When I compare one winter to another, I mostly use two measuring sticks — the amount of snow andthe number of days with zero or below-zero temperatures.
For instance, last winter, which I call the winter from hell, produced more than 50 inches ofsnow, while we had had fewer than 28 inches this winter as of yesterday, according to the officialmeasurement at Port Columbus. Last winter seems destined to be the winner in the snow category.
However, this winter has tied the winter from hell in the number of zero or below-zero days.That is really hard for me to believe, but it is so. Both have produced 10 such days, and the waythe frigid weather is hanging on, it’s possible that this winter could win this category.
The weather in February was brutal. Normal temperatures for that month have highs in the low 40sand lows in the upper 20s.
The reason the zero and below-zero weather got my attention is that, before this winter andlast, such temperatures have been relatively rare in recent times. For example, we had none duringthe winter of 2012-13.
The National Weather Service in Wilmington told me that Columbus averages only 2.9 zero orbelow-zero days per winter. The weather service updates its averages every 30 years to keep themcurrent. The question in my mind is why have zero-degree days suddenly come into vogue? I can’tfind anyone who knows.
Meteorologists are calling for temperatures to be a bit more moderate now that March has begun,but temperatures still will be below normal.
February has been so cold that the folks who collect sugar-maple sap to make syrup have beensitting on their duffs because the sap hasn’t been running. February is usually their busytime.
Even days when temperatures didn’t dip below zero, they remained in the single digits or teens,and wind-chill measurements were below zero.
We Ohioans are not doing a whole lot better than the polar bears that experts say are strugglingbecause the sea ice in the Arctic is melting. The polar bears’ temperatures are going up while oursare going down.
I believe I have a solution that should help both parties. Maybe we could ship the bears some ofour ice, and then we wouldn’t have so much of it.
All I know is that I want to take my coat off and run through a wildflower-filled woods.
Today is the first day of March, and, therefore, I am of the opinion that it is spring. That’sbecause I worked for so many years with meteorologists, who operate on the premise that March isthe beginning of spring for data-collecting purposes. Astronomical spring will begin at 6:45 p.m.on March 20.
Even the March moon has a spring-sounding name. It is called the worm moon, and it will be fullon Thursday.
I’m confident that spring weather will come. It has to.
Retired weather columnist John Switzer writes a Sunday Metro column.
jswitzer@dispatch.com
For instance, last winter, which I call the winter from hell, produced more than 50 inches ofsnow, while we had had fewer than 28 inches this winter as of yesterday, according to the officialmeasurement at Port Columbus. Last winter seems destined to be the winner in the snow category.
However, this winter has tied the winter from hell in the number of zero or below-zero days.That is really hard for me to believe, but it is so. Both have produced 10 such days, and the waythe frigid weather is hanging on, it’s possible that this winter could win this category.
The weather in February was brutal. Normal temperatures for that month have highs in the low 40sand lows in the upper 20s.
The reason the zero and below-zero weather got my attention is that, before this winter andlast, such temperatures have been relatively rare in recent times. For example, we had none duringthe winter of 2012-13.
The National Weather Service in Wilmington told me that Columbus averages only 2.9 zero orbelow-zero days per winter. The weather service updates its averages every 30 years to keep themcurrent. The question in my mind is why have zero-degree days suddenly come into vogue? I can’tfind anyone who knows.
Meteorologists are calling for temperatures to be a bit more moderate now that March has begun,but temperatures still will be below normal.
February has been so cold that the folks who collect sugar-maple sap to make syrup have beensitting on their duffs because the sap hasn’t been running. February is usually their busytime.
Even days when temperatures didn’t dip below zero, they remained in the single digits or teens,and wind-chill measurements were below zero.
We Ohioans are not doing a whole lot better than the polar bears that experts say are strugglingbecause the sea ice in the Arctic is melting. The polar bears’ temperatures are going up while oursare going down.
I believe I have a solution that should help both parties. Maybe we could ship the bears some ofour ice, and then we wouldn’t have so much of it.
All I know is that I want to take my coat off and run through a wildflower-filled woods.
Today is the first day of March, and, therefore, I am of the opinion that it is spring. That’sbecause I worked for so many years with meteorologists, who operate on the premise that March isthe beginning of spring for data-collecting purposes. Astronomical spring will begin at 6:45 p.m.on March 20.
Even the March moon has a spring-sounding name. It is called the worm moon, and it will be fullon Thursday.
I’m confident that spring weather will come. It has to.
Retired weather columnist John Switzer writes a Sunday Metro column.
jswitzer@dispatch.com
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