The Influence of El Niño or The First Day of Spring and It Is Snowing!

Okay, so the title gave it away. Last night was one of those what used to be very common but now are rare nights for me, in which I just could not get tired enough to go to sleep, and it was well after 3 AM when I finally crashed...

Consequently, I heard, when at about 1230 or so, the sleet and rain started, and within 30 minutes there was snow, starting to cover the grass. Eventually, it covered the concrete, but by morning, it was melting, and while, at about 2130, there is still some snow around, it has mostly melted.

I grew up in New England, where the saying was "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute."  I moved to Lubbock, Texas and guess what?  The saying is "If you don't like the weather, wait a minute." I do not think I ever told anyone we said the same thing in New England. (Texans are so egocentric, I think they would be insulted to know someplace else, with a LONGER history of settlement, people say the same thing.)

Weather is just a fickle thing...With good instrumentation, computer models, human observation, and knowledge of past history, meteorologists do a fair piece of making predictions.  But predictions are not statements of fact, they are just conjectures based on lots of information... If you want to know the weather go outside and look up. 

I have written this before:  One of the things I like about living in West Texas is the wide open sky and horizon that allows me to look at what is happening in the sky... Being an informed observer, sometimes it is possible to predict what will be happening with the weather... Like yesterday morning, which had a very low percent chance of precipitation.  I looked at the clouds, and knew something might happen.  I was driving to an appointment when the sprinkles happened. Not much, no long, but it happened.

And, so it is now officially spring, and we move into another cycle of renewal, growth, decline and dormancy.   This is the way of life.  So doggedly predictable, yet many people seem to be surprised by the decline and dormancy phases of life.  They are inevitable. And, the reality is, some year, we will not be around for spring. But while we are, ENJOY!