Don't Like the Weather?

Surely you’ve heard the old expression…”ya don’t like the weather?…just wait five minutes!”  It seems especially true here in our Valley of the Shenandoah.

The weather in the Valley is nothing if not quixotic.  It’s also incredibly localized.  We have watched it rain on the fields on the other side of Mish Barn Road, while we sweltered and worried during desperate drought. Our daughters live in other small towns not too far away and seldom have the same weather as the old homeplace…or each other.

Last week, Spring seemed imminent.  The angle of the light was slightly different…those fields across the way seemed greener than the day before. I posted a picture to Facebook to document the change.  The wintry precipitation had been removed from the forecast. It seemed only right to feel optimistic about an early Spring.  But…it is February…

Saturday dawned in a dull sort of way.The sunrise wasn't much.  Was there a sense of change in the air?  It was very still and almost warm.  I clung to my hopes for an early spring, albeit with a sense of foreboding.

By noon, the temperature had dropped dramatically.  There were reports of snow in the mountains of the Carolinas.  When I walked to the mailbox around three o’clock, very small snowflakes were drifting gently from a darkened sky.  A check of the weather indicated FLURRIES.

Waylon is out there...somewhere

By the time I started afternoon chores just a half an hour later…it looked like a blizzard.  The flakes were huge…the wind was blowing…suddenly it was snowing sideways.  A glance across the small valley that I had photographed on Thursday revealed a far different view.  For the record, that is NOT a bad photo…it was actually snowing that hard.

The snow piled up rapidly and by suppertime, there were at least two inches, probably three.  It was impossible to tell…the wind was blowing SO hard! …and then, it was over.  The sky cleared in time for a beautiful sunset. Many of the surrounding localities missed out on any of the white stuff.  Friends as close as 10 or 15 miles away wondered what in the world we were talking about!

Overnight, the temperature dropped into the teens.  Sunday, we never saw 25*.  Coupled with a brisk wind, the hill has not been the most pleasant of places on this Sunday.  Tonight, I am guessing that it will feel like the single digits…what with the combination of the leftover snow, the clear…clear sky and the continuing breeze. 

But…tomorrow is a new day.  …and the forecast is that the temperatures should at least flirt with 45*...maybe 50.  So, let the spring planning resume.  Hoophouses…here I come.

Oh…wait…look at the forecast for Tuesday!  

…oh, yikes…check out FRIDAY...the first of MARCH.

…but, you know what they say about March...

                                                        ..."in like a lion...
                                                          ...out like a LAMB!"

Let's hope that old adage is true this year.

Spring is just around the corner!  If you don't believe me...just wait five minutes...