But is it a Nor'easter?

Folks this week have been all aflutter with news of a major storm that finally hit Rutland early this morning, though it's nearly done as I type this. The buzz word here in Vermont has been, of course, Nor'easter, a word that didn't enter my vocabulary until I read Carry On, Mr. Bowditch a few years back. But seeing as how simple Vermont folk are, like myself, hopeless landlubbers, I really don't know if they're using the term correctly. So what is this? A big winter storm or an actual nor'easter?

Using a Google News search doesn't clear things up. Like my Vermont friends, the local press and wire services seem to love a buzz word like nor'easter, whether they actually know how to define one or not. Lots of press articles about the "nor'easter," but little mention of what makes a nor'easter or why this storm should be called one. Yes, it's quite the storm. But it's the same storm that hit the Plains and Midwest earlier this week. But we wouldn't call a foot of snow over Kansas a nor'easter now, would we?

So is a nor'easter just a hella big storm that hits the Northeast US? Well, no. Big storms happen a few times a year, but not every one gets labeled a nor'easter. If we can trust Wikipedia, and I for one, really think we can within reason, then a nor'easter "describes a low pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the East Coast and whose leading winds in the left forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast." Aha! We've found it! Of course!

But wait a tic, I didn't understand that either. Let's try again. A nor'easter is a low pressure area, kind of like a hurricane or other large storm system. But unlike a hurricane, nor'easters feed off cold air. From Wikipedia again: "Nor'easters thrive on the converging air masses; that is, the polar cold air mass and the warmer ocean water of the Gulf Stream."

So for a storm to be a nor'easter, it has to be a two-parter. Part one is cold polar air, which is what a low front or storm system picks up when it breezes through Vermont. The storms that just blew through the Midwest are doing just that, bringing in loads of cold, Arctic air as they pass from West to East. Part two, however, is warm ocean water from the south, specifically the Gulf Stream. So do we have that?

I have no effin' idea.

According to the Weather Channel, I don't think so. For two reasons. One, the weather maps don't show a mass of warm air coming up from the south. Now, there's got to be some warm air off the North Atlantic Coast because of the Gulf Stream. But according to the radar (and of course, I could be terribly wrong), there isn't anything out of the ordinary. But the second reason is probably the best reason: there's no mention of a nor'easter on the Weather Channel's website. Not that these guys are the final word on weather, but if they ain't, then who is?

So if this isn't a nor'easter, why do people keep calling it one? Lundlubbing ignorance, I guess. I bet merchant marines and coastal fishermen up and down New England just hate it when the White Plains Journal (just to pick on one of many) calls every big snow storm a nor'easter. Typical, they mutter.

What's ironic is, there may be an actual nor'easter in our sights within the next few days. The remains of Tropical Storm Olga are menacing parts of Florida as we speak. Should that mass of warm, ocean air find its way up the Coast, we could very likely have that Part Two we were looking for earlier. Who knows, maybe that's what all the rumors this week were about. Maybe we all just got confused and jumped the gun by 48 hours. Cold arctic air? Check. Warm Gulf mass? We'll see.

my year in review: onward and upward

It's getting late. Quietly, quietly late. We had our first real snowfall in the valley just the day before yesterday. A few inches in the morning, another inch after noon, and pretty soon we are all covered, all blanketed, now waiting for the warmth of spring, now waiting contently, content to enjoy old mother winter for as long she takes. She ain't snowbird.

This year has taken us to new places (again). This year has brought alot of new faces (again). This year just might have been the best year ever, hard as it was at times, because we are alive and enjoying every second of it. Every damn second of it.

We're waiting for things to happen these days. All sorts of things. Not grasping for newness just for the hell of it every chance we get, but sitting back on our haunches and letting newness happen in its season, in its own time, flowering by night. The early bird gets the worm, yes. But the patient bird looks to the west, and after the storm rolls through, she feasts.

Dark as things seem sometimes, there is a feast ahead. And all creation groins for that day.

I've been reading bits of Isaiah lately, partly because it's poetry, but mostly because it's good poetry:

Man is humbled, and each one brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. Then shall the lambs graze as in pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.

We're making things happen these days. All sorts of things. Piece by piece we're building bridges and laying down roads, plowing fields and sowing seeds. It's tough work, to be sure. And sometimes, hardly rewarding. But pressing on is all we know to do. Pressing on and resting in the shadow of his wings. Press and rest. Press and rest. Festival, sabbath, press and rest. One day we will graze as lambs in pasture. But for now we press. One day we shall feast among the ruins of the rich. But for now we press.

It's tough business this pressing. But that's what his wings are for. That's what his temple is for. That's what you my brother, and you my sister, are for. This pressing is tough business, but we press for a goal.

Not that I have already obtained this or have become perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Straining forward to what lies ahead, pressing on toward the goal of the upward call, holding true to what we have attained.

Learning to remember. Remembering to be content.