Pinch Me

March 17, 2007 at 9:25 AM

“No, I’m certain we had a couple of weeks of warm sunshine last summer, and it was really nice.”

No, Ruth. No we didn’t, and I would now like to throttle anyone who insists otherwise. And since we are all (myself included) in the habit of misconstruing the facts to favor our fancy, I went home and looked it up. Then, I wrote down the official average temperature for each month over the past year. Not stopping there (I have lots of time on my hands over spring break), I wrote down the average monthly temperature over the entire past 57 years, ever since they started keeping records in this town. Expectantly, I awaited a trend of some sort to reveal itself.

Well, the facts are in. The 50's were cold, with average annual temperatures of about 33 degrees. The 80's were the warmest, with an average temperature of 35 degrees. The 90's were a tad cooler, and this past decade has averaged 34. And last year? Well, the average temperature here for 2006 was 30.5 degrees, with last summer setting a record for being the coolest in recorded history.

I made a few graphs.

Then I bundled up

and went outside

to see just how March was coming along.

Nope, nothing's wearing green today, not unless you count bars of soap. St. Patty, you will just have to pinch me. And pinch Alaska, too. I’m heading over to the coffee shop to play some jigs and reels with any Irishman who cares to join me (or any person who happens to feel Irish today, for that matter). Let me know when we've reached the end of the rainbow.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 9:41 AM

You look cool. That's genuine Eskimo garb. Shouldn't the scarf be a skinned seal or something though?

From Emily Grossman
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 9:52 AM

Alpaca's much easier to knit. :)

From Neil Cameron
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 1:16 PM

That's a very cool pic of yourself Emily. Gorgeous.

Doesn't the alpaca object when you stick knitting needles in it?

Neil

From Emily Grossman
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 5:51 PM

Thanks, Neil. I never met that particular alpaca. But if I do, I'll poke him and see what he says about it.

From Tom Holzman
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 9:35 PM

That climate sure isn't for me. Even my childhood in Boston was tropical in comparison (as I suspect my wife's in Chicago was). My late father might recognize it from the partial winter he spent in the Ukraine in a tent during World War II. The only one who might appreciate it is my second cousin the famous mountain climber and some of his kids who have/are living in Alsaka. Stay warm and avoid frostbite, particularly on your fingers!

From Liz Farley Metzger
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 10:14 PM

Could be worse, Emily. Here it is March and here in Phoenix the thermometer on the ouside of my house is reading mid-90's or higher during the day.

That's way too hot and it'll just get worse. You'll hear me whine when it's 120 this summer!!

From Bilbo Prattle
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 11:11 PM

So much for global warming.

I guess Al Gore's movie is the butt of jokes up there in Solcoldna.

If it's any consolation, we went cross country skiing last night, and sledding this morning, and the rivers and ponds have still been frozen quite convincingly ever since mid Januar. And we're at Latitude 41! Here it is, a week from spring and we haven't even got mud season yet. And up in coastal downeast Maine, there was still 18" of snow on the ground before this storm came through.

Water temperatures on Long Island Sound:

34 degrees in Bridgeport:
http://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov/plotcomp.shtml?station_info=8467150+Bridgeport,+CT

36 degrees in New Haven:
http://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov/geographic.html

Even the ocean is cold! Montauk, 37.8 F!

So much for spring. Blame it on En Ni~no.

From Bilbo Prattle
Posted on March 17, 2007 at 11:22 PM

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Soldotna+AK

Well, your weather does look like our late January weather.

Here's ours (I picked mid-coast of CT):

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Old+Saybrook%2C+CT

From Ihnsouk Guim
Posted on March 18, 2007 at 12:07 AM

It doesn't look too different in Pennsylvania today. We had an ice storm. After the Al Gore film, I decided to be good and plow myself this winter using a good old snow shovel. Worked about an hour to clear the driveway to drive my daughter to the lesson before the teacher called to cancel.

Ihnsouk

From Emily Grossman
Posted on March 18, 2007 at 12:41 AM

Bilbo, ...Wunderground! Watch out, it'll suck you in, if it hasn't already. :)

So really. I need a guitar player, someone who can pick up chords by ear or by sight and knows how to jig and reel. Otherwise, it's Danny Boy ala carte. (Which is not quite as good as Danny Boy ala mode, but at least it's a better option than Danny Boy ala tone-deaf-rhythm-deficient-guitar. Oh Danny...)

From Theresa Bauman
Posted on March 18, 2007 at 2:37 PM

I hear you about the cold and snow. I'm in "sunny" Alberta, Canada, and the snow has dropped from the door handle of a 1/2 ton truck in our hay feild to the top of its tires. Spring is surly just around the corner now.
Theresa

From Bilbo Prattle
Posted on March 18, 2007 at 5:18 PM

Spring is most definitely surly this year.

From Sheila Ganapathy
Posted on March 19, 2007 at 1:57 AM

how cold does it get there in dead winter? doesn't it depend on which part you are living in?

Sheila

From Emily Grossman
Posted on March 19, 2007 at 4:08 AM

Sheila, good to hear from you again. I was just wondering how you were doing.

In the winter, temps average 0-20 degrees. Being a coastal town, we are much milder than the interior of the state, which sees an average of 20 degrees colder weather. The coldest I've seen since I moved here was -30 (a couple of months ago). I think the record is -45 or so. But often times it warms up to the 30's and 40's and we get rain.

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