My Perfect Winter

This is my perfect winter:

It starts in late November with an inch or two of snow right around Thanksgiving. It doesn't stay around long, but it's enough to get you in the mood, to psyche you into winter.

Next we get a good six to eight inches in mid-December; you got it, right before Christmas. Now we're talking! White Christmas, who doesn't like that? Then a nice even flurry from Christmas through new year's day, not accumulating much, but enough to make the sky a regular white blur.

On about the second week of January, a pummeling. Bring it on! I'm talking consecutive snowstorms of one to two feet landing on us within as many weeks. It's winter, by God, and that should mean snow, so bring it!

Then a breather. Dig ourselves out. Shake ourselves off.

Take a couple weeks out of the fray, maybe even have some forty degree days, melt some of the piles down. But don't let the reprieve last too long. In early February, another dose of the same. Two feet! Let it snow hard all night at least once, bring us that magical morning with snow covering everything, make the world a winter wonderland.

By now, we might be getting a little tired of it, but let's just cycle through it one more time for good measure. We can't let winter slip by without us really being able to say "we had winter." So just at the end of February, say to celebrate a leap year, or the shortest month in the set, bring it down in buckets! It doesn't have to be a record breaker, but we have to know it's there.

By mid March, some snow is fine, but really we should start to seeing more regular forty degree days, even some fifty degree days. By mid April we should be seeing mid and upper fifties and some sixties. By mid May, we should see seventies.

May should be summer.

That is my perfect winter. So come on winter god. Let's see your stuff!