

Something Wintery This Way Comes?

This coming weekend I will be traveling to Florida to meet up with my Dad! Aside from the excitement of seeing my Dad and sister, I would relish the thought of departing the cold and snowy New England winter, to the relatively warm and sunny Florida winter! But, due to the bizarre meteorological patterns of late, it will not be the temperature upgrade I would expect. And I must admit, it's kind of a disappointment. The glory is in the contrast, and going from 45 degrees to 60 is nothing to get giddy about.

It is notably warm here. There is no snow on the ground, which for February, is mind boggling. There is a lot of chatter about Global Warming and El Nino (or that other one, the opposite one...the female one?), but no one really has a solid explanation of what's going on.

At least not one I can muster the attention span to comprehend.

The most popular explanation is that there is a lack of Artic air coming down from the north. Well, duh. But why not? I have no clue. Sure, jet streams and ocean currents are in play. Perhaps something to do with...um, pressure and dew points?

I don't pay attention to the weather people when they start getting all technical. Hey, this isn't 8th grade Earth Science, stop trying to trick me into learning something! I roll my eyes as they try to establish that they are actual scientists, and not just spokes-models for clouds. Just tell me whether wet stuff will be falling from the sky, and on to my head, ok?

So my intolerance for well informed weather people has left me at a loss to what nature is doing. What I do know, is that the birds are confused, as are the crocuses. Little green shoots and small buds are beginning to pop. Don't they know it's only February? Surely Mother Nature has a cruel joke in the works.

And the groundhog has agreed. Now that's a forecast I can understand.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

La Nina

Hector said...

More rain in Portland this past January than in 30 years....