At the end of summer, after temperatures had been in the 90s in July, I couldn’t help but remember and dream of days of low temperatures and deep snow. Now a lot of people think that a winter with little snow and mild temperatures is a good winter, but they are wrong! wrong! wrong!
Why are they wrong? They’re wrong because many of our steams depend on spring snowmelt for their water supply,
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Because our native brook trout depend on those streams' cold, clean water,
Because tree seedlings are
protected from the browsing of overabundant deer by deep snow,
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Because many plants’ seeds have an internal dormancy that is best
broken by a long period of cold temperatures.
I also have selfish reasons for liking cold and snow: I’d rather clear snow than mow grass,
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I can follow the wanderings of wildlife by their tracks in the snow,
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I can get warm more easily than I can cool off, and I’ve always enjoyed traveling on skis and snowshoes,
Yup, I like cold and snow –
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And I’m not the only one –
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But now the winters aren’t as cold and what snow there is doesn’t last as long and it’s likely to get worse – thanks to the changing climate.
It is great that you have photos to remember the "cold times."
ReplyDeleteAgree! Agree! Agree! Feeling very uneasy about the coming winter...will it be Winter or not?
ReplyDeleteI am another winter lover. I love its icy, snowy, sparkly, crystalline beauty, its skies so clear and blue you can see all the way to heaven, the frozen lakes and wetlands that allow me to explore land and water inaccessible the rest of the year, the tracks in the snow that let me know who else shares my homeland with me. And I'd much rather be a bit cold than over-hot. I love how delightful it is to come into the golden light and fireplace-warmed house after being cold outdoors. But on a more serious note, when deep snow melts, its water seeps down and replenishes our water table, while rains quickly run off and head to the ocean before they can soak through the ground.
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