How do I know? A little bird told me. Actually, a few little birds and one big bird told me. Birds are much more reliable than the weatherman so I believe them.
The last two and a half weeks have been brutally cold. The Choptank river is frozen over, the water levels in the marshland are lower than the lowest tides because all the water is locked up in ice, the ground is rock hard instead of spongy, and our pipes froze.
Despite the brutal cold, we’ve seen a few robin redbreasts - the familiar harbinger of spring - and a bald eagle. If one bald eagle is here, the other bald eagles should be coming soon to start nesting.
After two-weeks of below freezing temperatures, the first winter storm has hit today. In Maryland lingo, that means freezing rain. As the storm moves up the coast, temperatures are forecasted to rise above a balmy forty tonight and heavy rains will pound the marshlands. As the storm exits the area northward, gusty northwest winds of up to 50 mph will sweep through, dropping the temperatures well below freezing again. The long range forecast doesn’t give a hint of spring anywhere.
But the birds can’t be wrong. My prediction is for another two weeks of winter weather, gradually moderating to at or above the seasonal average.
If the birds are wrong, I’ll go back to listening to the guy on TV.
© 2006
Mark Darien
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