November 16, 2012 (Friday)
Thanksgiving is less than a week away. Freezes at Thanksgiving are not the norm for this area, but I think I remember a Thanksgiving here when people left town for the holidays and returned to discover their homes in ruins because of broken water pipes. I may be wrong; it could have been Christmas. The weather got down to freezing in their absence and they did not know it. When they returned home, they found a personal disaster. So, in spite of global warming, if you will be leaving town for the holidays, you might want to take that possibility into account. The cold weather that year arrived as a surprise to the weather bureau, if I recall accurately. I just can’t remember the exact year. November temperatures since 1959 are viewed here.
Here in Rockport, we have had freezes that kill many fish. On average these freezes have come about every fifteen years, but we have seen that history change. The last big fish kill freeze was at Christmas, 1989, 23 years ago. Looking back for the lowest recorded temperature in Rockport, we find it in December 1983 when it got down to twelve degrees, 29 years ago.
If we go out of town for any of the winter holidays, it’s a pretty good idea to make sure that we have considered the possibility of changing weather in our absence. Many experts tell us that one of the paradoxes of global warming is cold extremes. Whether we believe in global warming or not, we can’t take the weather for granted. That’s why it’s nearly always a topic of conversation.