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Winter’s coming…

The photo by Jock Lauterer of the snow-dusted landscape on the cover of this issue of MILL is a reminder that not only is winter coming on, but that we seem to be in a climactic stretch in which that really means something.

Photo by Jock Lauterer.

The photo by Jock Lauterer of the snow-dusted landscape on the cover of this issue of MILL is a reminder that not only is winter coming on, but that we seem to be in a climactic stretch in which that really means something.

Given the relative mild and sunny seasons of the past decade or so, it’s been a bit of a surprise to see so much snow in the past couple of years. We’ve had big snows all along, of course, but they tended to be sparse and quickly melted.
Last winter, the Piedmont was a much snowier clime than many of the places up yonder much more closely associated with powder and plow. It was the year of “snowmageddon” and the rather amusing Twitter tag “#snOMG” (that’s shorthand for “Snow My God!” old-schoolers). And though there was a corresponding amount of grouching over school delays, traffic snarls and all the grit and slush liberally sprinkled throughout town, it was a wonderful winter to be young or young at heart. Snow angels were made. Sledding occurred and there were nights of quiet beauty that only a snowfall can create. If you get kind of sentimental when the landscape gets all Currier & Ives, it was a banner season.
This year, the early predictions are for a somewhat warmer and drier season, but we sit near the line that separates cold rain from its colder cousins, and, frankly, it’s hard to tell what normal is anymore.
What can be safely predicted is that right around 6:38 p.m. on Dec. 21, the solstice commences and the Frost Moon comes up over the horizon. That’ll make it official, and then Old Man Winter will go about his business. Best to lay in some firewood and wax up the runners on the Flexible Flyer. As recent history has shown, he can be an ornery cuss.