Since my segment today was not all that interesting – I’m skipping it and moving to a new topic that has everyone talking – the weather. I’m not a meteorologist – I just like to give them a hard time when the forecast is wrong. But while the Boston area whines about how hard it is to shovel some heavy wet snow, I want to salute the people of Northern Maine.
Because Southern New England, you don’t know diddly squat about a cold winter.
Check these numbers:
-10, -14, -13, 0, -11, -28, -37, -33, -30, 7, 5, -6, 0, -12, -12, -21, -33, -27, -25
Those are the low temperatures in Caribou, Maine since the 10th of January. Not that it was all that much better before then.
Last time the temperature hit freezing in Caribou? When it does, it will be the first time in 2009.
The city has set at least six record low temperatures since January 15th. And in Caribou, that’s saying something.
Temperatures in northern Maine are running 8 degrees below normal this month, and while they haven’t been dumped on with snow as they were in 2008 – they haven’t exactly been living in a Winter Wonderland. And they’re not complaining all that much.
I bring this up because I am a big northern Maine fan. Want to visit some the nicest people on the planet? Stop by Aroostook County. Actually, you can find a lot of nice people in many of New England’s more rural areas. That’s another post for another time. A warmer one, perhaps.
But it got me thinking… what if we weren’t in a recession? What if the price of oil had stayed as high as it could have this winter? I have a sinking feeling that this post I am writing would have been less tongue-in-cheek, and more a call for help. As it is – despite everything else, I’m still going to send a little of my energy savings north, just in case.
And as you sigh because there’s more snow on the ground, take a glance to the north… or to the ticker on the bottom of the screen on NECN.
Because when it’s -37, the fact that it’s not snowing is definitely cold comfort.
(As I write this, it’s 12 degrees. But they’re getting a foot or more of snow instead. Photo courtesy of crownofmaine.com
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