Classic Rant #166 (January 6, 2010): The Cold Facts

Here in the Northeast, we are going through a cold spell that has rattled the cages of most of us here. We are shivering, shaking, and are downright uncomfortable right now ...

But is it that cold, is it really that cold?

I said the other day to a co-worker that this is the winter, it is supposed to be cold, but his shivering body told me that he was freezing, so I thought that maybe I was crazy.

Now, AccuWeather said that sure, it is cold, but not cold like the brutal winter of 1976-1977, when we were near zero for a good part of the season.

No, they say, this is more like the winter of 2000-2001, when cold temperatures were felt early on in the winter in December and continued into January and February. Temperatures dipped two to three degrees during the first two months of the year, and they believe that that should happen again this year.

Then why is everybody so darn cold here?

I think a lot of it has to do with the amount of snow we received in December. We had one main "blizzard," where certain areas got more than 20 inches of snow, and we also weathered at least one or two smaller snow showers.

That is supposed to be a lot for December, and I think it is playing on everyone's psyche here.

However, I remember that as a kid growing up in Queens, things were much colder, and our winters were much snowier. Maybe it has to do with global warming, but I think we had more severe winters in the 1960s and 1970s than we do now.

So let's stop crabbing. At least many of us were kids back then, and could enjoy such winters. Now, as adults, we crab when it gets into the 20s!

Just put on your coats and bundle up. It isn't that bad, is it?