Nebraska Weather

The topic of weather is something that always seems to spark interest and conversation. Why is that? It's a good subject changer (usually). Also, anyone can talk about it. From my experience with it, there have not been too many political rantings when the topic of weather comes up (global warming usually doesn't enter the conversation). It's not like a conservative will believe one thing, such as thunderstorms can involve hail and tornadic threats and liberals will believe that lightning strikes first and thunder is heard afterward. It's not like all Christians believe that snowstorms are an indicator that God has dandruff and the severity of the dandruff problem depends on the intensity of the storm, meanwhile Jews believe that snow is God's vanilla ice cream. I don't hear such biases and that's great. Rarely, can we find topics where all people can converse in a peaceful manner with one another. It's also a good topic when there's a dead silence in the air. Ever been to a party with a bunch of people you don't really know? You're all kind of looking at one another, then looking around, up at the ceiling, wishing someone would talk before you do? What's a safe topic? "So, what do you think about this weather we've been having?" Works almost every time.

One thing I will truly be thankful for leaving, yet miss at the same time, when I move out of this state, is the weather here. It's insane. The weather topic in Nebraska is even more interesting. It's a heck of a lot more interesting (just not as nice) as weather talk in San Diego. "Hey Bob, nice day today, isn't it?" "Yeah, it's been like this for 246 days straight Chuck. Amazing, isn't it?" Yeah, it makes me gag too. But, no, it's not like that in Nebraska. We live in the center portion of the country and because of that, we get the extreme goods and bads from all parts of the country. We get the cold air from Canada (no mountains- called a plains state for a reason). The warm, moist air from the gulf visits us as well. When those two systems meet, that's when tornadic threats arise, or at the very least, severe thunderstorms. Us being in the middle of the country and without any mountains to block the cold or warm air doesn't help matters any. The spring and summer here is an adventure.

Every season here is an adventure, though. I'd be lying if I said otherwise. With where we're situation and the little mountain ranges we have (none), we're also prone to drastic temperature alterations throughout the year. This is especially fun in the winter. When I was in college during the winter season, the whole school would be coughing and blowing their noses in unison. It'd be 40 one week and then -20 the next. It was 90 here not long ago and dropped down to the 50s a couple days later. We have everything here just about: 100 degree days, -0 degree days, thunderstorms, hailstorms, ice storms, sleet storms, snowstorms, tornadoes, drastic temperature changes, flooding. Only thing we don't have are hurricanes and thank God for that.

For how wild and extreme that sounds, though, it's kind of nice in a way. I know, I'm crazy, right? Yeah, but that's not the point! In Nebraska, we get to experience all four seasons separately, except for the occasional time when nature decides to skip fall and go right to winter. But, those occasions are few and far between. We don't get rain 275 days of the year such as in some parts of the northwest. We don't get extreme heat for much of the year, like some parts in the southwest. It isn't perfect every day like it is in San Diego. On Christmas Day, it's common to see either snow falling to the ground or snow already on the ground. In spring, it'll still feel a bit cool after winter, yet, you can feel summer approaching and witness some beautiful thunderstorms. Summertime would call for the beaches, if we had any, because it can get hot and muggy. The leaves fall in autumn and the temperatures slowly cool from mild in September and part of October to a bit chilly in November. I hope that wherever I head to next, the temperature changes aren't as drastic, but at the same time, hope that there are truly four separate seasons.