Mother Nature is such a tease.
First she gave us that awful Saturday, with snow arriving before noon and making afternoon driving an adventure.
But then she offered something of an olive branch with a delightful Sunday afternoon, with almost a hint of spring in the air as a brilliant sun melted a lot of that snow.
A couple of things put a smile on my face on Sunday. First, I actually heard some birds chirping. Second, I did something I have not in months. I actually cracked the window in the car. That's how nice it was.
Then yesterday I saw an update from our weather partner. The folks at AccuWeather declared that relief from this cold weather might be on the way, that temperatures could in fact ease up in March.
The problem, as I discovered this morning, is that March - and the possibility of it coming in like a lamb - does not arrive until Sunday.
This morning I was jarred when I walked out the door at just how cold it was. I had to take a second glace at the odometer when the thermometer told me it was 1 degree out. After I got out onto the road, it actually once again hit the 0 degree mark, before rallying to 3 degrees as I got closer to the office.
Want an idea at just how cold February has been? PECO yesterday checked in with some heating numbers for the past couple of weeks. They aren't pretty.
PECO says the bitter cold caused a record-breaking demand for natural gas by their heating customers. On Feb. 15
customer demand for natural gas totaled 777,456 cubic feet and on Feb.19, natural gas demand totaled 766,365 cubic feet, surpassing the previous all-time winter daily total of 759,660 Mcf set during the Polar Vortex on Jan. 7, 2014.
It got me to thinking about last winter, and just how miserable it was.
This winter has actually been colder, but I'll take the cold over all that snow. Still, I'm ready for spring.
And I continue to dread one thing, and PECO is right in the middle of it.
Any day now I am going to get my electric bill for the last month. I live in an all-electric house that is heated with an electric heat pump. They're great, except for when it gets really cold. That's when they switch over to "emergency" heat, and the cost goes through the roof.
Speaking of heating records, I figure I am in store for a shocker from Reddy Killowatt.
I can only hope that AccuWeather is right, and that relief is around the corner. But first we have to get through this week, which will continue to feature near-record lows almost every morning.
Here's the latest forecast.
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