COLUMN: Winter? Spring?
Tuesday it was a balmy 50 degrees, where a few days before that, it was in the 30s with blustery snow.
I spend part of every day sitting and looking out at the the window wondering what today's weather is going to be, just wondering. It could start out dull, bleak, the sky covered in dreary clouds, then by midday the sun could break through and be blinding.
Michigan doesn’t know what it wants.
When Michigan gets into one of its “moods,” where one day it's giving off wicked sunburn skies and the next hypothermia could set in with just a few seconds of exposure, people here react in strange ways.
Michiganders should be accustomed to temperature fluctuations by now, but apparently our bodies and brains don’t know how to keep up.
One day the population is bundled up in winter coats, fuzzy mittens, wool hats and snow boots, then the next those same people are wearing sweatshirts, while others seem to think they're in the midst of the epic heat wave of the century.
From being bundled up to rocking the sweatshirt with the booty shorts and fuzzy boots, this is Michigan’s reality.
We deal with it, laughing off the fact that it happens to us and that we are victims of this mixed-weather crime.
Here are some possibilities of what one might see: men wear workout shorts and T-shirts while girls skimp on the clothing because the temperature rose by 20 degrees in one night, and in Michigan, that is looked at oddly for a moment then a head is shaken and the sight has been registered and accepted by the brain.
I sit back and giggle when the gust of wind blows between the campus buildings and the girls scream in chilled surprise.
Their thought could almost be heard, "What the heck? It is like Spring and stuff. Why is this wind being cold?"
The reality of it is it's winter and Michigan is messing with the masses by throwing a spring-time day out there in the freezing cold of late January.
We are an odd breed, Michiganders. We have grown thick-skinned, because that is how our weather has conditioned us. Hot then cold, cold then freezing, freezing to mild, then back to cold.
We know that when we walk outside and aren’t instantly chilled to the bone, that it is a good day to ride with the windows down, to bust out the motorcycle — heck, that it’s time to get our tan on.
Don’t get me wrong, I'm not claiming innocence. Having been born and raised in Michigan, I participate in this weirdness as well.
I am that girl who travels to Texas over Spring Break and busts out her short shorts and tank tops when all the Texans are bundled up in sweatshirts and long johns.
It's what our state has done to us. Let us embrace it and laugh at our own ridiculousness.
Welcome to Michigan, where the weather has a short attention span and we just try to keep up.
