Dear readers,
As I write this week's column I'm marveling about the weather; it is quite the beautiful day outside. Not only is it unseasonably warm, it's also sunny. Who could ask for a better day? I must admit, I am biased — fall is my favorite season. This column, in case you haven't already guessed, is about the lovely weather of Boston. That wonderful entity that graces us with snow one weekend and perfect beach days the next. My feelings about the weather here are aptly summed up by the term "love−haterelationship."
I say that this column is only about the weather of Boston because, to those of you unfamiliar with the nonsensical weather patterns of Massachusetts, once you leave Boston the weather could be completely different. It may be raining on one side of the highway, and snowing on the other. I have actually seen this happen, so I know for a fact that such crazy weather does exist. Likewise, once you enter Western Massachusetts, you could be faced with a whole new can of weather worms. Therefore, I'm confining my gripes to Boston. I'd be writing a novel if I decided to discuss "Massachusetts weather" as a whole.
Like anybody else, I love when we have those nice warm spells late in the fall. I'm a fan of warm weather, but not sweltering heat and humidity, so the fall crispness never fails to brighten my mood. When we get those odd 70−degree days in November, there's usually no humidity tagging along, which makes the weather all the more enjoyable.
When we have snow in October, though, I get grumpy. I no longer hail the unusual weather patterns of the state that once brought me warm, sunny days. Now, I have to bundle up — if I even have winter clothes in my closet. Not many people are prepared for snow in October, for good reason — you generally don't expect to have snow in October. Neither should you expect to have snow into the end of April. By the time winter is finally over — approximately the end of May — I am in a fragile mental state — I may go insane if I see one more snowflake fall from the sky. Snow is great, for the first few storms. After that it becomes a nuisance, and it looks gross in the city. The snow here will turn from white to brown in less than 24 hours. Once it ceases to be pretty, it really serves no purpose.
To compare weather patterns within the state, I'll give you some examples of Boston weather versus weather in my hometown. Generally, Boston is 10 degrees warmer in the summertime than Chatham, Mass. In the winter, Chatham feels to me to be about ten degrees warmer than Boston. As you may infer, Chatham doesn't get much snow. It gets slush and freezing rain, and if we are lucky enough to get snow, it melts within eight hours. There is a strange weather line located exactly over the Cape Cod Canal that changes all forecasted snow to rain during the wintertime. I kid you not; the next time we have a storm, check the radar. You'll see it. I dislike snow, but slush is even worse. In that respect, Boston winters, though colder, are definitely more enjoyable than Cape Cod winters.
What would be really nice though is having no winter at all. I'm looking for a place to live that basically has an eternal autumn. I have yet to find this magnificent fantasyland. Readers, if you know where it may be located, drop me an email. I don't bite. Now go enjoy the sun — while it lasts.
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Kacey Rayder is a junior majoring in English. She can be reached at Kacey.Rayder@tufts.edu.
