If you read my blog regularly you certainly know my Maine roots are deep and continue to grow. So much of the reason I am able to write or broadcast about the weather and gardening is because of all of my Maine connections.  The weather looks pretty quiet the next week so it gives me an opportunity to reflect and thank many who have helped me follow something I love for so long. 

One of my favorite memories in school was walking to Lyseth Elementary  from  Lyman Moore across the parking lot for lunch.  (Moore had no cafeteria back then). It was a great opportunity to get outside and this short 5 minute walk often gave me the chance to ask (pester), my science teacher Mr. Chambers about weather and gardening.   In spite of the cold of a typical March,  I’d ask him when to plant peas and how much more snow he thought there might be before spring really arrived.  To me, he seemed always have the right answers about all of these things. When I left Moore, he would write in my yearbook “I’ll look forward to your giving the report on T.V.”   

When I think back to all the mentors I had during my years in the Portland School system it’s simply amazing how many teachers encouraged me to keep perusing my love of meteorology and horticulture.  I have two hibiscus plants I winter over in the house every year.  I can trace how I care for those plants to how Donna Agren showed me what she did to her own hibiscus each winter.  Ms. Agren taught me how to sew and cook and I know I still use some of the techniques I learned in 8^th grade today.   In the 5^th grade we had to follow the weather for a week and then make our own weather map.  My work earned an A+. “Great Job” from Mr. Dulac, much to the chagrin of my fellow students who didn’t understand how any 10 year old could make weather maps that well.  

In 1980 I  started all my tomato plants in Mr. Hoyt’s  biology room at Deering  and would attempt the same thing the following year with Mr. Walker at Portland (I saw the light and became a Bulldog in my  Junior year).   Each of those teachers fostered a love of plants, animals and the natural world around me I still carry today.   When I applied to Colby , my 8^th grade English teacher Ginny Foley wrote one of my recommendations, although she was later tragically killed by a drunk driver, her support was a big piece in helping a very awkward kid grow up and be accepted into the college I would come to love so much.

Senior year at Portland Dr. Greer, the then superintendant of schools, would periodically call me out of class before a storm  to ask me what I thought about the upcoming snow.  His first question was always to ensure he wasn’t taking me out of Mr. Hadlock’s class, the ultimate faux pas when it came to my Physics lessons and Mr Hadlock.  The day I graduated, I open my diploma to find a personalize note from the secretaries at PHS.  At first I thought it was blank, but quickly read the kind words from those women.

Television news also made an indelible impression on me growing up.  Those forecasters who told the weather story were heroes to me.  In same way others worship their favorite athletes, I knew I wanted to have a job like Bob O’Wril, Art Horn, Steve Adamson , Terry Casey , Barry Burbank and of course Joe Cupo.   I’m fortunate years later to call many of these people respected colleagues.

At Colby, I was exposed to incredibly supportive professors and staff who further helped guide me towards my eventual career.   Senior year, when I wrote my cover letters to about 100 TV stations throughout the country I spelled the word career with two r’s.   In a pre-spell check world, I was so grateful when the administrative secretary for the Biology not only caught the mistake, but retyped the letters and for me.

It’s not only individuals who help nurture our passions.   Books are amazing way to immerse yourself into a world about which you want to learn more.   One of my favorite books given to me by my parents was The Country Journal: New England Weather Book by David Ludlum.  

The book has some great historical accounts as well as many weather records for all of New England.  Published in 1976, quite a number of the snow records are outdated as are many others, but it’s still a great reference point for what weather events stood out 40 years ago and which ones still are memorable today.

The book is divided on such a way you can read about how each month unfolds here in New England.  For March, David wrote this “March is frequently a wintry month in New England.  Not until the close of the month do the chances of a twelve inch snowstorm or a morning of zero cold diminish to minimal percentage possibility.”  He goes on to talk about March 1956 which still stands as one of the snowiest Marches on record.  That year, Portland saw 46.6 inches of snow, much of it falling from back to back snowstorms on Saint Patrick’s Day and again on the first day of spring.  The record stood for many decades until 1993, when 49 inches of snow fell.  It can really feel overwhelming to have that much snow in any month, but especially in March.

This week’s cold and dry weather

A storm is bringing more snow and cold to the mid-Atlantic region today, but will pass safely out to sea well south of Maine to affect us.  The only noticeable weather will be clouds.  One of the contributing factors why we are missing this storm is the northern branch of the jet stream is helping to keep the storm south.  The part of the upper wind flow is also going to carry more arctic air through the area the first part of this week.  High temperatures should be in the upper 30s, we won’t be out of the lower 20s Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday.  This is about 15 degrees below normal and many of you will see sub-zero morning lows.

Towards the end of the week milder air will bring temperature readings closer to normal along with the opportunity for a new round of precipitation.  I know spring will come, it always does and whether I am forecasting April showers or planting my peas the people and institutions who helped guide me along the way are always close in my heart. 

 Ask me a question about weather or gardening on Twitter @growingwisdom. Follow @growingwisdom

 

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