Ahhh, Spring

It's springtime here in the heartland. The grass is greening up. Buds are popping up on the trees. And stores are running sales on fertilizers and plants. Too bad the weather forecast for tonight and tomorrow calls for snow. Yep, the spring rains will be turning into snow tonight as the temperature drops and the high tomorrow is supposed to only reach into the low 30's. An accumulation of 2 to 4 inches is expected, so say the TV meteorologists. Of course, theirs is the best job in the world as they only have to be correct in their prognosis approximately 30% of the time.

This anomaly in our weather simply continues the strange winter we've had this season. Beginning in December, no one could tell what would happen from day to day. We might experience 70 degrees for two days, followed by a period of two or three days of sub-freezing weather, only to return to the high sixties. An ice storm followed closely by a day of 75 degree with abundant sunshine. The pattern has had no pattern at all.

Though in all parts of the world people like to complain about the weather, Oklahoma should have a leg up on some other places - say, my home state of California. I just visited family there and it's weather was as I remembered in early March. Cool. Not cold. Cool. Residents of the Golden state do complain when it rains for more than a couple hours. God Forbid when they get a couple days worth of precipitation, they absolutely howl. But, man, they should see what a real rainstorm is like. The kind we get here in mid-America. The kind where it rains sideways and you absolutely cannot see more than three feet in front of you. Where the wall clouds come in at such a fast pace, you are scared.

Then there's the snow. Admittedly, we don't get a whole lot here in Oklahoma. Certainly not like in other places I lived. Colorado for instance. Once, while living in Denver, we received 24 inches of snow for Thanksgiving. We were trapped in the house for about 4 days because, living in the 'burbs, no snow removal apparatus made it to neighborhood streets. They were too busy keeping the main thoroughfares clear.

Oh well, every place has it's challenges, I suppose. When Spring finally makes a permanent entrance, it is so beautiful here that it makes up for the inconvenience of a little snow right now. Except for one thing - it also brings forth tornado season. Gulp.

Old Fart Mike