You know you should consider moving when....

The forecasted high temperature for today is 10F and the forecast makes a note that today is going to much warmer than yesterday.

That is what I saw when I checked out the current conditions for Fredericton, New Brunswick on January 31, 2011.

What makes this even worse is that we used to live about twenty miles north of Fredericton in the foothills of New Brunswick.  In seventies and early eighties when we were living there, we considered Fredericton a banana belt.

Our farm in Tay Creek, New Brunswick was in something of a snowbelt. The drive from Fredericton to Tay Creek was practically straight north and up hill.  You gained just enough elevation to make most of those snow-rain events in Fredericton all snow in Tay Creek.

My wife likes to tell the story of the time after we had stopped farming and I was working in Fredericton.  A terrible snowstorm hit our farm, and she called to tell me that I should head home.  We were oblivious to the snow storm in Fredericton only twenty miles away.

That was likely in the winter of 1983, a long time before we mere mortals got access to the Internet and well before the time of smartphones which can alert you to nasty weather.  I took my wife's advice that day and headed home.  I can still remember just making it into our driveway with our front wheel drive Subaru.  There was so much snow that it was like a beached whale.  The drive wheels couldn't reach the ground.

While we have seen more cold and snow than most folks can remember here on the Southern Outer Banks, Sunday, January 30, 2011 was a great return to normal weather.

We managed to hit 69F yesterday. I think it was only the second time in January that we have seen the sixties.  The first winter we lived on the coast, we managed to get above 70F eleven times in the month of January.

That is just the way weather is.  When you think you know what to expect, you will get a curve ball.

I did notice this morning that some of my good friends in Edmonton, Alberta were having something of a nippy day with the temperature at -36F.  That prompted me to generate this email.

Extreme Temperature Auto-Email

This is an auto-generated email conveying our deepest sympathy that you are now 80 degrees Fahrenheit colder than our temperature.

We would suggest this is not a good morning for going jogging outside.

While we can't do much for you but offer warm thoughts, we have enclosed a picture of our winter pansies.  Perhaps they will provide some hope of future warmth.

They have recovered from being briefly covered with snow only a week ago.  Fortunately our snowstorm was a brief one.

We wish you luck staying warm, but we have full confidence in your abilities as certified citizens of Edmonton to survive almost anything that winter can throw at you.

We are appreciate that you are keeping your cold weather closer to home this month.

And for that we offer you our sincerest thanks,

I have not received a response yet, but who knows the Internet might be frozen that far north.  I did get to experience -40 temperatures a couple of times, but it was before we had computers.

One of our pelicans is back in the water behind our house this morning.  That is actually not a good sign since they only come to visit when the weather is going to be nasty.

It looks like our nasty weather will be in the form of some wind, rain, and cooler temperatures.  My sympathies to those areas to the north and west of us  where it appears that there will be a zone of freezing rain, perhaps catching Roanoke, Virginia which actually needs the rain but likely would rather have it in a non-freezing format.

I will try not to enjoy too much being snug by the fire this week.