So Far….So Good

With the rush and hub-bub of the holiday season now over, we’ll all be settling in for another long New England winter.

Up to this point, we have been fortunate. We have yet to feel the wrath of any truly wintry weather. A cold day here or there — including a chilly Thanksgiving — has not been hard to take. Indeed, the temperatures have been quite moderate since the Winter Solstice on Dec. 21, with the New Year’s Day temperature rising into the mid-50s, making it quite a nice day for a walk or a run outside, despite the strong breeze.

However, we know that Mother Nature typically saves her best (or worst) for later in the season. In just the past few years, we had winter storm Nemo in February of 2013, the Snowmageddon winter of 2015 (in which there was no snow in December), and last year we had those crazy storms in early January and early March that knocked out power throughout the region and brought coastal flooding to places along our bayside areas that never had experienced it to that extent before.

The images of Boston Harbor flooding into the Seaport District and water pouring into the Aquarium T stop were something we never had seen in our entire lives as residents of this area — and that includes the Blizzard of ‘78 and the No Name Storm of 1991. The highest-ever high tide (exceeding the Blizzard of ‘78) and the third-highest tide in Boston Harbor were recorded in those two storms last year.

As we are writing this, the 10-day forecast is pretty nice, especially considering that it is the first part of January. However, the models for the long-range forecast indicate that February will be colder, snowier, and stormier than usual in our part of the country.

But as any longtime New Englander knows, all that we can do is to take winter one day at a time and be grateful for the nice days when we get them. When it comes to the weather, especially in this era of climate change, we are at the mercy of the vicissitudes of Mother Nature.

We can hope for the best, but we must expect the worst.