It's not just our imaginations - this winter has been much colder than normal. We've experienced below zero weather before, but seldom such a long stretch.
Returning robins, shirtsleeve weather, smoke from barbecue grills - it's still a ways off. Even the mud, slop, and slush of March will be welcome as a prelude to spring.
Winter is blamed for declining economic activity - declining production, reduced construction, and canceled airline flights. Airlines may not recover all lost revenue from canceled flights. But some of those business and recreational customers will simply fly later. And in the macroeconomic sense, money not spent on airline flights can be spent on something else, or used to strengthen household balance sheets, not a bad thing.
Delayed construction can be done later. Declining production would be due to decreased demand for product that can be made up later through pent-up demand, at least in part anyway. To the extent that harsh winter increases heating bills, it reduces money that can be spent on other items. The increased revenue to energy companies is not likely to trickle down to average consumers. Harsh winters produce economic winners and losers.
Even this cold weather is preferable to freezing rain and ice. In these northern climes we smugly say, "we're used to it." That is, compared to folks down south. Stuff that makes the national news down there is just normal up here.
Recall a couple of weeks ago the fiasco in north Georgia and Atlanta. Thousands of cars stalled on ice-covered freeways. Many drivers abandoned their cars and headed for shelter. Others camped in their cars overnight. School buses, unable to navigate, left students staying overnight in gymnasiums. Others were trapped in buses for hours.
The governor of Georgia came under fire for not "being prepared." I confess to getting a chuckle out of a hotshot Republican governor getting blamed for the weather and its results. It was largely unspecified as to exactly what the hapless sap should have done, but his constituents were unhappy.
Criticism of politicians was non-partisan. The Democratic mayor of Atlanta came in for his share of heat. Ironically, the governor was attending a luncheon at which the mayor of Atlanta was being feted as "Georgian of the Year," even as the storm was brewing. With unfortunate timing, the mayor had just tweeted, "We're ready for the storm."
Apparently not ready enough. His outraged constituents held that he should have taken some action - closed schools, coordinated the traffic flow, etc. The luckless mayor reminded folks that decisions to close schools rest with superintendents of their respective districts. The condition of the interstate was not his responsibility. Coordinating mayors of Atlanta's surrounding suburbs would be like herding cats, as would coordinating traffic flow out of Atlanta.
It turned into a "he said, she said" fiasco when the governor claimed that the National Weather Service didn't render sufficient warning. Spokespersons for the Weather Service claimed that they did.
All this reminds us that it doesn't take long to go from hero to bum, from "Georgian of the Year" to unprepared slacker. Just ask the governor of New Jersey, recently featured on the cover of "Time" as "the elephant in the room," the possible, even likely, Republican nominee for president in 2016. To the chagrin of fellow Republicans, he cordially greeted President Obama during the hurricane last year - strictly in his political interest as Republican governor of a Democratic state. So now his image sinks from bi-partisan and affable to autocratic and ruthless.
A history of punishing Democrats may not hurt him, particularly in the Republican primary - maybe even be a requirement. But his supposedly loyal henchmen are turning on him like rats deserting a sinking ship. All brought about by traffic jams on a bridge and a scheme, real or imagined, to punish political enemies.
While weather and traffic problems can get politicians in trouble, we northerners claim that we take weather in stride, and we know how to drive on ice and snow.
Or, do we. On the beltway of Madison, or approaches to Minnesota's Twin Cities, it seems that drivers have to relearn the basics every year with the season's first snowstorm. After the initial traffic snarls, it seems that drivers generally relearn the basics, such as keeping a cushion of space between vehicles and pretending there is an egg between your foot and the brake and accelerator.
But then, invariably there's the clown who thinks he has to pass every car on the road. We then are guilty of a bit of schadenfreud when we see the idiot in the ditch a mile or so down the road.
And while those four-wheel drive vehicles are helpful for getting through snow, they don't do much on ice except encourage drivers to push the vehicle to higher performance standards, often with disastrous results.
So while not all is peaches and cream up here for winter driving, these storms seem to hit the south harder. That governor of Georgia is seeking re-election, and the Mayor of Atlanta is, or was, seen as a rising political star.
As this draft is written, another massive storm has hit Georgia and the Southeast. Politicians, determined to stay ahead of the game, declared a state of emergency early on. Multiple "Emergency Operations" centers were opened. The National Guard was alerted, with rescue vehicles on tap - news conferences, school closings in advance. Trucks were advised to put on chains. Chains? How many younger people even remember chains on vehicles around here?
Probably wisest of all, drivers were urged to stay off the roads. And indeed, many folks decided not to venture out.
Up here, with our masochistic tendencies, we remained amused by it all. As Garrison Keilor reminds us, winter gives us a sense of accomplishment, just by getting through another one.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
Returning robins, shirtsleeve weather, smoke from barbecue grills - it's still a ways off. Even the mud, slop, and slush of March will be welcome as a prelude to spring.
Winter is blamed for declining economic activity - declining production, reduced construction, and canceled airline flights. Airlines may not recover all lost revenue from canceled flights. But some of those business and recreational customers will simply fly later. And in the macroeconomic sense, money not spent on airline flights can be spent on something else, or used to strengthen household balance sheets, not a bad thing.
Delayed construction can be done later. Declining production would be due to decreased demand for product that can be made up later through pent-up demand, at least in part anyway. To the extent that harsh winter increases heating bills, it reduces money that can be spent on other items. The increased revenue to energy companies is not likely to trickle down to average consumers. Harsh winters produce economic winners and losers.
Even this cold weather is preferable to freezing rain and ice. In these northern climes we smugly say, "we're used to it." That is, compared to folks down south. Stuff that makes the national news down there is just normal up here.
Recall a couple of weeks ago the fiasco in north Georgia and Atlanta. Thousands of cars stalled on ice-covered freeways. Many drivers abandoned their cars and headed for shelter. Others camped in their cars overnight. School buses, unable to navigate, left students staying overnight in gymnasiums. Others were trapped in buses for hours.
The governor of Georgia came under fire for not "being prepared." I confess to getting a chuckle out of a hotshot Republican governor getting blamed for the weather and its results. It was largely unspecified as to exactly what the hapless sap should have done, but his constituents were unhappy.
Criticism of politicians was non-partisan. The Democratic mayor of Atlanta came in for his share of heat. Ironically, the governor was attending a luncheon at which the mayor of Atlanta was being feted as "Georgian of the Year," even as the storm was brewing. With unfortunate timing, the mayor had just tweeted, "We're ready for the storm."
Apparently not ready enough. His outraged constituents held that he should have taken some action - closed schools, coordinated the traffic flow, etc. The luckless mayor reminded folks that decisions to close schools rest with superintendents of their respective districts. The condition of the interstate was not his responsibility. Coordinating mayors of Atlanta's surrounding suburbs would be like herding cats, as would coordinating traffic flow out of Atlanta.
It turned into a "he said, she said" fiasco when the governor claimed that the National Weather Service didn't render sufficient warning. Spokespersons for the Weather Service claimed that they did.
All this reminds us that it doesn't take long to go from hero to bum, from "Georgian of the Year" to unprepared slacker. Just ask the governor of New Jersey, recently featured on the cover of "Time" as "the elephant in the room," the possible, even likely, Republican nominee for president in 2016. To the chagrin of fellow Republicans, he cordially greeted President Obama during the hurricane last year - strictly in his political interest as Republican governor of a Democratic state. So now his image sinks from bi-partisan and affable to autocratic and ruthless.
A history of punishing Democrats may not hurt him, particularly in the Republican primary - maybe even be a requirement. But his supposedly loyal henchmen are turning on him like rats deserting a sinking ship. All brought about by traffic jams on a bridge and a scheme, real or imagined, to punish political enemies.
While weather and traffic problems can get politicians in trouble, we northerners claim that we take weather in stride, and we know how to drive on ice and snow.
Or, do we. On the beltway of Madison, or approaches to Minnesota's Twin Cities, it seems that drivers have to relearn the basics every year with the season's first snowstorm. After the initial traffic snarls, it seems that drivers generally relearn the basics, such as keeping a cushion of space between vehicles and pretending there is an egg between your foot and the brake and accelerator.
But then, invariably there's the clown who thinks he has to pass every car on the road. We then are guilty of a bit of schadenfreud when we see the idiot in the ditch a mile or so down the road.
And while those four-wheel drive vehicles are helpful for getting through snow, they don't do much on ice except encourage drivers to push the vehicle to higher performance standards, often with disastrous results.
So while not all is peaches and cream up here for winter driving, these storms seem to hit the south harder. That governor of Georgia is seeking re-election, and the Mayor of Atlanta is, or was, seen as a rising political star.
As this draft is written, another massive storm has hit Georgia and the Southeast. Politicians, determined to stay ahead of the game, declared a state of emergency early on. Multiple "Emergency Operations" centers were opened. The National Guard was alerted, with rescue vehicles on tap - news conferences, school closings in advance. Trucks were advised to put on chains. Chains? How many younger people even remember chains on vehicles around here?
Probably wisest of all, drivers were urged to stay off the roads. And indeed, many folks decided not to venture out.
Up here, with our masochistic tendencies, we remained amused by it all. As Garrison Keilor reminds us, winter gives us a sense of accomplishment, just by getting through another one.
- John Waelti's column appears every Friday in the Times. He can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
