New England Weather: A Love-Hate Relationship

***Going off subject again...

Beauty of New England

As I shovel what appears to be snow, but feels like lead, I sigh and realize that Mother Nature has once again played a game of deception with New Englanders’ hearts. At this point, one could say we’re not stunned by this heartbreak and disgustingly used to it by now. Mark Twain said it perfectly, and we (New Englanders) all know it well: “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.”

But let’s not bash New England’s weather patterns quite yet. Some of its appeals include the four seasons that grace our lands year round. There’s something for everyone, a little variety. Every year spring brings in a warm, refreshing atmosphere, new life, and a beautiful brightness after the last dreary months of winter. Summers in New England are laced with warm, humid nights, sunny days, Red Sox Nation, and most of all, a feeling of freedom. Autumn delivers cool, crisp air, an array of Mother Nature’s beautiful colors, and also a friendly reminder that winter is on its way. The infamous New England winter is always lovely at first. The freshly fallen snow gracefully falls November through Christmastime. Exciting and festive, the holiday season seems incomplete without it.

Hail...in August?!

So what is it that gives New Englanders a spinning headache? My first bet is the curse of the “Indian Summers.” It’s late October, the air has been cool, finding frost on your car every morning is assumed, and mentally you’ve been preparing for those bone chilling winter months.

Then it hits. You walk out your door one morning, and its 70 degrees outside. The sun is shining bright, and if the calendar didn’t say October 29, you’d assume it was May. As you contemplate running back inside to throw on a pair of shorts, you stop yourself.

After an ice storm, here comes the sun!

Why put yourself through the torture and fill your head with misconstrued beliefs that it will actually stay like this? Tomorrow morning you’ll wake up again, only to find your car covered in a thin layer of ice, and a chilling breeze that touches your bones.

It’s the utmost worst when you have those random spurts of warmth in the dead of winter. For example, there are those illogical days in February where one can comfortably walk outside in a T-shirt. Well, that’s just not right. Sure, our minds—that have been on hibernation mode for the past couple months—are ecstatic about it.

But when we wake up the next morning to find freshly fallen snow covering the ground again, it’s like putting our hearts through a blender. It’s sheer torment. And honestly, along with mental abuse, I’m quite sure it’s physical abuse as well. Our bodies can only take such drastic, rapid climate changes so often.

Not even 12 hours after a snowstorm, it's melting away...

Efrain Sanchez, a resident of New Hampshire, admits that he quickly gets tired of the snow abundance.

"New England weather likes to throw magic tricks. Just when you think the snow is gone and cleared out, they dump more on us," says Sanchez.

On a brighter note, our summers are fairly blissful. But I won’t sugar coat it. The humidity can be a bit excruciating sometimes. Other than that, the weather is absolutely satisfying. It’s the random torrential downpours that seem to snag on my nerves. The sun is shining bright, not a cloud in the sky, and you’re lying back on a towel at Hampton Beach.

Five minutes later, you feel the pitter patter of raindrops hitting your face. You look up to see everyone quickly gathering their belongings and bee lining it to their cars as the clouds roll in. “What the…? Where did this come from? Oh that’s right, I live in New England,” you think to yourself. Try not to blink or you may miss the tornado rolling through.

Sun? Rain? Sun?

I suppose one could say you must have a sense of humor to live in New England. You should be a fairly happy person, for there are periods of time where we go weeks without sunlight. A person, say from California, would possibly go into a straight depression if they attempted to live here January through March.

It’s probably a good idea to always carry an umbrella, shovel, and beach towel in your car at all times, because you just never know what the wind will bring in. Other than getting used to the occasional heartbreak, New England weather is relatively exciting. Eventually your body does acclimate to the severe climate shifts.

"If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere," says Sanchez.

Click here to listen to NECN reporters discuss New England's erratic weather.