Spring? Before Winter?

Spring?

Just down the road a patch of daffodils is blooming.  Our daffodils in the back garden are budded.  Today is Feb 25.

My Maine mind says something's wrong with that.  After 11 years, and 11 springs down here, I'm still not used to the idea of daffodils before April.

And this year, more so than in recent years, it just doesn't feel like we even HAD winter.

Oh, we've had cold, but not as cold as we've seen it here.  Maybe down into the high single digits, once or twice.

Oh, we've had snow, but not as much we've seen it here.  Maybe 4 inches total since November.

And OH, have we had rain!  More than I ever imagined we could have.  As I write this, rivers all over the state are flooding, schools are closed in the east due to flash floods, and road washouts, and the worst of the flooding may not hit the Ohio for several days, then it's down the Mississippi.

But overall, it just doesn't feel that we have actually HAD a winter here.

And yet I hear people complaining about what a hard winter we've had.

On the other hand, I've always been told that "Mother Nature" gets even with us.  If that is the case, then the next six months should see tons of snow in March, but no rain and cold temperatures until fall.  In other words, by October I should be asking "did we even HAVE a summer?"

During the 1998 Ice Storm in Maine, we were blocked in for three days.  During the 2009 Ice Storm in Kentucky, we were blocked in for about three days.  But during the snowstorm last March, we were blocked in for five days.  Normally a foot of snow would melt in a day or two, but that snow was followed by below freezing temps, so it didn't melt for about a week.

I guess the most visible part of "climate change" that I can see is the extremes of weather, not just "global warming" but warmer warms, colder colds, snowier snows, rainier rains, and drier drys.

Maybe after every season, we'll start saying, "Did we actually HAVE _____?"