Winter Solstice No More

The year started off with snow.  An unusual deluge, the first time in Blackshear since the Christmas snow of '89. 

It was significant to coat the ground and stayed around for several days, at least until it was fully melted off.  We could build snowmen, pretend to sled, and have epic snowball fights.  Anyone who tried to ice skate a pond may have been in for a brisk surprise.  Things didn't stay that cold long enough to do that.

Indeed, things warmed up.  We had some cold days through the winter, but to South Georgians, cold represents any temps below 60.

As the year moved on, every day the average high would creep a little higher.  Some days might slip a little, but the trend was clear.  Our little corner of the world was warming up.

Today, here in early May, we will experience the mid-90s.  The only saving grace is that it is still cooling off in the evening hours.  If you want to walk or get outdoor exercise, you can still do so in the early morning or evening.

But that tide will also shift.  In a few short weeks, it will even be hot at night.  The gnats, mosquitoes, and other insects will assert their supremacy over the land.  I will not be able to go outside without looking like Pigpen from the Charlie Brown Peanuts cartoon.  Instead of dirt swirling around me, it will be a cloud of gnats.

People with a higher tolerance for heat and insect clouds will be outside, though.  They will swarm the beaches, swimming, and boating and fishing and in general having a good time. 

There is some trepidation, though, even among the hot weather lovers.  We've had very little rain here.  I pray we don't go through another season of swamp fires. And if it's approaching mid-nineties now, what will it be like when July and August arrive.

Now that I'm semi-retired, I'm going to do my best to brave the elements and be outside a little more.  I'll have to use some remedies, including some deet-free creams, sprays, and perfumes.  I'll have to put on SPF 2000 sunscreen, as I burn easily, and also quickly suffer heat exhaustion.  Yes, I'll try to be brave, lathered up, perhaps wearing a beekeeper's helmet, but I know that I should be outdoors more.  At least that's what people tell me.

The intense heat won't last forever.  At least that's the rumor.  Summer will turn to fall, and although temps may still remain higher than I like, we begin to enter a new kind of risk - hurricane season.  You wouldn't think, being an hour away from the ocean, this would be a big problem here,  but as we learned last year, even close swipes can affect us.  We lived for several days here without power, living in the land of generators (even though we ourselves did not have one).

Later, hurricane season will pass, and the weather will finally turn colder again.  Not by Northern standards, of course, but cold enough to make some people stop wearing sandals and flip-flops. Before you know it, the Winter Solstice will return.

Will it bring snow again?  I don't know.  But I'm thinking this time I might get better prepared.  I might finally get a generator.

And a sled.