Ever have one of those days that snapped cold, tossed all night, woke up sore, and looked for snow but only got frost? These days, temperatures are low, and fires burn hot, but shoveling snow we are not.
Around the country, what a quirky year for snow! Maine usually sees 70 inches, got 110 in 2018, and this year so far six, while Mississippi and Florida just collected eight, Houston four, and New Orleans ten.
President Trump’s inauguration was held inside, a precedent shared with Reagan in 1985, but not for a blizzard, just wind and cold. That said, the speech was bold.
So, what gives? Why no snow? Hard to know. Climate calamity? Not likely. Looking back, Maine got 38 inches in 2021, 46 in 2012, 29 in 1979, 30 in 1953, and only 11 in 1951. Snow is just unreliable, like the sun.
In contrast, Alabama last week broke a 71-year record, while Florida’s Pensacola broke a 130-year record with ten inches. A January blizzard hit the Midwest and left five feet in New York. Random totals grow, but across the nation, little snow.
Consulting the “Farmer’s Almanac,” you quickly find the glass half full – if do not like snow, prefer winter mild and dry, early spring and climatology for why.
They predict: “Temperatures will be up and snowfall down… Heating costs shouldn’t hit so hard… The temperate, uneventful winter—potentially a welcome reprieve from the extremes of recent years.” It might be laughter, might be tears.
Truth is – and I may rue the day for what I say – but winter isn’t winter unless there’s snow. When sun and summer birds both shift south, leaving red cardinals, blue jays, the odd eagle, and crow, we should pull back the curtain and see snow.
So, once again today, I rose and looked out, hoping night had left some white, but alas, the empty glass. Tree limbs bounced in gray, lake ice still flat and dull today.
The good news is, all is not lost. When you don’t have snow, you still have frost. So find your nook, and reach up, pull down the book.
Open to words from the New England sage. “Dust of Snow” on that one page:
“The way a crow,
Shook down on me,
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of the day I rued.”
We may get lots of snow this year or none from here, but what we have is ample, the bouncing branch and the chickadee, Robert Frost and his poetry.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC. Robert Charles has also just released an uplifting new book, “Cherish America: Stories of Courage, Character, and Kindness” (Tower Publishing, 2024).
RBC, winter weather is always quirky from year to year. The last real winter I remember is 1997-1998 when it snowed in Nov and stayed into Mar without melting, just kept piling up in the yards with large “dikes” on driveway perimeters. Jan and Feb were the coldest with the temperatures in the minuses with wind chill -50 in central Ohio. This is for this area of OH. The rest of winters just come and go, usually mild with a late March blizzard that dumps 15- 22 inches of snow, pre-2020. I usually measure the winter by how many times I need to clear snow off the driveway and sidewalks and that has not been often. I just look out the window, holding a cup of hot coco, thinking that looks nice and remain inside till I have to get out.
Well, have a nice weekend.