Even though the calendar says March 1, and the official first day of Spring doesn't happen for another three weeks, today is the first day of the Meteorological Spring. I can't tell you the last time I was so happy to see March 1 come.
It's been a long and tough winter around the upper Midwest. So far, we've received just over 62 inches of snow here in the Quad Cities, making it the third snowiest on record. We're less than 8 inches of snow away from topping the all-time mark of just under 70 inches. Normal snowfall around here is about 35 inches annually. And as life-long residents of Iowa know, there's always one more big snow storm during the season. So we've got a good chance to break the record.
I shouldn't complain - I was just up in Wisconsin this last week and Madison has received over 80 inches of snow so far this winter, breaking the old record of 76 inches set in the winter of 1978-79. All across the state, snow is piled high, ice is everywhere and it feels like spring won't get there until May.
It's kind of interesting talking to older people around here who say this winter is like "an old-time Iowa winter." My father-in-law says they used to have winters like this all the time when he was a little kid. Maybe he remembers that it was tough to get around in the days before high-tech plowing equipment and four-wheel drive vehicles. But he swears he remembers winters with the snow piled high from early December until late March.
He's not alone. A neighbor across the street was telling me a similar story when I was helping him get snow off his driveway after a big snow. He said, "I can remember times when the drifts were so bad that a lot of roads were down to one lane, or just closed all together for a few weeks."
The biggest problem around here has been the ice. We've had a couple ice storms this winter, but we also had a weather event earlier this month where it rained and the water didn't have anywhere to go. It pooled on streets and froze. Then it snowed over the top of that. Our street in front of our house is like driving on a minefield right now.
There's hope for the immediate future - it's supposed to get up close to 40 degrees here today, and close to 50 tomorrow. But just when we get the first taste of spring on our lips, a storm system is supposed to come in on Sunday night, bringing a chance of snow and much colder temperatures through the rest of the week.
It looks like Winter doesn't care that the Meteorological Spring starts today...
(March 3 Addendum - It got up to 70 degrees here in the Quad Cities yesterday. I was showing 71 degrees at our house around 3 p.m. while the official high got up to 67. The snow was melting and the ice was thawing. It really felt good to have warm sunshine hitting my face. However, as I write, it's 32 degrees and temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-20's by 3 p.m. this afternoon. Ah, winter in the Midwest. You can't beat it.)
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