Spring is Apparently Canceled

Here in Vermont, and in much of the rest of the country, spring appears to have been canceled.

They're blaming an errant jet stream. High pressure is over the Arctic, and it's forcing the cold air that's normally up there down on us. And much of the rest of the United States. And much of Europe.

Heavy snow falls in Burlington, Vt. on the day before spring.

This state of affairs seems to want to last indefinitely, so the old adage in Vermont that we have 11 months of winter and one month of not so good sledding is going to have to go. It appears the snow sledding will be just fine year round, at this rate.

The winter weather in spring is extremely frustrating for people like me, who really need and want to get out there and get the landscaping going for spring. Not with all this snow.  And the weather pattern makes things especially torturous. It's like they're playing with my head up there, hoping I break.

Snow clings to a tree during a snowstorm in
Burlington, Vt. this week.

Here's what I mean. The sun tries to break through the clouds during the day, and a little snow melts. That gives one a little hope.

Maybe the snow will eventually go away.  But come dark, it snows again, and what little snow
melted is replaced.

The process goes on day after day. A little melting during the day, replacement snow at night, on and on it goes and the white, bleak landscaping doesn't change as "spring" ostensibly rolls on.

With false beliefs in weather gods or whatever leaving me frustrated, I turn to science. Maybe the long range forecasts offer a glimmer of hope.

And they do. Every day that I check, the forecasts indicate a warming trend about 10 days out.

Kids trudge up a sledding hill during a snow squall in
Underhill, Vt. on the first day of spring this week.

But I check those long range forecasts every day, and each day, the forecasts postpone the expected warming by a day or so. In other words, it ain't going to happen.

A snowy view of Lake Champlain and the snowy Adirondacks
in the background this week.  

I'm still taking winter photographs, of course, to add to my collection. Or at least try to. You can see some not yet edited samples in this post.

But for once, I would like to shoot something green. Something warm. With all the cold air pulled south, I should moe to Greenland. It's unseasonably warm up there, I'm told.