Weather

Another week begins in Bethel. Nobody in my household wanted to get out of bed this morning. It was not because we went to bed late. I think we could just sense that it was freezing outside, and we knew the sun would not rise for another four hours. However, because our alarm clock read 6:30 am up we went. Long underwear, clothes, snow pants, face mask, hat, gloves, boots we emerge out into the cold dark night, only it is technically morning.

The weather report tells us that it is –1 degree, and – 23 wind chill. The prediction for today's weather says the wind chill may approach –15. This kind of weather report is frustrating when you are trying to figure out whether to wear regular balaclava, or polar balaclava. I swear Jamie could probably make better weather predictions thanthe ones we get around here. It is unsettling not to know if or when it is going to get warmer, or just how cold it is going to get by the end of the day.

Most places in the US where you can get minute by minute accounts of the weather any time you want on The Weather Channel or on your computer. Not here. There really isn't any point to reading the predictions, they are almost always wrong. Itisn’t anyones fault that they are so bad, there is too much empty barren space, without enough weather stations and too few people to really bother with. It is a bewildering experience not having reliable weather reports, but I have gotten used to it and have begun devising my own way of predicting the weather. We know it is going to be cold until May, so that does simplify things. It probably won’t be warm enough to rain, so that leaves the possibility of snow. As far as the temperature goes the only accurate one to go on is the current temperature, and if it is night you can generally predict it will get colder before it gets warmer. Without much daylight the range of temperature is pretty small so their probably won’t be too many dramaticfluctuations. The most important factor of course, is the wind. Which is not even predicted, so you have to go on the current report. If it is windy at all, then we know we need all of our warmest gear and you better gird your loins because it's nasty out there. -Megan