You wake up.
It’s snowing.
You’re walking home from the PATH or bus stop.
It’s snowing.
You can’t get a cab on a Saturday night.
You guessed it: it’s snowing.
And when it isn’t snowing, it’s colder than a Sammi/J Woww stare down.
Facebook is an outstanding tool when trying to determine the pulse of Hoboken. After looking over some 100 wall posts in the past 24 hours alone, it appears the weather is numero uno on everyone’s fingertips. Not surprising, considering this week alone it will have snowed five of seven days with another 15 inches or so to pack on to the white stuff that hasn’t melted yet from the after-Christmas-day blizzard of one month ago.
A majority of folks are complaining (to whom exactly is unclear), but a growing number are now laughing the flakes and frost off…excepting it, expecting it, like we’re all attending some graduate program at Syracuse or Boise State.
Snow used to be a relative anomaly: It seemed like back in the old days (2001-2006), we’d get one big storm in January, another medium-sized one in February, and some freakish nor’easter in March that would melt six minutes later. In between, highs would be in the 30s or even low 40s, with lows in the 20s. It wasn’t exactly South Beach, but it didn’t really alter life much, either.
Fast forward to 2011. We’ve already been dumped with more than 50 inches of snow. The record? 76 inches back in 1995-1996. Here’s the problem: We’re only a little over one month into the winter season despite the feeling this has been going on since Halloween.
The best part?
THERE’S STILL ALMOST TWO MONTHS LEFT OF THIS NONSENSE. We’re running out of places to put this stuff. Sidewalks are now almost all one-way venues. Dogs can’t even enjoy it thanks to all the salt on the pavement getting in their paws.
But again, what phone number does one call to whine about it? Like the Jets trying to run a two-minute offense inside the 5 against the Steelers, it’s a confusing, maddening, futile experience. Nothing can be done, so we’re stuck looking for flights to Florida and counting down the days to Memorial Day weekend (depending on when you read this, it’s about 115 days).
The winter of 2011 is 35 percent complete…
Will you survive the other 65?
Joe Concha is a columnist based in Hoboken. Email questions or comments to joeconcha@yahoo.com.
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