When discussing March weather, we often use lighthearted wildlife references … “it came in like a lion, and went out like a lamb” (or vice versa). This is, of course, a popular old maxim but, given that I live in Texas, a different meteorological animal has been on my mind of late … Punxsutawney Phil who, on February 2, predicted “six more weeks of winter.”
For most of the United States, that venerable groundhog’s forecast likely provoked little more than a smile. The state of Texas, though, seems to have heard Phil’s prognostication less as a prediction and more as a challenge declaring: “Six weeks is for sissies! Here in Texas we are going to compact those six weeks of winter into a mere six days! Just watch us!”
And, as we all know, the stretch of Arctic-like weather that descended upon the Lone Star State was one for the record books!
Power outages … frozen water pipes … impassable roads … food shortages … temperatures below zero! And while some may have flashed back to the 1968 movie “Ice Station Zebra,” it wasn’t long (thankfully) before the snow melted and the shorts and sandals reappeared.
While those frigid days were daunting, they served to remind me why my family moved here from the Northeast more than thirty years ago. Simply put, anybody who has lived in upstate New York knows something about cold weather … the four seasons in those parts are: … Almost Winter …. Winter … Still Winter … and Road Construction.
DanBonBooks 