If you live in Wisconsin, it snows in April. You know this. It doesn’t matter if you’re way up north by Rhinelander or the far southeast in Kenosha. It snows most years in April.
Sometimes it’s a light dusting. Sometimes it’s an inch or two. Sometimes you get eight inches. The beauty is that the snow doesn’t stick around long. Because the ground has warmed up, these spring storms that dump the white stuff melt quickly and the next day accumulations often dissipate the full ground cover.
But that doesn’t keep people from complaining. This fascinates me.
It’s normal for us to get snow this time of year. Then it’s normal for the temperature to reach 55 degrees the next day. And for us to get an inch of rain the day after. So what? Why complain? It’s the way it is.
We’ve had three snow dumps this April. None too serious. The predictions are always worse than the bite. The weather forecasters do their best to scare us. We wonder if we’ll be able to get to work the next day. Should I pull out my winter jacket again, look for my gloves and stocking cap?
If you adopt the right attitude (that these weather swings are to be expected and will change again quickly), you’ll get along with your daily life having no emotional issues. If instead, you expect weather to fit your personal lifestyle, then you’ll whine away like there’s something wrong.
I sometimes wonder how much Facebook amplifies our current culture of complaint. After our most recent April snow accumulation it seemed like the snow complainers were out in force. “Snow in April sucks.” “I can’t believe it’s going to snow again.” “When will the snow end?”
Sure, it’s a slight inconvenience, particularly if the roads get buried, the plows and salt trucks have to come out. But that’s typically not the case.
Our most recent bout, for example, just this past week, was predicted to be 5-10 inches, depending on where you lived in the southeastern part of the state. We got maybe two inches at our house. It was nice. We had a fire in the fire place, staying cozy.
In the morning we went to our local park to walk our two dogs, per our normal routine. The dogs were pumped. The snow quieted the world. The views were stupendous as the trees and bushes were coated in light fluff.
The sun came up, dazzling the landscape and our eyes. “How much of the snow will be left by the day,” I quizzed my wife.
She predicted all the snow would be gone. I predicted that 95 percent of it would be gone, with slight traces left in places of shade not touched by sun during the course of the day.
She won. All gone. Our footprints on the trails at the park that morning erased in less than six hours.
That’s April in Wisconsin as it should be. Take the time to enjoy it for what it is – a chance to appreciate the sublime beauty of our landscape amplified by a coating of white armor.
Those dang hot days of summer are approaching. Then it’s time to start complaining.
Sometimes it’s a light dusting. Sometimes it’s an inch or two. Sometimes you get eight inches. The beauty is that the snow doesn’t stick around long. Because the ground has warmed up, these spring storms that dump the white stuff melt quickly and the next day accumulations often dissipate the full ground cover.
But that doesn’t keep people from complaining. This fascinates me.
It’s normal for us to get snow this time of year. Then it’s normal for the temperature to reach 55 degrees the next day. And for us to get an inch of rain the day after. So what? Why complain? It’s the way it is.
We’ve had three snow dumps this April. None too serious. The predictions are always worse than the bite. The weather forecasters do their best to scare us. We wonder if we’ll be able to get to work the next day. Should I pull out my winter jacket again, look for my gloves and stocking cap?
If you adopt the right attitude (that these weather swings are to be expected and will change again quickly), you’ll get along with your daily life having no emotional issues. If instead, you expect weather to fit your personal lifestyle, then you’ll whine away like there’s something wrong.
I sometimes wonder how much Facebook amplifies our current culture of complaint. After our most recent April snow accumulation it seemed like the snow complainers were out in force. “Snow in April sucks.” “I can’t believe it’s going to snow again.” “When will the snow end?”
Sure, it’s a slight inconvenience, particularly if the roads get buried, the plows and salt trucks have to come out. But that’s typically not the case.
Our most recent bout, for example, just this past week, was predicted to be 5-10 inches, depending on where you lived in the southeastern part of the state. We got maybe two inches at our house. It was nice. We had a fire in the fire place, staying cozy.
In the morning we went to our local park to walk our two dogs, per our normal routine. The dogs were pumped. The snow quieted the world. The views were stupendous as the trees and bushes were coated in light fluff.
The sun came up, dazzling the landscape and our eyes. “How much of the snow will be left by the day,” I quizzed my wife.
She predicted all the snow would be gone. I predicted that 95 percent of it would be gone, with slight traces left in places of shade not touched by sun during the course of the day.
She won. All gone. Our footprints on the trails at the park that morning erased in less than six hours.
That’s April in Wisconsin as it should be. Take the time to enjoy it for what it is – a chance to appreciate the sublime beauty of our landscape amplified by a coating of white armor.
Those dang hot days of summer are approaching. Then it’s time to start complaining.