January 65, 2007

This is just a follow-up on my last message, in which I promised a photo of some really impressive piles of snow.

This shot was taken from the front steps of the high school in Wakefield where the district volleyball tournament was held last Saturday. Have a look for yourself ...


I know, I know, I should have taken a shot at the level of the cartops to make the point better. But I think you can see how tall they are. Front-end loaders did the heavy work, I'll bet.

OK, all this snow we've been getting recently is enough fun. But I suppose you are wondering about the title of this piece.

Yesterday it got cold. Wind out of the Arctic and all that good stuff. All day, temperatures may or may not have reached 10F. When I drove to my basketball game last night, the car thermometer said +4. On the trip home, it read -6. Later at night, I found out a small town nearby was at -15, and that cold seemed pretty widespread.

So we're in March? I'll believe it when I see it. These last few days would have been colder than normal back in January ... so maybe we still are in January, only nobody's told us. The sun is up a lot more, true, and Daylight Saving Time makes an early return this weekend. But the snow is deeper than it has been here all winter, and it's bloody cold out.

So today is March 6, is it? Well, 31 + 28 + 6 = 65. So today is really January 65, 2007.

There is some good news, though. The weather forecast says March will be arriving here in around a week. Real March weather. Initiate meltdown planning. But is this forecast like a mirage, that fades away as you get close to it?

Whenever it comes, it will be nice to feel some March weather again. Tomorrow I leave home at about 5:30 a.m. for a meeting about 150 miles away. Saturday, I drive nearly that far along the same highway for the volleyball regional. As long as the weather behaves, it'll be all right.