If you asked last week, anyone in Northern Arizona would have told you spring was just around the corner.
The mercury rose above 80 in parts of the Verde Valley, the bees busily pollinated blossoming fruit trees and it smelled like Wyoming.
When budding plants release a certain smell it reminds me of the spring smell of Wyoming, which takes me back to the warm afternoons of my childhood.
Then, two days before the official arrival of the season, Tuesday, March 20, a cold front complete with the most snow we’ve seen all season blasts in to turn our world upside down.
While driving to work Monday morning, March 19, I heard a DJ in New York City talking about the arrival of spring, “Unless, of course you live in Arizona,” he said with an evil laugh.
Our state, which other states envy because of our sunny days and nice temperatures year-round, became the spring joke while people in climates normally much colder than ours welcomed spring with warm weather.
It’s funny — the longer a person lives in Arizona the less tolerant a person becomes of bad weather being a factor in the person’s life.
When the giant snowflakes began to fall at my house Sunday afternoon, March 18, they were beautiful, then they were inconvenient because I wanted to go for a run, and eventually the became a stressor when traveling to work the next morning.
My friends and family living in Wyoming, Montana, Alaska and New York would be ashamed to read a warm spring snow nearly prevented me from going jogging, and it was a short one.
We used to wake up before the sun rose to drive many miles on snow- and ice-covered roads to spend an entire day in the snow and cold on the ski slopes.
Now, I’ll spring ski if I can wear just my fleece jacket.
The blast of winter will be beneficial to our vegetation desperately thirsting for water following a fairly dry winter, and it is nice to see again in small doses.
However, next year, I’d like to order snow in December. If we have to deal with the white stuff, I’d prefer for it to inspire my holiday happiness rather than dampen my spring spirit.
