It’s that time of year. You can tell by looking at the calendar, mid-December, and for people like me who run long distance during the cold weather months, I mark the official start of winter when public workers turn off the drinking fountains in Prospect Park.
This presumes that the temperature is falling. And in past years that, as memory serves, was the case. So much so that it seemed to make sense. That pipes could actually freeze, and theoretically cause damage to outdoor plumbing. It could be as long as late March before workers could reasonably be assured that the long, dark freezing nights were over. That the fountains could be restored to working order, meaning Thurber (our frisky redbone coonhound) and I would again be able to stop for our strategic lappings, always a smile-inducing moment every year.
Now, it seems, the water turnoff is purely symbolic. The past month the cold has barely sustained a freeze long enough to put frost on a pumpkin.
What are the extremes over the four-day weather forecast? High 51 and low 34.
Winter? What winter?
As a native of Ontario, I’m used to winter. I lived in a town where it wasn’t uncommon to have snow cover from mid-November to mid-March. Even in the worst weather, I wouldn’t stop running.
What I’m not used to, though, are hurricanes that sweep up the US northeast at the end of October. The change in New York weather has turned downright scary.
Odds are we will get a blizzard before we suffer another hurricane or a tornado. But, frankly, given the strange, warm, even humid days we’ve had since Sandy, I’m not holding my breath.
Next: Running for Your Life: Resolutions for 2013
