I guess January is always a cold bleak month.
But for some reason, this month just seems colder and bleaker then usual.
I guess such weather is normal for winter, but after last year, it just seems a little strange.
Seasons
For those who are fans of winter mud
For those who are fans of winter mud … π§
It looks like we might get 1 1/4 inches of rain on Saturday, followed by another 1/4 inch on Sunday. While 54 degrees on Saturday might not be the warmest January day ever, it’s going to turn everything into more slop, as it will destroy any frost that might be remaining in the ground. π
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Just a friendly reminder that it’s still winter and while the east coast might be warm today, there is no guarantees that the mild winter will last.
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Winter Time.
ο»ΏWinter is a long cold time here in the frigid Northeastern United States. After you few years spent in the winter here, you can see why people are moving out of New York left and right β itβs the winters plus the unfriendly enforcement-first culture that dominates politics. Many cold blustery days, road salt encrusting everything, high heating bills, and slippery sidewalks for months on end. Fortunately, climate change has made the winters a bit less severe but they arenβt going away tomorrow.
I plan to tough it through another winter. I have warm gear, and I donβt mind winter camping, but the snow makes it hard to be back to the remote campsites I like to camp in the winter. Colder temperatures are tough on all the gear, and the the many gray and short days of winter arenβt much fun. Itβs not too bad in the sense that itβs often one of the busiest times of year at work for me, so I can focus on the long days at work, and then relax on the weekends at home, just going for short walks down to the library or other places.
Staying close to home, I tend to save more money in the winter then the summer, despite the higher heating bills. I try to get keep the heat down low in the winter, so it really only adds $40-50 to my utility bills, which is easily offset by not taking trips and burning through gasoline, food and supplies. I try to live fairly modestly in the winter, so I can have enough money saved up for trips come the summer. Nothing beats a hot weekend out at the potholers or other Adirondack swimming hole.
The cold and blowing snow will certainly come to an end. Theyβll stop spreading salt on the roads, the ice will melt. And maybe it will it be an early spring. One can hope.
America Is Still Living in the 2000s – The Atlantic
Of the many things worth arguing about in America, the number of years that constitute a decade is probably not among them. The word quite literally means “10 years.” But consider historical time, often referred to in decade-based shorthand, and all of a sudden the clear concept of a decade gets blurrier.
Most decades in America have a corresponding social and cultural narrative that’s an uneasy fit in the actual calendar. The ’50s are often stereotyped as an era of postwar domestic prosperity, but the trends cited as proof, such as the growth of the suburbs, reach well into the ’60s. That decade, in turn, cannot tidily hold the massive shifts attributed to it. In her book San Francisco and the Long 60s, Sarah Hill makes the case for two definitions of the era—one spanning four years of counterculture and political upheaval ending in 1969, and another that persists to this day in American attitudes toward sex, drugs, and art. The ’80s, too, spilled over their borders, arguably terminating both politically and culturally circa the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind in late 1991.
Scientists alarmed by massive amounts of road salt used in the Northeast – News – The Herald News, Fall River, MA – Fall River, MA
While Americans may dream of a white Christmas, living with snow the rest of the season is driving a nightmare salt habit.
Each year, Americans spread more than 48 billion pounds of salt on roadways to ward off the effects of winter weather. But it comes at a cost: De-icing salt degrades roads and bridges, contaminates drinking water and harms the environment, according to a slate of scientists expressing growing alarm.
“The issue of road salt has been out in front of us for decades but has received very little attention until the past five years,” said Rick Relyea, a biological scientist at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute near Albany, New York. “Then we see, my goodness, it is everywhere, and it is a growing problem.”