Tried and True Methods

There's an old adage that everybody will have undoubtedly heard which states that, "if it ain't broke then don't fix it." And in the case of weather predictions, I find it funny that in a day and age when meteorologists talk about their weather machines and models that can pinpoint a single snowflake in an entire state, we still turn our eyes to Gobbler's Knob in Punxsatawney, Pennsylvania to see if groundhog prognosticator extrordinaire Punxsatawney Phil will see his shadow or not. The result being a prediction as to whether Winter will last for another six weeks or not.

For those who don't know, the tradition goes that if the groundhog comes out and sees its shadow it will go back into it's little den knowing that winter is due to last another six weeks. Now many people swear that it's the truth when it comes to this type of weather predicting and although I know that animals have a sixth sense or an innate ability to figure these things out, I still think it's like when you wake up some mornings and hit the snooze. I mean perhaps Phil got a bit hungry and decided to come out for a quick snack and then decided to go back in. Depending on how the weather is that day he either decides to stick around for a while or perhaps feels like many of us often do that it's a day that he needs to turn right around and tuck himself in for an extra few weeks of hibernating sleep.

I don't think it's wrong that we follow this tradition but I must say that if the winter in Washington this year is any benchmark of winter for the next six weeks then we have absolutely nothing to worry about. The weather this weekend was so balmy and nice that people were out and about and eating outside for a change. Sure there was a bit of snow and/or ice piled up in corners from the snow/ice storm from earlier in the week but the warm weather was conducive to outdoor activities. And though there were predictions that there would be lots of snow today, the storm track veered out to sea farther than weather experts were expecting and so we're stuck with dandruff-like snow rather than an actual storm. Though President Obama and the rest of the administration did poke fun at Washingtonians for their apparent fear of snow and ice conditions, on the whole we have escaped largely untouched from the wrath of old-man-Winter this year.

The temperatures have occasionally been quite low and though there have been times when my nose and ears have felt like they would snap off any second, we haven't had it all that bad in the area. I mean parts of South Carolina and Georgia have seen more snow than we have. I mean Las Vegas has had more snow than we've had all winter long. Las Vegas! And that's in the middle of the desert for goodness sake! Is it a sign of good luck for the city and region that we are getting milder winters lately or is it a sign of something more sinister like global warming? People can sit there and debate it but you can't deny that something strange is going on when you've got people in the desert bundled up with snow falling and people in traditionally snowy areas eating out on the streets in t-shirts. It's a bit weird and since Phil saw his shadow, I take that to mean that we'll have six more weeks of wearing t-shirts here in DC.