We have been clinging
to our wool sweaters and felt lined boots for a few weeks now. With either a
blizzard blinding our way or freezy temps doing things to our eyelashes,
stepping outside has been an event. And, what about all the people in Toronto,
Newfoundland and the States who face days without electricity? The intensity of
the latest round of severe weather is making us feel like we really do live in
the frozen north. Although, the outdoor hockey classic game did make snow and
cold look like fun.
A winter like this one brings
up some of my childhood memories. I see my mom wrapping a scarf around my mouth,
nose and chin, then tucking my mitts into jacket sleeves so I wouldn’t freeze
when I “played outside”. I feel my toes turn to ice cubes on the outdoor rink
and hear the thud of my skates as I pound on the wooden floor of the rink shack
trying to warm up my feet. And I smell the pungence of wet wool as the shack’s
woodstove coaxes ice balls off droopy mitts.
Actually, once the
layers have coated our bodies, the winter out of doors is a beautiful place to
be. Frost flowers bloom on windows. Clear frigid nights showcase a thick, black
velvet sky where millions of brilliant, blinking stars appear to be close enough
to pluck like berries on a hot summer day. Then, at sunrise, pink cotton candy steam
clouds rise off the rolling shoulders of Lake Superior. Here at Montreal River
the lake still is resisting the ice. One day you can see miles of a moving ice
sheet. Two days later the wind rules and obliterates any sign of an ice blanket.
Watching the lake/ice capades and listening to Arcade Fire’s new CD Reflektor is a fine way to spend an hour
on a Sunday afternoon.
But wait a minute. I
thought that we were supposed to be suffering the effects of global warming. Or
maybe we are. What is going on this wild winter? Time to check out some
science.
Yes it has been
warm—emphasis on has. Scientists from
the American based NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) say
that the global average temperatures over land and ocean surfaces for November
2013 were the highest for November since record keeping began in 1880. Then
December rolled in. Followed by our January 2014!
NASA (National
Aeronautics and Space Administration) has some explanation for the recent
freeze out. They say that a Polar Vortex,
a strong west to east jet stream that contains a large scale region of frigid
air has been making its counter clockwise rounds. This vortex has a shivery
nickname too. Some call it the Polar Night Jet. Oooh! Cancel flights on that one.
They might make you nauseous.
The earth has had
periods of very cold winters before. In 1939 Francois Matthes penned the words “Little
Ice Age” (LIA) to describe three cold periods between the years 1550 and 1850. Society embraced the idea and it thrives to
this day. The LIA terminology conjures scenes of glacial mountains and a cave
with a fire. However, science is just talking about severe winters. Period
paintings of skaters on the Thames River in England combined with modern
sediment and ice core samples prove that, indeed, there were some very cold
years. The coldest winter on record in Europe, where the record keeping predates
North American data, was in 1683/1684. And yet two years later Europe had the
sixth warmest winter. Nature rides a seesaw trying to find some sort of
balance. Remember that March not long ago when we wore shorts and tee shirts in
30 degree weather? Abrupt changes are a part of the plan.
Global warming and/or
extreme climate changes are a fact of life. Whether these intense weather
systems are normal or not is a moot debate. Deciding how to control or change them
is constant chatter. The fact is we have to live with this weather.
So what shall we do?
What we do best—make the best of it. For when the power goes out, our other
power turns on. We go to our reserves. We share stories, legends and songs
about the cold. We haul out genetic memories of conserving energy and huddling
together to stay warm. We bundle up, go outside and embrace any bit of daylight
or starlight that we can. Probably the world has been like this many times
before.