💾 Archived View for rawtext.club › ~winter › gemlog › 2024 › 2-09.gmi captured on 2024-03-21 at 15:31:23. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Real weird weather this year. Partially explainable by El Nino, but I've had some other El Nino years with weird temperatures (10 degrees at Christmas, 15 in late March) and nothing's felt quite as weird as this, even though the last week and a half has only been between maybe 0 and 5 degrees. But it's the time of year: late January, early February. This time of year the weather is always at its worst. -20 is normal. Often we're in the midst of a cold snap, -30 or colder, for weeks.
But then it turned again, yesterday, the mid-day drizzle turning into freezing rain by late afternoon, and then snow by the time my partner was driving home. You hear people complain about SUVs, but having one has meant an enormous difference in terms of road safety. Safe driving, AWD, and snow tires means that we can usually count the number of times that ABS kicks in every winter on one hand. The old Altima, with brand-new snow tires, would always skid.
This morning I was out shovelling, cursing whatever bit of landscape or geometry causes the snow to disproportionately drift into our driveway. I came in sweating and now I'm sitting with a scalding cup of coffee, taking in the white noise of the house's heating system and my dogs' snoring. Putting in a few minutes on the MUD I've played since 1998, replying to a few emails, practicing my Irish on Duolingo. Something approaching routine.
The birds are especially loud right now. Probably as surprised with the recent developments as the rest of us. Just a day or two ago, the rain had turned the leafless trees slick and dark. Now we're all hunched over, reminded of just what time of year it is, slouching tiredly toward March.