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By John McDonald
As I sit here writing this week’s column, the snow outside keeps falling — sometimes vertically, sometimes horizontally — but always falling.
I’ve been thinking about March storms a lot since we’ve had three n’oreasters in less than a month.
They say the sun in March here in Maine is supposed to be almost as robust and strong as the sun we enjoyed back in October. They say!
The idea is in October — when the earth’s axis is tilting north and the power of the sun begins to fade around here and focus on the other end of the planet known as the Southern Hemisphere — we here in Maine start to put on sweaters and go to football games and rake leaves and fire up our wood stoves because, in late October afternoons and evenings, things start to get a tad chilly.
Fortunately, the earth’s northward tilt ends abruptly around the 20th of December at what old hippies celebrate as the Winter Solstice — the return of the sun.
The idea is that, as northerners, we’re glad when the sunshine heads back toward our end of the planet and warms things up around here.
Any Mainer knows March — where we are now — has never been a popular month in Maine because — unlike October — the month of March is often a problem. When was the last time you had a problem with October? On the other hand, March is so useless and unpopular many towns traditionally dump their town meetings in March just to give folks something to look forward to and talk about.
Often, the weather in March does everything in its power to make a mockery of the “March is like October” statement because, as we all know, some of the worst weather ever dropped on the heads of the good people of Maine has been dumped during the month of March.
No October in memory has ever done such things. We know every month of the years has “weather issues.” When March has a storm, however, it’s not just one of your traditional New England “weather events.” No siree. When March has a storm, it likes to mix and match the nastiest meteorological ingredients.
The typical March storm may begin slowly and easily with a little snow, but then it will quickly add a blast of arctic air and more snow from the northwest and then — after a few hours of that — it may decide to bring in some southern breezes and turn the arctic snow into freezing rain, then rain, and back to freezing rain, and a dash of sleet, and back to snow atop a thin sheet of black ice, and then more rain, and finally a cold blast that freezes the whole mess into an ugly arctic sculpture.
The thing that sets us up for such a late-winter sucker-punch is the fact that March is perfectly capable of giving us a nice sunny day making us think of the beach or sailing on the bay.
March can give us days that make us foolishly think the back of winter has finally been broken and spring is about to arrive. To see how different October and March are just write them — “October” and “March” — side-by-side on a piece of paper. Next, list all the good times you and the family have had OUTDOORS in October.
I figure you’d probably need a few more sheets of paper just to finish listing all your October good times, right Now, scratch your head and try to think of one — just one — good time you and the family have had outdoors in Maine in March. I rest my case. Please email your list to: maineauthorjohn.mcdonald@yahoo.com
Maine storyteller John McDonald is the author of several bestselling books including “The Maine Dictionary,” “A Moose and a Lobster Walk into a Bar” and “John McDonald’s Maine Trivia.” His latest book, “Moose Memoirs and Lobster Tails,” is a sequel to “A Moose and a Lobster.” McDonald also entertains throughout New England, telling his Maine stories at banquets, conventions, conferences and other special events. Contact him at 207 899 1868 or maineauthorjohn.mcdonald@yahoo.com
