Ohio's Bound to Boomerang

  One thing I miss from my time in Ecuador (I miss many, many things and people and places) is the weather. In Ecuador the weather was, above all else, predictable. Imagine your ideal of a perfect Spring day. Sun shining in the sky with a few scattered clouds, green grass abound, flowers blooming, and temperatures between 65 and 75 degrees. Your ideal day might be a little different, but it probably falls within that range. Ecuador resides right in the middle of the globe. This means that they get a clean cut of 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness or thereabouts. The mornings start out a bit chilly, maybe in the low 50's. By noon the sun would be cranking at full power, which would mean that it was time to shuck off the sweatshirt that was necessary in the morning. This wonderful heat would stay until about four in the afternoon then it would start to lessen a bit as the sun made its descent.

  You could count on the daylight and the warmth but also one other thing: the rain. Almost everyday between 10 in the morning and 5 in the evening or so there would be a storm or shower. Usually it was over just as quickly as it started and most of the time it was refreshing. I miss taking mid-afternoon naps while the rain tapped on the roofs outside.

  But here in Ohio the only predictability in the weather is that it is bound to be inconsistent. Yesterday it was unseasonably warm outside, today it rained all day and the temperature plummeted. Tomorrow it could very well snow, or just as easily it could be as warm as a summer afternoon. Its all within the realm of possibility here.

  All of October and November it went from warm to wet to cold to warm to snowing to wet and back to cold. Going outside on any given day in Ohio, or in the Midwest for that matter, is like jumping into a game of ping pong that starts and stops of its own volition. You never know if its your turn to serve or return a volley. The weather here plays by its own rules and no one else's. And sure the erratic nature of the weather is due in part to global warming, but to give climate change the whole blame is unfair.

  As long as I can remember its been like this here. The snow might start in October and go through March. Though during that time its never consistently snowy. There's just as much of a chance of snow tomorrow as there is in March, but also of it being warm like Spring today or in January. Ohio's bound to boomerang as far as the weather is concerned. And while I enjoy the chaos and mystery of going outside each morning, some days I miss the clockwork predictability of Ecuador.