Song of March
By Patricia L. Cisco
“…With longer days and shorter nights,
the wayward winds of March take flight.
Four winds she holds within her grip,
then hurls them from her fingertip…”
MARCH IS THE TUMULTUOUS MONTH that represents progression from winter to spring. The earth not only rotates around its axis (an imaginary line from north pole to south pole), but there is a tilt of about 23 degrees to its axis. It takes a year for the earth to travel around the sun and the tilt causes the north pole to point more toward the sun in summer and away in winter. The sun’s light intensity does not change, just the positions of the earth. To illustrate this, take a flashlight (the sun) and point the light beam straight at a sheet of paper (the earth). Then tilt the paper and see how the light on the paper spreads out and is less intense (winter).
During March, the earth heats up enough from the more direct light to cause fluctuations in our weather with high-pressure and low-pressure areas causing winds. My house is solidly built and sits on a hill. The trees are bare, and high winds come straight through to slam the house and shake the windows. Some nights this month the locomotive roar of the wind has made me wake and sit straight up in bed. Wow! The poor cat dove under the covers.
When the power company emails a high wind warning they are far too accurate. We had several power outages as predicted. During the day, the trees whipped and bent and some snapped or fell along the field. The yard was saved with only many scattered small branches and debris. Several small stones were thrown up on the porch which thankfully fell short of a window. The winds seemed more virulent this year than some. Today, the first day of spring, is sunny with less wind and the porch was a pleasant place to be. The coming week’s weather is predicted to be warmer and climbing into the 60 degrees. I want this to continue. Based on past experiences I am not going to be complacent.
Fickle March has 31 days and there is still room for it to go out like a lion and may blow us into April! Let’s cautiously look forward to calm and happy weather and lots of flowers! I can’t wait!
