March 1959

Why would I remember March of 1959? Well, it's because the weather was so unusual that year.

I became quite good at predicting the weather because I "read" the signs in the sky. And the day before my 16th birthday I told everyone it was going to snow and we would have at least one snow day from the snow that was coming. No one believed me because the weather that particular day, the day of "the revelation", was absolutely beautiful. Cold, but clear and beautiful.

But...

As we looked out the window of one of the classrooms that faced West, I notice a line of clouds, low on the horizon, and I pointed them out to a few people who knew about "the revelation." Still they laughed.

Well, about 6 P.M. that evening they weren't laughing. It was snowing, and it was snowing hard.

Did we have a snow day? You bet, several in fact. But that was just the beginning the that particular March.

We had snow almost every other day for two weeks, and we didn't see the street (tar) for almost a month. At the end of the month -- when it was spring already -- we had another storm which was not only snow, but it was also ice. At that storm caused us to lose electricity.

We had a gas stove, so the kitchen was warm. And dad had a small kerosene heater, which he put in the living room. So downstairs, except for the bathroom and the two bedrooms was comfortable, if you wore a coat. But upstairs, where my sister and I slept, it was cold. Cold enough so that you could see your breath.

We muddled through that week. There was no school, that week either. And we didn't get back to school until April. It was so much fun, if you liked cold and snow, and what kid doesn't?

The only problem was that we had so many snow days that we lost a lot of school time, and in those days there weren't make-up days like there are now. At least we didn't get out any later in June. We may have missed out three-day spring break (Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Monday), but that was it.

Times have changed, and that really was a very cold winter. Not our normal winter. And people were predicting the beginning of an ice age. So on this global warming thing, I say wait and see. I don't think there's going to be massive flooding because the arctic and Antarctica melt. I think, perhaps, we'll see more cold weather. I mean I think this past winter was pretty cold, not as cold at 1977, but cold, just the same.

ttfn