Tag Archives: winter

weather

Of groundhogs and other weather musings

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When I was little, the idea that a groundhog could decide if we’d have an early spring or not made perfect sense. The whimsical nature of an animal seeing his shadow or not being a determining factor in the weather was fun, and most importantly, something to take very serious.

As I got older, I decided a groundhog in Pennsylvania could not in any way determine what the weather would do in Texas. So I’d look at the weather on Groundhog Day wherever I was and make my own decision. If I saw my own shadow it meant more winter. No shadow, early Spring. Who cared what PunxsutawneyPhil said, really?

Then I saw the movie Groundhog Day and, of course, the day was never the same again.

It’s been years since I really paid any attention to what the almighty rodent weatherman had to say. This year, though, I jokingly cared. Its been a brutal winter!  I’m ready for warmer temps (but not the tornadoes it’ll bring with it).

Let it be known, Texas cold is different from Tennessee cold. I’ve said it for awhile, but the last two days I was very much reminded of it. The cold snap to hit here as part of the big system that’s taken over much of the US just cuts right through you. I can take 15° in Nashville a lot faster than 30º in Texas. It’s just a DIFFERENT cold. It pierces even the walls of houses, making heaters fight to try to even remotely keep up. (Hence the rolling blackouts that are occurring across the state today!) The heaviest of sweaters that I brought really doesn’t keep me warm. I don’t even want to be outside a minute!

The fabulous Lotus made a blog post last month about how you shouldn’t judge what a person considers cold because its all individual. (I like how she puts it way better, so go read that first. I’ll wait.) I get so amused when someone tells me,  “Oh this is probably nothing to you these days” in regards to the cold. Well, I can definitely tell you that while I feel the heat down here in summer a lot more than I used to feel it, what winter there is in Texas STINKS. I can handle 40º+ better, but you dip any lower than that? NUH-UH!

I’ve not been up to the northern states in winter… okay I’ve not been to the northern states at all… so I can’t say what the cold and snow is like there. But I can say for certainty… I’ll take Nashville’s snow-crazed-stock-up-on-bread-and-milk-cancel-school winter over Texas’s damp, iced (albeit short) winter.

All that being said, I am very glad Punxsutawney Phil says early Spring this year. I think we all deserve some early warmth. Between record snowfalls and crazy temperature drops, I’m ready to be past winter. So thank you dear rodent, I’m going to hold you to your prediction.

weather

The curious thing about snow

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Growing up in Texas, I really didn’t see snow. Not enough to talk about at least. We got ice with a little bit of snow, usually only enough to make a four inch tall snowman. So, upon moving to Tennessee, snow was a mystery to me. Magical, even.

It snowed yesterday, and I couldn’t help but once again marvel at the curious nature of snow.1-10 Snow

  • As it falls, snow glistens and sparkles in the street lights. It comes down around you without a sound. It somehow turns even the ugliest locations beautiful.
  • Snow turned everyone into kids again. Grown adults reach for the closest thing they can find to turn into a sled. Snowball fights break out. Snowmen get made. Someone is bound to flop over backwards and create a Snow Angel.
  • People forget how to drive in the snow. My husband used to joke that in Tennessee, people see a snowflake and run into the nearest tree. Sadly, he’s often not far off. You CAN drive in snow (if you HAVE to), but the rules are different and it is going to take you longer to get where you are going. So many people forget this, and news reports end up littered with accident reports.
  • Because of the last point, people feel the need to empty the shelves of bread and milk. Always its bread and milk. At least get eggs to make French Toast! How about a little fruit? Or some meat?
  • Coffee and hot chocolate just taste better when there is snow on the ground.

I wouldn’t want it to snow all the time; a few more days of it I’ll be tired of it. Ready to move on again. But, as the snow continues into today, I’ll continue to marvel over its curious, magical nature. I’ll continue to enjoy its beauty outside of my window.