Consider what we've seen so far this season. November was unseasonably warm, with no hint of snow. December was downright balmy, until the last week in the month, when appreciable snow finally made an appearance. January has been a mixed bag. We did get a week or so of snow and bitterly cold weather, but the rest of the month has seen temperatures in the 40s and heavy rain instead of snow. And for the near term, anyway, it doesn't look like there's going to be a break in the mild weather.

And although you would find few to argue the fact that this has been a wimpy winter, it's also true that we humans have selective memories when it comes to remembering things like the weather. We experience some kind of weather every day of our lives, after all, so it's no surprise that the weather events we remember best are the ones at the extremes. I can remember the three or four days from last summer when it climbed into the 90s because hot weather makes me miserable. I can certainly remember last year's ice storm, but aside from that event, the winter was unremarkable and rather mild. I can remember the blizzard of 1978, but I couldn't tell you if the rest of that season was any colder or snowier than usual. So, one has to wonder if what we're experiencing now is all that different from what has traditionally happened in the past.

When I was growing up in Ohio in the 70s, I can remember reading about the difficulties that were being faced by ski areas in the East because of successive snow-deficient years. It was during this time that the industry began to invest heavily in snow-making machinery to help overcome nature's unpredictability. As a result, you can go to any of the major ski areas in New England during this relatively snow-deficient year and you will find them running at almost full operation. So it appears that a lack of snow, even over the course of several years, is not an all too unusual phenomenon in these parts. Maybe we're just in a "freezing rain and slush" cycle.

Of course, we're not the only ones experiencing warmer than normal temperatures. The last two years have been the warmest in the US since record keeping began. And, in fact, if anything, we here in Maine are having weather that is closer to "normal" than most other areas in the country. Yes, our overall average temperatures have been warmer than normal, but only by a few degrees. So our summers haven't been unbearable - far from it, in fact. The few degrees, however, may be the culprit in turning our snowstorms into ice and rain storms.

Whether our current weather is markedly different from the past is debatable, but I do know that our lack of snow certainly makes for a less enjoyable winter. For one thing, there's not a whole lot you can do in the winter to begin with, and a lack of snow cover only further limits the possibilities. No cross-country skiing. No sledding. No snowmobiling. No snowman construction or snowball fights. And, from an aesthetic point of few, a snowless winter is just plain ugly. How much brown grass, skeleton trees, and dirt-encrusted roads can one person bear to look at?

But no amount of bitching and moaning is going to change the weather, so I'll cease harping on it. Instead, I'll propose a solution. Why not take a cue from the ski industry and come up with our own personal, home versions of snowmakers? Just think of it, with a flip of a switch, Mr. and Mrs. Average Homeowner could turn their dull, brown, winter-weary lawn into an oasis of white. Just like people use sprinklers to water their lawns in the summer, we could have snow makers lined up on lawn after lawn, blasting a fine covering of the white stuff on the landscape. And because we could control where the snow is deposited, we could easily avoid placing it on driveways and sidewalks. A perfect, New England winter wonderland, without any shoveling required! Should I start lining up investors?

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Copyright ©1999 by Greg Closter (closter@acadia.net)