When Will The Hammer Hit?

When Will The Hammer Hit?

After our experience last winter, most New Englanders are waiting like those condemned to the guillotine for the hammer of winter to hit. We wait but so far but the “hammer” is like being hit with marshmallows. I actually remarked to my wife last night that it was getting cold and I looked at the thermometer ... it was 35 degrees. Oooooo, big, bad cold snap! In actuality most of the rest of the Northern Hemisphere has been in the deep freeze most of the winter. Record cold in Alaska and much of Europe into Asia, snow in Rome as global temperatures have plunged since last fall but we continue to bask in near spring bliss.

Of course, it’s bound to change; it always does here in New England but we are already through the statistically coldest part of the winter. The amount of daylight is growing longer, the sun is higher in the sky each day and the Burpee seed catalog order has already been placed. Some of our most memorable snowstorms have occurred in February and March but as I look at the maps on this Friday there’s not much to gladden the heart of a snow-lover. The big snowstorm in the Rockies and Plains will slide out to our south. It could throw us a curve and come far enough north to lay a blanket of white on us on Sunday. It certainly is worth keeping an eye on but so far this winter the long shots have not come through. The rest of the week looks seasonably cold and dry. That’s one heck of a way to “celebrate” the 34th anniversary of the Blizzard of ’78 on Monday.