A Year of Excess

As I sit here in the Ole Weather Office in the wee morning hours of Thursday, it feels like I am the only person in the world that is awake. Surely everyone is sawing logs at this strange hour.

Not me. My mind is wandering all over the globe.

With plenty of time for deep thinking, I got to thinking how this year has been a year of excesses. Seems like the weather has paid no attention to “normals” or “averages.”

* How many times have you seen the Storm Prediction Center carve out a huge area of the USA as having a slight risk of severe weather? Even the more scary “moderate risk” seems to have had more share this year.

* And look at Green Bay. They have nine inches of snow on the ground this morning. This is late April! Flowers are supposed to be blooming. Time to plant gardens. Instead, Green Bay has received 11 inches of snow so far this month and a whopping 93 inches this season. That is 41 inches more than their long-term average!

* And all the winter storms in the Northeast USA.

* And how about Texas and their wild fires? Worst year ever.

I guess that is what makes weather so interesting. Maybe that is why I have spent so many years in this field of work. Come to think of it, if the weather always “behaved” exactly it is supposed to, it would be a dull world.

Nothing dull about it now. Just look what Alabama has gone through in the last several weeks. And all the tornadoes also in the middle of the country, the Midwest and in North Carolina!

I guess we should take it as it comes and not worry that it is not “normal.” Otherwise, it could be a dull career.

And a dull world!

Enough of that, time to turn my attention to the weather that Mother Nature is dishing out today!

Category: Hodgepodge