On Spring in the HV, Daylight Savings, and Meteorology

  |  March 10, 2014
radar

All’s quiet…for now.

It’s not like we didn’t know it was coming. This Daylight Savings Time thing (which we always forget year to year which way it goes so we repeatedly recite “spring forward/fall back when it comes around). We were given more than ample warning to mentally and spiritually prepare of having a full hour yanked form us, thereby causing the entire country, minus Hawaii and parts of Arizona, to time-travel. And yet, here we are, disoriented, sleep-deprived, completely thrown off our game, thanks to losing one measly hour in March.

This year, the effects of DST seem more pronounced that ever, and we’ve decided that we’re blaming it on the fact that there’s still nearly a foot of snow blanketing our yard. Every glance out the window seems to deny what the calendar says, even though we know full well that just because it’s March doesn’t mean that there won’t be snow. Same goes for April (remember 2012?). And on the flip-side, same goes for October (remember 2013?). As we type this, a storm’s brewing across the Ohio Valley, set to reach the Hudson Valley/Catskills sometime on Wednesday with the potential for several inches of snowfall. We heard about the storm track last week from the best source of weather reporting in the region, and we’ve been following it since, wondering if its track will remain unwavering, resulting in 6-12 in parts of the Catskills and 2-5 in the HV. This is something we’ve found ourselves doing much more this winter than other winters: Transforming into weather groupies. Hanging on to storm details like it was a soap opera unfolding little by little, compelling us to come back for more by providing only tid-bits of information. To us, there’s a significant difference between 6 inches of snow and 12 inches of snow, so we can’t help but keep checking in, seeing if the snowfall predictions have been tightened up, wondering exactly to the minute when the first flake will drift down from the darkening skies. Although we just can’t know for sure, Hudson Valley Weather comes darn close, so if you’re still checking Weather.com for the latest forecast, stop that immediately and start haunting the HVW website, just like we do.

Anyway, our brains feel scrambled, unstuck in time. It could be because of DST, or the approaching storm, or the snow that remains stubbornly stuck to our walkway. And yet, it will be lighter later (the only valid argument in favor of “spring forward”), and we just saw a robin settle on the bare branch of a maple tree outside our window. Spring must be on the wing, no matter how much snow we get mid-week. Meanwhile, we’ll keep looking at the forecast, hoping that this is truly winter’s last hurrah.

About Kandy Harris

Kandy is a writer and musician/music teacher living in Saugerties, NY.

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