Talking about the weather is the classic go-to conversation starter – whether just in need of small talk, especially with a stranger, or as a neutral, fairly objective topic before launching into the “real” conversation. Weather is ubiquitous and affects everyone in one way or another.
Behavioral scientists and social psychologists have long been interested in the correlation between weather and moods. Most all of us sentient human beings have experienced a buoyant mood lift on a warm spring day as well as the listless energy drain of a gray, cold or rainy day.
So, let’s talk about the weather.
When I first moved to Seattle after living 30 years in the semi-arid climate of the Snake River Plain in Idaho, I was amused at how Seattleites railed about the summer heat if the temperature reached 80 degrees or more. The office manager would scramble to find enough fans for every office in our older building that only had sparse air conditioning, as my co-workers were quickly pulling their window blinds down. I, on the other hand, sat basking in the sunshine that poured in my window watching the heat waves shimmer off Puget Sound. I always thought about the many dark days with no sunshine and didn’t want to miss a single ray.
Dangerous snow loads are accumulating on buildings in the Mazama area.
Such was the year that we who love the heat deemed The Magical Summer of 2009. The month of July brought a scorching weeklong heatwave with Sea-Tac reaching a record high temperature of 103 on July 29. There was extensive talk about the weather that week. Beaches were packed. Boating, kayaking, any activity on the water brought out the masses. The year went down as “historic.” One of my favorite memories was kayaking on Liberty Bay in the evening hours with still super warm air surrounding us.
There’s been much weather talk here in Mazama this winter. Let’s call it The Fantastical Winter of 2020-21. The snowstorms have been generous with their dump, several accumulations of a foot or more. So, the current talk is about snow management: blowing, plowing, shoveling, roads. Roofs have accumulated dangerous snow loads and willing shovelers hard to come by. Roof snow slides have built mountain ranges of snow all along the fronts and backs of houses, oftentimes blocking windows.
I’m reminded of the winter of 1976-77 when the record snowfall in Buffalo, New York, was news fodder for weeks: 150 inches of the nearly 200 inches of snow had already fallen by the time the blizzard began in late January. This was one of the biggest weather events in Western New York history. The visual that I recall vividly was huge snow removal machines dumping their loads on train cars to send south to warmer (melting!) temperatures. There was nowhere left to stack the snow. It’s beginning to feel like that here in Mazama. My friends in Montana said they’d take some, as they have none!
The snowfall has made for great outdoor activities. Skiers, snowshoers, fat bikers and snowmobilers are out in droves. On a recent ski excursion myself, the sunlight sparkled across the blanket of snow conjuring up thoughts of an inspirational book I once read – “Acres of Diamonds.”
It was a reflective moment remembering the takeaway of the book: Each of us are standing in the middle of our own acres of diamonds, if we only have the wisdom and patience to explore ourselves and find the riches – whether financial or intangible or both.
There’s some food for thought coming out of talking about the weather.
