The winter of 2011 is turning out to be the mother of all winters.
We have had more snow this year already than during any year since the Great Blizzard of 1978 – and although the weather people have called some recent storms blizzards, there really hasn’t been a blizzard since 1978.
Now there is more snow forecast for Wednesday, perhaps an additional foot or so – and this will change the landscape, again.
Snow is here and there. Snow is piled high everywhere.
And then came this week’s plunge in temperature to below zero.
Making all of this more complicated is that all of us are running our heaters for much of the day and during the night, raising the cost for this extraordinary New England winter.
How long can this weather pattern last?
With a week of January remaining, there is the real possibility this stuff could go on for another eight weeks at minimum.
Which brings to mind another question.
Why do we all stay here and suffer through this?
Because we know that in just a few months, the snow and ice, the frigid temperature, and the monetary loss paying for heat will become a memory, and then just a few months after that, the first warm days of spring will wipe away any memory we have of the winter past.
Then the summer will come and for 12 weeks we will exult in the ocean and the beach and in the mountains and from everything that New England has to offer.
After all, we live in a place that is glorious by comparison to many parts of the nation.
Also, we live among many different people.
In New England, where this nation got its start, the multi-cultural experience is in full bloom as our society continues to change dramatically with people from all over the world coming here to live their lives.
The weather is the part of life we have almost no control over, unless or course, we move to Florida.
But if you do that, then you have to get through the Florida summer, which frankly, is like living in an oven.
And while Florida is nice, it lacks the culture and backbone that New England offers.
The winter of 2011 will go down in history as one of the worst ever, that is, it will be recalled by some of us who remember such things, as the snowiest since 1978.
The storm two weeks ago was almost like a blizzard but didn’t really make it on the score sheet.
If the snow arrives Wednesday as predicted, then life here will grow slightly more complicated, again.
Our automobiles will be hidden under it. The roads will be filled with it. The piles of snow everywhere will grow even higher.
Tens of thousands will be spent to remove it, to plow, to salt and to sand – and when its all over Thursday, we’ll have to get ready for what the remainder of the winter might hold.