I confess to being a weather geek. I like variety in weather and I like living in a location with decided differences between the four seasons of the year. I grew up in New England and winter ALWAYS, at least in the years I lived there (mid 1950s-mid 1970s), brought snow cover for 2-3 months and lots of ice; ice on ponds and rivers as well as roads, driveways, and walkways. I’ve been living in Delaware since the mid 1970s and winters here can take on a southern personality or a northern one. There have been years in a row here with hardly a trace of snow if any at all, and then there are winters that bring enough cold and snow to create scenes like the one in this photograph. This was taken on January 3, 2010 showing the nearshore of the Harbor of Refuge filled with rafted ice. I like a good snow storm (I know I railed against the crappy, gray, dreary days of January a few days back) and, as much as I look forward to the warmth of spring, I know from my many years working to mitigate coastal storm damage that February and March often are stormy months. As atmospheric conditions shift from winter to spring/summer, elements line up that are conducive to coastal storms. Does the March 1962 Ash Wednesday storm come to mind? So I haven’t given up hope that a sneaker snowstorm cold happen this year although we have maintained temperatures too warm for that over most of this winter so far.
