No news is good news.
I was reminded of Benjamin Franklin’s clever jab – which is never more true than in reference to January weather – when I wandered through the garden on a warm, sunny afternoon.
I marvelled, indeed, that there was actually a garden to walk through at this normally desolate stretch of Earth’s path around Sol.
The daffodils are greening the mat of leaves under the trees.
The few tulips that were barely visible just the day before were now more than an inch tall, and they are now surrounded by a plethora of their kin.
The big rose out front is sending out thousands of little buds to test the air, and even the clematis is demonstrate its willingness to get on with the business of beautifying another year.
You’ll see or read none of this in the news… unless, of course, Old Man Weather decides to get grumpy after all. Then you’ll see the news stories blooming like crocuses goaded by spring sunshine.
January has often nurtured big news weeks for weather in Langley.
The front page of the Jan. 24 Langley Advance reported that “the biggest storm in memory tied up the Fraser Valley” with a “heavy snowfall… followed by rain which turned to sleet.” There were not likely a lot of gardeners tip-toeing through their tulips. Snow and floods were estimated to have caused $10,000 in damages… which outlines another difference between that January and this one.
Today, corrected for inflation, that $10,000 damage assessment translates to about $180,000. Bridges were destroyed, buildings collapsed, and roads were washed out. Must have been pretty small bridges, buildings, and roads by today’s standards!
January of 1954 was far worse. A single storm buried Langley under four feet of snow (for you young’uns, that’s about one and a quarter metres). Temperatures dropped to -19 degrees Celsius. And an Aldergrove man died in a snowdrift.
In the start of January of 1965, things went from bad to… really bad. Snowfall and temperature records were smashed daily. More than five and a half feet (170 cm) of snow had put a damper on New Year celebrations.
The Advance described the “recovery” process from “the worst December weather the Fraser Valley had ever experienced”: all traffic to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h), and trucks were allowed to carry half-loads of only essential goods.
I am saddened by news coming out of Europe – nearly two dozen weather-related deaths already this year – but thankfully, there’s no news growing in my own little patch of dirt… so far.