W = Weather
For letter “W” in my alphabet series on “This Maine Life,” I have a little fun talking about the weather…
Bloggers inevitably write with a bias. Mine will be evident in this post. In fact, I will begin by stating that I am not a fan of winter. I know, I know — if you’re reading this from outside of Maine, your image of all Mainers being snow-lovers has been shattered. Sorry about that, but it’s true. Not all of us up here love that frozen coldness.
Sometimes when people learn this fact about me I am asked why in the world I live in Maine! That one is easy. I love Maine. I am a Mainer. And, thankfully, we do have more than one season. Though Maine is most often associated with winter, it has four very distinct seasons in which you can be cold, or wet, or hot, or comfortable. In the summer, it is not unusual to hit the triple “H”s on a string of days: “hazy, hot, and humid.” It’s the last factor — the humidity — that is bothersome to winter-lovers. Actually, I know many Mainers who came from a wide variety of African countries, and even they complain during some of those humid stretches.
All this to say, everyone can find some days or weeks or months in Maine in which they love the weather. And probably every Mainer has at least some time that they wish they could change the weather channel.
As far as when our spring, summer, autumn, winter rotation occurs — well, that’s anybody’s guess. And it’s unlikely to be the same this year as it was last year. One thing you can count on — if it snows too early or too late, some will act like it has never happened before. We empty our memory banks quite often when it comes to the weather.
Mainers have a few funny tendencies (perhaps these also occur in other parts of the country)…
We wear weather stats like a badge — if our hometown got the most snow in the latest storm or recorded the coldest/hottest temps, we will make sure that is known.
The generation older than you had harder winters than you will ever experience.
Most conversations contain something weather related.
There are two broad categories of Mainers: those who express their displeasure with a particular kind of weather, and others who express their displeasure with those who express displeasure.
I can’t close without mentioning that while we have the traditional big four seasons, we throw some other ones into the mix.
Spring is more commonly known as mud season, which is closely followed by pothole season.
Blackfly season is vicious — even the “everything is great” crowd struggles with that one.
Tourist season — welcomed by those in related industries, tolerated to varying degrees by others, disliked by some due to traffic congestion and some touristy-type behaviors (just keep in mind that we are rather quiet and tend to like space, and it will all be good).
Depending on the region of the state you live in, you might have a planting season, berry season, apple season, potato season, ski season, fishing season…you get the idea.
One thing is for sure: we have a lot of variety in Maine. And, if you look closely — yes, even at winter — you can find something of beauty in all of it.
This post is part of my A to Z Challenge Series with the overall theme, “This Maine Life.” I am covering a Maine-related topic with a different letter of the alphabet every day except Sundays throughout the month of April 2020.
