Strange Winter Weather

100_0223This winter was strange weather-wise for us. We had snow three times, which is very unusual for our part of coastal Carolina. We can easily go several years without ever seeing a flake. One year in my son’s pre-K class, for example, the teacher asked how many kids had ever seen real snow, and the vast majority had not. I’m reasonably sure that question has never been asked in a Chicago classroom.

Our first winter here, I laughed one morning when the news announced that there would be multiple school closings due to extreme weather conditions, i.e., 19 degrees Fahrenheit and frost. I know. During the following four years, we only had a dusting of snow once. We were out of town at the time, but when we returned, several friends eagerly shared pictures of their houses with snow on the ground. Imagine holding up your cell phone and showing one of those pictures to a Chicagoan. In fact, I’d pay to see that exchange.

Last year, we had a snowfall that started at about 8 p.m. on a Friday night. It didn’t amount to much by Midwestern standards, but later I found out that many of the local children were out well past midnight, sledding and snow-angeling their little snow-deprived hearts out. My kids, having spent at least a few days in the Midwest every winter since birth, were largely unimpressed. The next morning, when I suggested going out in it before it melted, which it did by early afternoon, the small people collectively rolled their eyes.

100_0711This year, however, the trip to the big snow-filled Midwest turned out to be a rare disappointment in terms of the snow scene, so when we somehow managed to get several inches in Carolina (gasp!) they were slightly more game for an outdoor snow adventure, beach style. Unfortunately, an ill-timed temperature fluctuation caused a layer of ice to form over the snow, so we were forced to resort to using a snow/sand mixture to complete our small snowperson. Even so, there was something almost surreal about building it on the beach.

Overall, I don’t mind the occasional light snow. But what I have minded very much has been the incessant cold that has plagued us for the entirety of the winter season. I’m tired of hurrying to the minivan and practically throwing the groceries in because it’s just so darn COLD that I can’t think about anything else except getting warm. I’m really hoping that this spring the weather will be more typical. I just want my old Carolina weather back.

Apparently, I’ve gotten all Southern about the whole thing, and frankly, I have no intention of reverting to my former shell of a self. I LIKE warm weather. It’s a large part of why I chose my particular island and not, oh, say the Orkney Islands. I really just don’t think temperatures below 48 are, well, natural. I mean, in the Garden of Eden, they walked around in the buff and seemed really comfortable until the whole sin thing crept in, so the temperatures must have been pretty balmy there.

I don’t know. I’m just saying.

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