Finally, the National Football League season is over. And congratulations to my beloved New York Football Giants, whose exciting victory in last night's Superbowl XLVI pretty much guarantees Hall of Fame status for both quarterback Eli Manning and Head Coach Tom Coughlin. It's not a pretty day for Patriots fans, and believe me, here in Connecticut, I'm surrounded by them.
And, as I look at the calendar, I see that in less than two weeks, all Major League baseball spring training camps will be underway. Thanks again to the Giants for making the time without baseball go a lot quicker this year. Seems like only yesterday, the Cardinals were raising the World Series trophy.
So, where did the winter of 2011-2012 go? Much of it seems to have landed in Europe, where Arctic cold and snow have been in the headlines for the past week. As I mentioned in my previous blog, the worst winter weather we had here in Connecticut was on Halloween weekend (almost two months before winter actually started), when 12 inches of snow fell in the interior part of the state. In January of 2011, we had 54.3 inches of snow (a record for ANY single month in Connecticut recorded weather history) at Bradley International Airport. In January of this year, we had only 6.8 inches of snow, and the month averaged 5.5 degrees F warmer than normal. The midpoint of winter came on February 4th. The climatologically coldest day of the year was January 31st. Yet here we are, on February 6th, with the mercury standing at 52 degrees as I write this. Incredible!
Just four days ago, Punxatawney Phil came out of his hole on Gobbler's Knob and saw his shadow, guaranteeing six more weeks of winter. I don't know about you, but I'd gladly take six more weeks of the kind of winter we've been having so far. And looking two weeks out, there does not seem to be any real significant winter weather on the horizon. With the sun getting higher each day, and the daylight hours getting longer, winter may have a tough time making a comeback. Famous last words....
