Wreaking Winter Havoc

My interns are always making fun of us dopey Americans. My pen friends make fun of me, too. I do a fair amount of whinging in the winter and why shouldn't I? It gets bloody cold here! It is annoying to get all kinds of snow. But my interns are from France (portions of which do get plenty of snow - French Alps, anyone?) and my pen friends hale from such frigid places as Keene, NH; Stavern, Norway; and Jilemnice, Czech Republic, at the foot of the Giant Mountains. I used to have a pen friend in Iceland, outside of Reykjavik. Oh, she would tell me how they were out in their tee shirts in the high 50s as that was a typically warm summer day! Yikes!

Clearly, there is no sympathy there.

Photo: Winter storm of 12 February 2006.

Not that I get much from those in southern climes, either. Several Australian pen friends were envious (?!) and my on-again-off-again pen friend in Malaysia wishes to see snow. He won't have to shovel it, and therein lies the difference. My British pen friends regard it as total evil but they are only slightly more prepared that Georgia or Florida, as normal winter weather does not usually mean snow for southern England. My friend in Manchester gets it a bit more often, but not much seems to phase him as a whole (not much does, though).

The issue for me, upon much careful reflection, is not that we get it (I have said before that I prefer four seasons and I maintain that), but rather the manor in which we get it. We don't really have a steady amount of non-stop snow the way that Daniela in Jilemnice or David in Baldwinsville, NY get it (his is lake-effect snow), but instead we will have days or weeks of mild weather and suddenly WHAM! out of the south comes some nasty bugger of a storm that hammers the Atlantic seaboard!

Photo: This is a snap from Jilemnice, Czech Republic - and look at all that snow! That is a huge - massive - mountain of snow and they put up with that every winter. I really need to stop whining about our winters!

And here is the real crapshoot - I just happen to live in a 10 - 15km swath that is the typical rain/snow line. Depending on the track of many storms I may get rain... or I may get snow. Or - the worst - ice or wintry mix! And we just never know which it will be - unless, like this last nor'easter - it is ALL snow, no opportunity for rain whatsoever!

And the kicker? Would you believe I prefer the snow? There is just no living with me!