I watch seasonal predictions with the same ***jaundiced cynicism I allow for local weather reports for more than a few weeks from current. Somehow, years that start out with La Nina predictions somehow transit to El Nino someplace around the new year. Or vise-versa.
*** Same as a yellow-eyed squint from one eye, and a partial bilateral eyebrow raise...
For those that hate snow or just make the best of it as a curse, 'no possible snow' is the only good news they will cling to in the winter. My advice: Move to somewhere where snow doesn't happen. We lived on a hilltop above Los Angeles for long enough to see one very rare snow event, and it was gone by that afternoon. Prior to that I had a home in a private Orange County beach community for a few decades, no snow there. Each spot had other offsetting challenges, like fire risk on the hill, coastal flooding and erosion at the beach. No paradise is immune from challenges. The ones with the fewest are choked with a brazillion (that's a lot!) of you closest friends, all of whom believe they have slight more right to be in front of you than behind you. For Everything. From the beach I kept homes in other places too, all with plenty of snow. Mammoth Lakes and Lake Tahoe (Incline) for the skiing and such. I planned projects for both places, and each held enough draw to grab homes there when the opportunities were correct. Then, if conditions at one home got to be too much, just dash to one of the other places for a change. I was a wannabe ski bum, and the wannabe included not-poverty. I -Love- snow and winter even more than I detest summer heat and humidity.
I look forward to winter as the season when all I need to deal with is the snow. No yard work, gardening, or other outdoor labors. There's plenty of world-class skiing a shuttle ride from town away. We have no commute, and when we do need to go out it's no problem with the right car and tires. I try and keep the now-vintage Husky in tip-top shape so we don't have surprises when it snows. Two of my former five driveway owners are new in the last couple years, might add two others. I don't -have- to clear snow for them. But we still need to keep the street cleared for paramedics. I'm in my early 70's now and the second youngest person in the neighborhood. With a working snowblower too. At least it was working when I prepped it for hibernation last spring.
Cool rain today, mountain snow predicted for the next few days. Sprinkler blowouts next week as the forecast overnight lows get down to the freezing mark more regularly.
Snow! Bring It On!
