When the snow started to fall early Sunday morning I thought we were just supposed to get a dusting.

Turns out we got closer to four inches of snow in Argyle, just across the Lafayette County line.

The weather reports I had seen, including our own forecast in the Monroe Times, pointed toward most of the snow falling across the middle part of the state from La Crosse to Sheboygan.

I had even made plans to go out for brunch with some friends. I didn’t mind planning to drive in a bit of blowing snow.

As 7 a.m. turned to 8 a.m. and then another hour passed, I watched as the snow kept falling. And then the flakes grew bigger and the wind began to howl. I called my friend in Janesville who was hosting and he said the snow was coming down pretty good over there, so, to be better safe than sorry, I cancelled my brunch plans.

Then I hunkered down for a winter day. I made some New England clam chowder in the crock pot. I put on a series of shows from the CBS Mystery Radio Theater from the late 1970s. I enjoyed the rest of the day.

The snow stopped falling right around 4:30 p.m., which is a horrible time for that to happen on a Sunday. Do I want to go out and shovel as it gets dark on a Sunday night, or do I want to save the shoveling for Monday morning? I decided to procrastinate, which wasn’t bad because the wind overnight caused some drifting that would have made it look like I had only shoveled half the sidewalk and driveway. Also, the village hadn’t plowed the area closest to the curb, so I’ll have to shovel the driveway out again.

According to the weather page in the Monroe Times there’s only a slight chance of precipitation, no more than 30%, on any given day through Feb. 18. The Farmer’s Almanac predicted a snowy and cold February — tough call, right? — but its prediction was that the snow and cold would end early in the month. Let’s remember that Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow on Groundhog Day, predicting an early spring.

Another prediction in the almanac this year was that we’d have “Polar Coaster” weather, with up-and-down periods featuring some periods of mild weather and warmer temperatures followed by downright frigid periods.

Meteorologists will admit that predicting the weather any further than five-to-seven days into the future is difficult. We just don’t know how wind, temperature, moisture, etc., will change to an accurate degree much further than a week into the future.

I can’t say I’ve missed an incredibly snowy winter so far this year. With half of February and all of March left to go, we could still be in for some severe winter storms.

Yet after starting this winter with some significant snow in October and then in early November, I had mentally prepared for another 1977. Instead we’re now on that downhill slide toward green grass, blooming flowers — T-shirt and shorts weather.

I don’t mean to challenge Mother Nature. I know we still have more than a month on the calendar before spring officially begins. I suppose I was thoroughly spoiled by some of that warmer weather earlier this month. Now I just can’t get spring out of my mind.

— Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.