Perhaps that is a little harsh, but here on the coast our high temperature was almost twenty degrees colder than the normal high.
Our low temperature actually got below freezing.
To put that in perspective in January 2007 for the whole month, we only had nineteen hours of below freezing temperatures.
I will admit that we were back over freezing by nine am, and that I actually know that these temperatures are not very cold.
Roanoke did not manage to get out of the thirties yesterday so I guess that I should not be complaining especially since Monday's forecast has the Carolina coast getting back to sixty degrees.
Also it is easy to think back to my days on the farm in Canada near Fredericton, New Brunswick. We lived about twenty miles north of Fredericton in what was called a "snow belt." We were significantly higher in altitude which meant our temperatures were usually four to eight degrees colder.
Yesterday Fredericton made it to twenty-six degrees Fahrenheit for a high temperature. Their low was fourteen degrees. I would guess our old farm probably had a low in the single digits.
The very first winter we spent in Roanoke was 1989. That year snow came before Thanksgiving and stayed on the ground until Christmas. It really made our ex-Canadian family feel at home having all that white stuff on the ground for such an extended period.
I cannot remember the snow being on the ground that long again since we have been in Roanoke.
I do know that a white Thanksgiving does not require a lot of driving to find especially this year.
I pulled this forecast for State College, Pa. when thinking of snowy east coast places. It looks like they might have a good chance of seeing some snow on the ground at Thanksgiving.
So it is possible to feel not so bad about the cold weather. You just have to find a place where the weather is colder. It helps to know someone there. It is even better if you can call them up and start complaining about how cold you are. To which they will obviously reply, "You have no idea what cold is."
Our Friday night here on the Crystal Coast, one of our weathermen used the words "wickedly cold" to describe our coming weekend weather. Having seen minus forty once in my life, I could only smile.
Actually the cold weather yesterday did not bother me a lot. We were able to watch the 125th edition of "The Game" between Harvard and Yale" on televistion As has been the case recently,the Harvard men nicely handled the New Haven gang.
It was the fortieth anniversary of Harvard's amazing 29-29 victory over Yale. I was sitting in the student bleachers for that one.
Yesterday's game was as good as any football game that I have seen this year. It even including a last minute goal line stand by the Harvard team.
I did celebrate by going out and buying a bottle of Grand Marnier. Somehow it seemed appropriate. It also delivered a nice warm feeling as I was sipping it after the Chinese take-out victory dinner.
One final thought on the weather. I noticed some of the northern stations have temperatures warming towards the end of next week. That is usually a positive sign for Virginia and North Carolina.
That is actually a very good thing since thinking of a white Thanksgiving in either SW Virginia or Coastal NC is too much even for an ex-Canadian.
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