Gregory Freeman: Don't Be Fooled By Moderate Weather; Winter Yet Lingers. StL P-D 2/8/2001

Headline: DON'T BE FOOLED BY MODERATE WEATHER; WINTER YET LINGERS
Reporter: By Gregory Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Thu., Feb. 8, 2001
Section: METRO, Page: B1, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

The Winter's Tale
   While everyone else has been enjoying the unusually warm weather we've been having this week, I've been apprehensive.
   Don't get me wrong. I love warm weather, and I've got no complaints about temperatures in the 50s, especially in February. Clearly, I'm not the only warm weather lover. In fact, I saw several guys this week who were brave enough to break out their short pants. Cars drove by with their windows down. Some St. Louisans are pretending that spring is here.
   But I'm no sucker.
   I know that just as soon as we get used to the weather, as soon as we start fooling ourselves that maybe the worst of winter is over, we'll turn on the news and hear Dave Murray forecast another blizzard, or an ice storm, or some other awful weather event.

It always happens. I know it seems that folks living in every city in America say, "In ------ (name the city), if you don't like the weather, wait a minute."
But that phrase is truly accurate in St. Louis. Who, for instance, would have imagined that December would be a worse month in St. Louis than January? Or that last year, April flowers would bring May showers? In St. Louis, you can bet that if we have good weather today, we'll have bad weather tomorrow.
As I write this column, the sun is shining brightly and the temperature is 53 degrees. The forecast for today is that it will be cloudy, with a high of 64 degrees. But the weather forecasters tell us that the temperatures on Friday will go to a high of 50, then dive dramatically, as rain turns into snow. Yes, that's St. Louis for you. Spring turns into fall, which turns into winter, all in one day.

And winter is my least favorite season, probably because I hate snow.
It's cold, it's messy, it's often accompanied by ice, and it's no fun. I hate cleaning the steps and sidewalk of my house every time it snows. I have no interest in snowmen, snow angels, or sliding down a snow-covered Art Hill in Forest Park (though I must admit that while we were college students, my wife and I used to grab cafeteria trays and slide down the hill). I don't even like ice sculptures.
And, to my disbelief, there are places like the Hidden Valley Ski Resort, where they actually create snow. To me, that's like someone creating a tornado. Why?

Spring is my favorite time of year. That's why the weather we're having right now is so maddening. It's as if the weather gods are teasing us, giving us spring for a few days and then plunging us back into winter again.
   Yes, it could have been worse.
   I could have lived in Chicago. My son attends college there and regularly calls to tell us how cold it is there.
   Or I could have lived in Minneapolis -- a city so cold that even Mary Tyler Moore eventually threw her hat in the air and left. Despite that, my son is thinking about transferring to a college in that chilly city. I don't look forward to visiting him in the winter.

I was born and have lived most of my life in St. Louis, a city that Northerners call the South and Southerners call the North.
   Maybe because we can't make up our minds whether we're Northern or Southern, we can't make up our minds as to what kind of weather we should be having.
   And I don't blame this on the ozone layer or El Nino either. I can remember St. Louis's strange weather going back to when I was a kid.
   And it was before man walked on the moon, for those who still think the moonwalks somehow changed the weather.

So while some of us are feeling smug, enjoying the weather we're having this week while looking at the snowstorms the East Coast has been dealing with, we'd better not get too comfortable.
It's just another cruel trick from Mother Nature.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

back