The spring season officially begins on the 21st of March, but depending on how mother nature acts it may feel as if it begins much earlier than that. While many other places around the country have the predictable new increase of warmth, as well as being able to see the first signs of flowers beginning to pop out of the ground, the midwest provides unpredictable weather patterns that can change on a dime.
Midwestern weather proves that March Madness is not just about unpredictable and thrilling college basketball games, but can also be about unpredictable and thrilling weather. The saying goes that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but that doesn’t describe the amount of fighting that the winter lion does throughout the month to keep the spring lamb from taking its place.
The long midwestern winter becomes a drag after the beginning of the new year in my opinion. There is an internal longing for it to be spring again, when the weather is a mild warm, not too hot and not too cold. The grass is green enough that after 3 months of captivity indoors, you can finally head back outside to go on a run downtown or play football or frisbee in front of the library on the Bentdahl Commons lawn.
The midwestern weather plays with my desires almost every single year during March. It makes me feel as if I can finally see the light and the return of the warmer weather, only for the lion to roar its head and dump a few inches of snow along with 15-below temperatures on the region. It then reminds me that this is going to be one of my last chances to be able to convince my mom or dad, or since now I am at college, myself, to make a hot chocolate before hibernating from the drink until December.
An example of when the weather did this to me once again was Thursday last week. As I walked back from Regents, I looked out at the valley to see the beautiful green that had returned. Only to my chagrin the next morning while walking towards breakfast, I again looked out towards the valley to see the re-covering of the ground with snow that I’ve become accustomed to during my 19 years of life.
In my hometown of Northfield, Minnesota, I felt more fondly about a March snowstorm while growing up, as it meant a day or two off from school and that meant Call of Duty or NBA 2K marathons with friends. Now it just means a longer and colder trek across campus to class.
The bi-polarness of the March weather in the midwest, however, provides the beauty of the month. From being out in the country a lot to see my grandparents and later when my family moved out there at the beginning of my high school years, March is when I could look out and see the beauty of the snow covering the terrain, as well as be able to run up the hills when the weather is warm to look out through Sogan Valley.
A midwestern March can also provide the last of the feelings of a winter wonderland, such as sitting in Java John's listening to smooth jazz as the snow falls one last time, to the relaxing sounds of rain on the window as I am typing this article right now.
So while the madness of March weather in the midwest can sometimes drive me up a wall, its general unpredictability, similar to that of life, can provide many calm and enjoyable moments.
