Weather — Andy Arthur.org

January

Andy | January 1, 2010

The month of January is the coldest month of the year, if the thermometer is to be believed. It’s not the grayest or snowiest month of the year, or even the most harshest month of the year (a time reserved for February). While the days are slowly getting longer in January, the growth in daylight is small compared to months to come.

We will go out skiing and snowshoeing, spending time riding snowmobiles and enjoying nature’s gift of the snow. It won’t always be perfect weather, but like every season we must make the most of it. It’s winter, and it only lasts for about half of the year in New York State.

There will be days where we will go outside, and the mercury won’t even reach 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind is whipping down from the North. There will be days and weeks when the roads are covered with ice and snow. People will struggle to find parking spots in the city, as parking spots are replaced with ice covered patches and snow banks. Driving will only be nice this time of year, because the insides of cars will be toasty. It’s going to be very winter-like out there for the next month.

At the same time, there will be the much needed winter thaw. We might finally for a few days loose all of the snow, and it get up into the balmy 40 degrees range. Winter doesn’t always mean that it’s going to be supercold, and indeed, we must certainly will see a brief mud season during January for a couple of days when the sun makes us think of a false spring.

January is when we get over the Christmas Season high. The lights on the trees are taken off, the Christmas trees are dumped into the brush pile to be chipped sometime when spring comes in another five months. The colorful wrapping the presents have come in are now charred down to nothing but ash. New Years Eve celebrations are just a memory, as we wake up hung over on this first day of the year.

We will all promise ourselves to do better this year then last year. Whether or not we will live up to it in the new year, is a totally different thing. Maybe we will do good for this month of January, then fall down in subsequent months. Regardless, in many ways, January is a month of great hope that we can change and overcome our human fallacies. A benchmark, that is pretty meaningless, but one we must find ourselves embracing every year.

September

Andy | September 1, 2009

The month of September is when the summer season officially winds down. It’s also when it starts getting a bit cooler and clearer our, and when we start seeing the first hints of fall’s beauty.

It’s the time of high-harvest and a closing out of summer. Kids go back to school this month, and young adults go back to college. Primary day comes and goes, political candidates focus on their general election.

Leaves start to fall. The humidity drops even faster. Some of the nicest weather of the entire year comes about. It promises to be a pleasurable time.

March

Andy | March 4, 2009

They say this month comes in like a lion and leaves like a lamb. This is the month where the harshest part of winter comes to an end and spring starts to take over. Certainly by the end of the month we may start having some temperate warm days, as average high temperatures start to work their ways over 50 degrees.

The thaw is much needed this year. It has been a long harsh winter. The green that will soon surround us will refresh and inspire us; it will wash away all the salt and muck that has piled up throughout the winter. We need to be able to put away our winter coats and enjoy the great outdoors without being bundled up.

While nobody thinks that things will green up this month, the warmer weather and the melting snow is a sign of what is to come. Things will get muddy, and we will get more snow, but the calender will say spring as we move into nicer warmer weather, finally.

Soon will be when we can go out camping and enjoy long summer evenings under the stars. When a weekend hike won’t involve cold but just the beauty of springtime and summertime. When the summer seems endless and we won’t have to think of shoveling anything related to snow or ice.

This times are near. We just have to work out way through this cold month and it will become nice once again by the end of April..

Think Spring!

October is Here

Andy | October 1, 2007

I look around and take a step out in the brisk October weather. I never expected this month to come so soon.

It was so warm out. It felt like summer for most of the previous month. Certainly not early fall as many of us consider September to be. Yet, fall came and now we are well into it.

The color is poping up. But it’s not as clean yellow, red, or orange as we normally would expect. It’s been too dry to get the beautiful colors this year, so we are seeing more brown. And that brown is spreading all over from crops to the fields.

It was not an excessively dry September of August, as we had some bursts rains, and our early summer was wet. Yet, it still left many with smaller apples, less lush hay, and pumpkins that were not as big or attractive as they might have been other years. But that’s how it goes with farming.

We have to look forward to October and the beautiful weather it will bring. Leaves are still not at their peak and all the crops are still not in. Frost is still a few weeks away, particularly with our warm weather. But clear skies are on the way. So enjoy your October.