It was so warm on Sunday, Jan. 19, that there were bugs swarming outside the living room window. The sunlight was strong and there was no wind at all so it seemed even warmer than the 40 degree reading on the kitchen wall digital thermometer that warns us of water freeze ups!

The lead up to this day as described by Channel 13 meteorologist Mr. Lopresti, for the previous week, when fires were decimating the areas around Los Angeles, indicated the arrival of snows and very cold temperatures shortly after this diversionary and unusual warmth. All indications were that the temperatures midweek would be flirting with single digits. The television weather maps showed a small cluster of devious white  puffs in the southwest. Mind you, now this was a week before the cold was scheduled to arrive here in our area. Already, we were being told as we anticipated snow and cold, the planned inaugural event in Washington, D.C. would be moved inside.   I guess that’s the route the cold would be taking. Our daughter in New York City indicated that weather there had taken a turn with drops in temperature and some light snow.

It’s a little surreal to watch bugs swirling around outside while serious cold is predicted, but that’s sort of what the winter has been like this year. Warm spurts punctuated by cold  and winds. Probably not good for the health of the population as we constantly adjust to big swings in temperature accompanied by a variety of weather events.  

I have always been a bit of a weather hound. Back in my college days, one of the classes I actually enjoyed was meteorology. Reading weather maps, following pressure gradients and wind directions -- it was fun and an interesting exercise trying to unravel the movement of systems, the formation of fronts, and precipitation. There is a method to the weather forecasting madness. Educated guesses prevailed as patterns progress, knowing full well that at any moment things might change or be altered by an unforeseen and less predicted event.

So, on that unusually balmy afternoon, I headed for the Hannaford to pick up some odds and ends not recalling the mad rush that precedes an anticipated weather event. Our daughters used to refer to this as a “Storm at the Shop’n Save,” when freaked out citizens stocked up for what might become the weather apocalypse. And all I really needed was some coffee filters for the morning Joe!

Today’s attached photo, made from the memorial parking lot across from the Catholic Church, is a good look at what was to be coming our way. This photo was made on the busy bug day when the temperature was still quite mild. Looking out over the harbor, toward the Department of Marine Resources at McKown Point, you can see the front developing that would drive the bugs back into their hiding places. In less than an hour the temperatures began to drop. The following days and over nights were markedly colder, snowy and windy, with no bugs in sight! The prophecy had been fulfilled and  Hannaford would remain calm.

P.S. We’ve gained about an hour of daylight! Yay!