A month ago, my dad told me to get the cows off the cornstalks because he was going to start spring work. The cows are still on the cornstalks. It’s too wet to get into the fields. It’s our little problem in a plethora of problems the weather is causing across the country.
Is it just me, or is the weather weirder this year?
Boise, Idaho, is about to soar by a 124-year-old record for the most consecutive days below 60ºF. Last month, Boise broke the record for the most snowfall in March AND the most consecutive days of snowfall in any month.
Lyman, Wyoming, dipped to minus 35ºF last week. That temperature bookended from high to low temperatures of 137 degrees across the contiguous U.S. as the temperature in Falcon Lake, Texas, peaked at 102ºF.
My father-in-law in Coalville, Utah, hasn’t seen the ground since November due to snow cover. Alta ski resort outside of Salt Lake City is experiencing the snowiest year on record, with an 860-inch snowpack and more forecast.
In the Intermountain West, ranchers that calved in January had an easier time than those calving in March and April. Friends in eastern Idaho said this calving season was “unprecedented and depressing.” The snow was falling so fast that they couldn’t dig calves out quickly enough.
Residents of Los Angeles saw snow for the first time in 16 years in late February. Three months ago, nearly all of California was in an extreme drought. Today, due to what Californians say is “three months straight of rain,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts the drought severity is cut in half across the state. Drought in the western U.S. is at its lowest level since 2020.
While the western U.S. is colder and wetter than usual, the Southeast is in a heat wave. In February, Atlanta hit an all-time monthly high and the warmest low. Cities in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and West Virginia all hit all-time season highs. Central Florida hit 90ºF in February for the first time in 2020, three years before 2023. You guessed it – it happened again and then again.
Last weekend, I texted my friend in Losantville, Indiana, to see if she was impacted by one of the 19 tornadoes that touched down in Indiana on Friday. Four of those tornadoes were EF3.
The records the weather is setting all over the country tell me, yes, the weather is weirder this year. How weird? I’m sure the experts will tell us after all the forecasts and graphs are understood. Until then, we can only guess. Maybe it is the effect of climate change. Perhaps it is a regular part of weather patterns. Or maybe it's just a weird year.
What I do know is that it is making it tough for farmers to do their job. Whatever the weather is in your "neck of the woods,” stay safe. We are rooting for you. And, while waiting for the weather to clear up, tell us what weather record your region broke this year.
