Sunday, June 07, 2009

Minnesota's erratic weather

Reflections on Duluth temperatures being in the 40s today

A long-standing joke about Minnesota weather is: "What do Minnesotans do in the summer? If it comes on the Fourth of July, they go on a picnic."

In the Twin Cities, I remember it being in the high nineties on Memorial Day and being cold and rainy for picnics in August. Almost three years ago to the day, I remember going out on our back porch in Duluth when it was 99 degrees. My arms immediately turned red and started oozing.

A week ago many people were outside in T-shirts. Today some people are wearing medium weight jackets.

It's so disappointingly cold that I have come up with a new greeting: "What did you do this summer?"