Weather Report

Wherein Our Heroine Turns Her Face Toward the Spring.

There were smatterings of snow yesterday.

For those of us who have spent the greater portion of our lives in the snow belt, this should not necessarily come as a surprise. The calendar hasn't even flipped to March, though some of you (you know who you are) have surreptitiously peeked to see the hope of spring that March's calendar page coyly hints at. In New England, March's coy hints run to mud and the occasional blizzard, just to keep you on your toes. In Minnesota, mostly they skip the mud and stick to blizzards.

But in Maryland we've had temperatures in the fifties recently. Here, close to the Tidal Basin, warm weather brings thoughts of cherry trees fluffing out their branches in frivolous pink blooms and daffodils in huge yellow drifts along the Potomac. On Sunday, with sunny skies and a brisk wind we walked around Clopper Lake. True, there was still plenty of ice and clinging mud in the shaded areas of the path, but the last leg of our journey found us in sunshine bright and warm enough to make me wish my fleece jacket wasn't quite so cozy.

So when the snow arrived yesterday, plopping wetly down amongst the rain and melting immediately, I retreated into a clinically perfect state of denial. I, who pride myself on my New England stoicism in the face of cold, seem to have turned into a Mid-Atlantic type, eagerly awaiting the return of the warm weather months. Even the dog, who usually turns himself inside out if he doesn't get his daily exercise, seemed happy to stay inside by the fire yesterday. It's been a long, frigid winter for the DC area and I believe we've all just about had enough.

This morning, the temperature is in the twenties, but the sun is shining brightly and a glance at the forecast for the next few days shows the daily highs undulating through the forties, fifties, and even sixty on Sunday. No more snow is due.

I might just make it.

Posted: Wednesday - February 25, 2004 at 07:32 AM | |