By Bob Spiwak
January 19: The weather out there mirrors the feelings of us Green Bay Packer fans: gray, dark, depressing and slippery. That last is appropriate for the poor guy who dropped the ball on the onside kick by Seattle. Was it a drop, or knocked away from him? Only the film knows.
Five thousand feet or so above West Boesel, the snow/water equivalent at Harts Pass is 118 per cent of average with a water content of 29.4 inches ensconced in 88 inches of snow. Down here we got about 9 inches Saturday night and Sunday morning, with milder temperatures. This produced huge clusters of snow on the branches of the pine trees that surround us, and as the weather warmed and the sun intermittently came through, we were bombarded by wet and soggy snow bombs. At least they were not frozen and did not require a crash helmet when I was plowing beneath them on an open tractor.
Getting back to the playoff game yesterday, something occurred to me that might be of great social significance. It has to do with women’s rights.
There is a lot of hoopla around the nation about the great and noisy fan base at the Seahawk stadium, known worldwide now as “The 12th Man.” It seems to me that in the name of political correctness this is wrong: I certainly know more voluble female Hawk supporters than those of the male persuasion and really feel, despite the expense of changing flags, T-shirts, cards, footballs and other goodies, the name ought to be changed to “The 12th Person.” This appellation would still include the team.
The skiers have been out in pretty good numbers this past week. All together, with Friday’s snow, about 4 inches, and Saturday’s biggie, there were no complaints heard about lack of snow. Waxing the skis did present a conundrum as to which was the right stuff for powder (Friday’s) or ice (late Saturday) or slushy mix on Sunday. Not being a skier, this is all unknown stuff to me, but I suppose it is like golfers changing balls to match the terrain on which they are playing. All of it good for the economy — somewhere.
From my earliest childhood I have been interested in the weather. Growing up in the florist/nursery business in Maryland and New Jersey, where my dad was a foreman and then got his own business, weather was a critical part of life. On the East Coast there was a tradition for women to wear a large chrysanthemum blossom to football games, from high school to Ivy League contests. One November the weather forecast from what was then the Weather Bureau predicted a warm night. My dad and a guy in Connecticut thought otherwise and heavily protected their mum crops. The temperatures plummeted and the next day they were the only ones with flowers to send to the wholesale market in New York. They both made a killing and lots of money.
I hope this will answer the periodic questions we get about what appears to be a fixation with weather in this column. It dominates our lives and what happens at point A will, in a matter of time, long or short, affect the entire world as climate change is now doing, whether or not you accept the premise. Thus, today’s water content at Harts Pass could well be the forerunner of our big flood in May.
As the late Bill Biddle used to say, closing his column, “Stay tuned.”
