Too cold??????? Heck, it wasn't even cool!!!! It has been way too warm lately!!! I'm home from the trip now and the high here today (Saturday) was 68 - 71 degrees. The temps for here and the Smokies is usually pretty close, but the Smokies do get snow from time to time and we seldom ever get any this far down (in Alabama - The Heart of Dixie). When we get snow this far south, it is a major event! When I was growing up we got a lot more snow than we do now. I know that a lot of you Northerners get a kick out of how things pretty much completely shut down in the Deep South IF we ever get more than a light dusting of snow, but what you don't realize is that, 1) 8 times out of 10, we get a good layer of freezing rain and sleet on our roads before the snow falls on top of it. That pretty much shuts everything down because we don't have the equipment down here to clear or plow the roads. No sense in spending millions of dollars on that equipment when we might need it only once in a blue moon... if even that often. Yeah, some road departments will go out and sling a little salt and/or sand in some of the worst areas, but it usually isn't enough to really help anything. 2) The roads will usually end up being closed since we aren't prepared/equipped to deal with these situations, which is a good thing because we aren't used to these types of driving conditions and lack the experience that many of you have. If the roads are closed, our auto insurance will not pay up if we have an accident.............. so yeah, a little snow CAN paralyze the south! If we get a little snow without the sleet and/or freezing rain with it, then we love it! We can usually handle that OK, but it's still a big event for us this far south.
It has been colder this fall for us than usual, but unlike our Northern friends, we experience the cooler/colder weather in spurts. We might have 55 - 75 degrees for a few days and then a cold front pushes through (often bringing us tornadoes and severe thunderstorms) and then we will have a few days of highs in the 30's - 40's - 50's.... only to warm back up again. It's supposed to turn cooler here for Sunday evening and into the first of the week. I think it's supposed to be in the 40's on Monday.
Summers here are a KILLER!!!!!!!!!! Usually lower 90's to low 100's, but the kicker is that with that heat we have HIGH humidity. 90% - 100% humidity in the summer. Humidity is what hurts us, more so than the heat alone. It comes off the Gulf of Mexico and just smothers us. You can be sitting there watching TV with the air conditioner blasting and still be sweating bullets! Or take a shower and get ready to go somewhere, and the very second you step outside you are soaked in sweat because of the blasted humidity! It's hard to breathe, and at times can even be hard to function. I read about how the cold weather ends the detecting season for some of you up North, but for me, the summer ends mine! I can't tolerate the heat/humidity, or the abundance of snakes and mosquitoes!
Lisa (in Alabama)
TreasureDigger
God Bless! Betty