By Corey Sandler
In places that tend to have classically defined winters, school districts build a certain number of “Snow Days” into the annual schedule. When a storm of significance comes, the kids are given the day off and their parents are left to figure what in the world to do with them.
Our changing climate has knocked the calendar askew, particularly in New England which has traditionally had picture-postcard snowscapes. Some recent winters have deeply disappointed kids and laid bare the ski slopes.
New England is warming faster than most other parts of the world, and Massachusetts now experiences about 11 more days with temperatures above freezing than historical averages.
But there is also something scientists call the “snowfall paradox.”
As tropical areas become hotter, the atmosphere near the equator begins to hold more moisture and the natural wind and ocean currents in the Northern Hemisphere tend to steer that moisture toward the Arctic. When that extra moisture meets cold temperatures the result is heavy, wetter snowfall.
Fewer cold days. Fewer snowstorms. But when Arctic air plunges down in our direction, we are lined up to receive supercharged nor’easters.
That’s what happened at the end of January when a massive storm dumped nearly two feet of snow on New England.
Usually, when I look out the window of my office, 400 feet in the air above Boston harbor, I see the ocean and shipping traffic.
During the storm, though, what I saw with my eyes wide open was not much different from my eyes squeezed shut: a whiteout.
Please do not think of my observations as a complaint. I love snow, especially when I do not have to shovel it or drive in it. We’ll sit by the artificial fireplace and perhaps re-read New Englander poet Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village, though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
Dressed for Excess
At dawn, when I usually take my constitutional, an Arctic blast brought the temperature down to 5 degrees with a strong wind. As I try to convince myself, it’s winter; comes around every year about this time.
Early Frosting
We had a taste of things to come a few days ahead of the big storm with a burst of heavy wet snow that frosted the trees.
White on Red
Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach led the Boston Celtics to nine NBA titles as coach, eight consecutively. He counted seven more as a team executive.
All of which earned him a statue on a cold bench at Quincy Market in downtown.
Common Beauty
The heart of Boston is The Common, the oldest city park in the United States.
It is the gathering place for festivals, protests, and strolls no matter the season.
The Big Snow
The big storm came on a Sunday, on a day when many New Englanders were already planning to hunker down to watch (on TV) a championship football game, and with enough warning that we could make necessary preparations.
It was way too cold and windy for me to go out with my camera during the storm, but I dug into my ski bag to lay out thermals, a balaclava, and goggles. On Monday morning I was out at the crack of dawn to enjoy first tracks in Boston.
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