We are into the second week of January during a season with no snow, no ice, no biting cold and frankly, with no sign of winter. Obviously, most of us don’t feel or believe that we’re missing anything. There is also the mass belief held inside that the remainder of the winter in front of us may not be as kind as what has already passed. We know this. We understand this. Never the less, some of us made weary of the winter hope the entire season will pass without a snow storm or an old fashioned Arctic air below zero cold wave.
What is the chance of this when you get right down to it?
No chance, really but we can dream. Can’t we?
This time last year Beacon Hill was mostly impassable on the side streets. Many automobiles were encased in small mountains of snow and ice and getting around was a mess.
Last year, there was an enormous amount of snow and at times, it seemed as though the snow didn’t want to stop.
Now we are being told that climate change is causing this winter to be unusually warm and without snow storms or ice.
The case for climate change is apparently very strong if you believe the scientists and experts on the matter. The polar ice caps are melting. The sea is rising. The earth is growing warmer as pollution causes dramatic changes in our atmosphere and how the light of the sun comes to affect us all.
But is it climate change when a single winter is warm and most of the recent winters weren’t?
Since Beacon Hill was settled more than 350 years ago, winters have often been the worst of times. Warmer winters have always been welcome. A winter without snow is not the same as a summer without heat. Again, the efforts to ward off the detriments of frigid cold, snow and ice do not compare with meeting the exigencies of the heat.
It is altogether remarkable that we have entered the second week of January without a real sign of winter.
Also remarkable is how fast all of this can change and how all of us can be made to suffer the true torture disguised as the New England winter.