I don’t care what your views are on climate change, you have to admit that this has been a very odd winter in Boston. In my entire life, I’ve never seen a winter like this, and people twice my age are saying the same thing. We only had two snowfalls worth shoveling, and even those were measured in inches, not feet. They even melted within a few days.
Wondering what a normal Boston winter is like? I took this picture in January 2005. Yeah, exactly. And this winter? This winter 
we hardly had any snow at all. We saw clear pavement and grass almost the entire winter. Other parts of Mass. got real snow, but not us.
Most people loved this. To be honest, I enjoyed it too. We still had some cold weather, but I don’t mind bundling up in my extra warm coat. The great part was not having to worry about shoveling out my car or slipping on the ice – because there wasn’t any! Woo hoo! I loved not having to worry about my footing (at least, not any more than usual.)
And now I’m starting to pay the price. When I was a kid in the 1980s, spring started in March. I used to think I had imagined that, but then I came across an old home video dated March 1986 or so, and sure enough, we kids were outside playing in pants and t-shirts – and no coats. But then in the ’90s we started getting snow through March and into April, and that became the new norm. We hearty Bostonians grumpily adjusted to spring starting in April, or even in May.
Today, March 21, it was 80 degrees. I knew there was a problem within a minute of getting out of bed. It took me a minute to figure it out. It was early, so the temp wasn’t too high yet. And then I realized: the dew point. I went online and, sure enough, the dew point was 58! That’s too high! At 58 I’m generally already having flares of pain, fatigue, and GI issues. At 60 I turn on the a/c and avoid leaving the house. But the a/c isn’t in the window yet, it’s still in the basement, because it’s fucking March! It’s still winter!
Needless to say, this wasn’t my best day. It wasn’t the worst, though. I quickly closed all of my windows this morning and pulled down the shades, and the apartment actually stayed fairly cool. Too bad that won’t work through the summer. And I used a/c in the car. And I drank a lot of water. Hello Spring.
Mother Nature threw us all for a loop and there’s nothing we can do about it. I’m glad that in a couple more days the temps will drop 20 degrees. Everyone else has been going on and on about how fabulous the weather was today, and they couldn’t understand why I didn’t agree. I guess you’d have to be in a body like mine to understand that. Personally, I’m looking forward to fall already, to those beautifully crisp autumn days. Until then, I’m grateful for air conditioners and fans!
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If you can relate to this, please pass it along and share the camaraderie! Thanks!
Chronic Rants 