It used to be, by the time February was half over, you could feel that the winter was retreating and even catch a glimpse of spring arriving. But this year, things are different. February has buried us under layer after layer of snow. It has frozen us half to death with its subzero temperatures. We huddle in houses with roofs already overburdened with snow and listen to the weather forecast in despair. More snow, they say, followed by enough rain to really weigh it down, topped with more snow, and then an arctic blast to freeze it. Spring, assuming she still exists, is nowhere in sight. There is nothing ahead for us but more snow and cold.
My husband told me that he had heard someone say that this winter proves that global warming is a sham. People are such idiots. A warmer globe doesn’t mean that winter will cease to exist, or even necessarily become milder. Rather, it changes everything we know (or think we know) about climate, including how much snow a particular area might get during the winter.
This is not the first snowy winter we’ve had recently. We could be witnessing the start of a trend. Maybe the snowy end of the climate-change stick is going to give us an annual beating from now on, something to consider if we want to continue living in the northeast.
If nothing else, this winter has changed the way I think about February. No longer just The Snow Month, February is now The Cruel Month, or The Month That Keeps Kicking You When You’re Down. It’s almost over now, but I wonder if its weather will chase us into March. I hope not. We really need to see that light at the end of the snow tunnel!