Only 24 Days Until Spring Severe Weather Awareness Week

George Gissing while his blood was still pulsing vigorously

It was novelist George Gissing who observed, poetically, “For the man sound in body and serene of mind, there is no such thing as bad weather.  Every sky has its beauty, and storms which whip the blood do but make it pulse more vigorously.”

Well, my blood is pulsing pretty vigorously after shoveling the snow off of our sidewalk and taking my tractor on a face-numbing, sub-zero wind chill journey to blade the snow off of our driveway. 

The yardstick my wife has taped to a railing on our deck to measure snowfall indicates we received 6 ½ inches of the white stuff.  Not an inconsiderable amount, but a drop in the bucket compared to the GROUNDHOG DAY BLIZZARD OF 2011.  As George Gissing might say, it was then that Mother Nature gave our blood a REALLY good spanking.”

During the days leading up to Groundhog’s Day, 2011, snowfall estimates progressed from routine to dire:

January 28 - Chance of significant snowfall beginning Feb. 1

January 29 - 8-12 inches of snow beginning Feb 1

January 30 – 10-15 inches of snow beginning Feb. 1

January 31 – 6-18 inches of snow beginning Feb. 1. A WINTER STORM WARNING is issued.

February 1 – The good news?  The Winter Storm Warning was cancelled.  The bad news?  It was replaced with our first ever BLIZZARD WARNING.  Expect 12-20 inches of snow, we were told.

“Uh oh” I remember thinking to myself.  “Let’s all pray THAT’S wrong!” 

My prayers were answered. 

“Now Chester says we are going to get 18-24 inches of snow!” announced my wife.  We actually got a 21-inch snowfall at our house.  Since then, I have been more specific in which direction I hope the error will be when praying that a projected snowfall total will be wrong.  Plus, I remain "serene of mind" (interpretation - I don't get my knickers in a knot) over a piddling half-foot of snow.

George Gissing died in France on December 28, 1903, at the tender age of 46.  The cause of his death is listed as “unspecified”.  My guess is it was during weather such as we are currently experiencing.

“My, My!” said George, a big smile on his face, as he passed a fellow clearing a path through 2 feet of snow with icicles hanging from his ears and long, green strands of frozen snot suspended from his nose.

“Doesn’t this weather just whip your blood and make it pulse more vigorously?" asked George enthusiastically.

In retrospect, while poetic, that might not have been the ideal time to pose a question like that, what with surgical procedures to remove a snow shovel embedded in one’s rear at such a primitive state.

Just a hunch. . .