3. The Dumb Weather
Perhaps I'm a bit too obsessed with the weather. Maybe I should try to give it up, but it's not going to happen any time soon.
At school I would check the forecast whenever I had the chance, often multiple times each day. Even so, I wouldn't completely memorize it, and it's obviously always changing, so I found it entertaining to keep up with it as best I could. It got to the point where my friends or family would come to me with all their questions about the weather and all their complaints about it. However, this isn't to say that I liked all the weather that we got. I shared many of my friends' grievances. If it was particularly horrid outside, I would complain in detail to people who I knew would listen (a select few friends and my mother).
Just this year, in January, the weather was dumber than I've seen it in many years. On New Year's Day, the temperature was the coldest of the whole year so far, −36°C (−32°F). It rose up a bit to −8°C (18°F) before dropping back down to −34°C (−29°F) on the seventh. Less than a week later, on the 12th, it had risen all the way to 13°C (55°F), before promptly plummeting to −34°C (−30°F) on the morning of the 14th. Later that month we had a thunderstorm in the middle of the winter, which is certainly rare for here (although the temperature had once more risen to 8°C (46°F)).
Often, the temperature doesn't rise above freezing for good until April. This year was even more extreme, however. In March, a couple mornings were a still chilly −25°C (−13°F), and snow continued into April. The ice didn't even completely leave the lake until 22 April (it's usually much earlier, around 10 April). Even so, we still got a few inches of snow on 29-30 April, and there was still snow on the ground on the morning of the first of May. The very next day, the temperature was 27°C (80°F). That's another thing, there's rarely any sort of transitional time between winter and summer here. One day it's snowing, the next it's balmy and sunny. While it may not always be that extreme, it's usually only around a week of true "spring" weather (which means disgusting mud everywhere and yellow grass and everything is dead).
More recently, and more current to my weather complaints, is this week. Two nights ago, I was trying to fall asleep, but couldn't easily because I was shivering in my bed. My hands and feet were ice cold, as they tend to be in the winter, but it wasn't even under 10°C (50°F) outside. I had my bedroom windows open, as I always do in the summer, because if they're closed it smells like dead rodents in my room. The forecasted low temperature for that night was 2°C (36°F), but further along in the week were many days forecasted to be above 30°C (86°F), which is unusual. Since then, the forecast for Sunday has increased to an unbelievable 34°C (94°F), which will make Sunday the hottest day in my town since 1975. It felt unfair to me that I should have to be shivering in my bed, when less than a week after that would be the hottest day of my entire life. Other people are dreading it, but I am rather looking forward to it because I get cold very easily, and Sunday will be one of the few days when I will be completely warm.
At school I would check the forecast whenever I had the chance, often multiple times each day. Even so, I wouldn't completely memorize it, and it's obviously always changing, so I found it entertaining to keep up with it as best I could. It got to the point where my friends or family would come to me with all their questions about the weather and all their complaints about it. However, this isn't to say that I liked all the weather that we got. I shared many of my friends' grievances. If it was particularly horrid outside, I would complain in detail to people who I knew would listen (a select few friends and my mother).
Just this year, in January, the weather was dumber than I've seen it in many years. On New Year's Day, the temperature was the coldest of the whole year so far, −36°C (−32°F). It rose up a bit to −8°C (18°F) before dropping back down to −34°C (−29°F) on the seventh. Less than a week later, on the 12th, it had risen all the way to 13°C (55°F), before promptly plummeting to −34°C (−30°F) on the morning of the 14th. Later that month we had a thunderstorm in the middle of the winter, which is certainly rare for here (although the temperature had once more risen to 8°C (46°F)).
Often, the temperature doesn't rise above freezing for good until April. This year was even more extreme, however. In March, a couple mornings were a still chilly −25°C (−13°F), and snow continued into April. The ice didn't even completely leave the lake until 22 April (it's usually much earlier, around 10 April). Even so, we still got a few inches of snow on 29-30 April, and there was still snow on the ground on the morning of the first of May. The very next day, the temperature was 27°C (80°F). That's another thing, there's rarely any sort of transitional time between winter and summer here. One day it's snowing, the next it's balmy and sunny. While it may not always be that extreme, it's usually only around a week of true "spring" weather (which means disgusting mud everywhere and yellow grass and everything is dead).
More recently, and more current to my weather complaints, is this week. Two nights ago, I was trying to fall asleep, but couldn't easily because I was shivering in my bed. My hands and feet were ice cold, as they tend to be in the winter, but it wasn't even under 10°C (50°F) outside. I had my bedroom windows open, as I always do in the summer, because if they're closed it smells like dead rodents in my room. The forecasted low temperature for that night was 2°C (36°F), but further along in the week were many days forecasted to be above 30°C (86°F), which is unusual. Since then, the forecast for Sunday has increased to an unbelievable 34°C (94°F), which will make Sunday the hottest day in my town since 1975. It felt unfair to me that I should have to be shivering in my bed, when less than a week after that would be the hottest day of my entire life. Other people are dreading it, but I am rather looking forward to it because I get cold very easily, and Sunday will be one of the few days when I will be completely warm.