Let It Snow (In Moderation)

By the time this week’s column goes on the site, readers are probably going to be looking out their windows to see a long-delayed layer of snow on the ground. As I finish this up on Friday, the forecast is calling for snow throughout the weekend, leaving a few inches behind.

In the rough draft, written when this prediction was not yet solidified, I noted how I had found myself torn between two quite different hopes. On the one hand, I’m just about ready to pack it in on this winter and start hoping for still warmer temperatures and a return to springtime activities. On the other hand, I wouldn’t really be opposed to a last snowstorm or two such as the one we’ve likely received.

Yes, this is tempting fate. I wrote a column similar to this in December of 2010, , and we were promptly pummeled by storm after storm  throughout the ensuing winter. And the one significant snowfall we did get reminded me about all the hassles this kind of weather, namely the fact that you’re going to have to work a shovel or snowblower through huge piles of the white stuff just to get to your car…which you also have to clear.

There’s also the time issue. When I was in high school, I joined the cross country ski team and became part of a large group of adolescents who constantly beseeched the climate to act like it was supposed to instead of delivering a disgusting mess of cloying warmth and fog. Yet even when we did get snow, late February was about the last time I really wanted to see it. That was when we had the season-ending state meet, and after that I was more eager to get back on the bike or try out a new hiking trail.

I can understand why people have loved this winter. City budget balancers are no doubt glad to see money budgeted for snow removal suddenly freed up. Day after day we’ve received dry, sunny weather where you can go out in a sweatshirt; it’s certainly better than the dreary drizzle that even the most hard-bitten winter haters have to agree is uglier than a mild flurry.

I’m biased, of course. I’d hoped to check out some of the parks in the area that include cross country skiing among their attractions, and the one storm we’ve had this year offered a chance to repeat last year’s performance of . Plus I spent a fair amount of money to put on snow tires, which have done nothing but reduce my fuel efficiency for the past few months.

Still, it’s clear that most people are willing to roll with the weather’s punches. The storm we’ve gotten didn’t prevent people from going out and enjoying themselves, and quite a few residents jumped on the chance to find a . So even if everyone’s rooting for a clean sprint into spring, I’m going to pray for just a little bit of skiing and sledding weather before March rolls around.

I’m not advocating the worst of winter. No subzero, boiling-water-freezes-in-an instant temperature lows, please. No winds that pierce winter jackets like they aren’t even there. No ice storms that shatter infrastructure and might well lead to CL&P signing a formal surrender with Mother Nature. Just a few inches of good snowman manufacturing material.

is counting on it, after all.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.