record lows

This morning's low was 37F; compare that to two and three days prior when the low was -4F. Unbelievably it rained hard last night. The ground is still hard frozen hence the rain and snow-melt all ran off. This is truly a strange winter.

Here are graphics created by the local branch of the National Weather Service showing record low temperatures set in the last few days. They noted that virtually every reporting station in their venue had set record lows. What seems so unusual to these old eyes is the extent to which the old records were broken. As a rule, new record temperatures, whether high or low, are within two or three degrees of the old record. Note that on the 20th, Lynchburg's record was broken by 18 degrees and Bluefield's by 15 degrees. Those, readers, are numbers to conjure with. Friends in coastal Maine, Juneau, Alaska, and Finland have enjoyed warmer days and nights than here in southern Virginia.

A refreshing cold front is blowing over Stratheden Farm as this is written and presages a return to seasonal temperatures is anticipated by tomorrow night, with a forecast low of 10F. Who can say that God does not possess humor?