When I lived in North Dakota we were unapologetic about the fact that we talked about the weather nearly every day. Like everyplace else that I lived, the weather was never normal. We lived in North Dakota for seven year and the locals, who have lived there for generations, would assure me, no matter what the weather, that “it usually isn’t like this.” If we’d get a run of below zero days, they’d say, “most years it doesn’t get this cold.” Then they’d add “but I remember when . . .” and launch into a tale of a time when it was much colder for much longer. Once, when I was shoveling out from a spring blizzard, my neighbor commended me for shoveling all of the snow from the driveway to the east and all of the snow from the walks to the south saying, “We never get wind from that direction in the winter.” That night the winds started howling and I awoke to my driveway and sidewalks completely covered in snow again in the face of a strong wind from the southeast. In the summer it was, “It usually doesn’t get this hot,” or “We usually have rain by now.”

There is something about the weather that makes it seem like what is happening to us must be a bit out of the ordinary. This winter in Rapid City is starting to feel like it is a little short on precipitation. January and February aren’t our wettest months around here - average is less than an inch of precipitation for the two months combined. But we haven’t had much - maybe a third of an inch in a few skiffs of snow and a couple of inches of the dry stuff, which doesn’t translate to much moisture in the ground. April and May are our wettest months, with July through September often seeing amounts in excess of an inch each month. Our average is only about 17 inches a year, so it isn’t like those cities on the coast of Australia that saw 11 inches in a single storm.

Meanwhile, the east coast, especially the northeast, lies buried in snow with more in the forecast. Now that our grocery stories have tomatoes, citrus, apples, fresh lettuce, and bananas year round, it wouldn’t surprise me to have someone in New York or Boston get the big idea of exporting snow. Semi loads of the stuff might start arriving any day now. OK, I know a semi-load of snow isn’t much. And it is likely that the stuff would command a higher price in Dubai than around here. We’re known for being a bit on the tightfisted side when it comes to spending money.

And at the same time, out on the west coast it is even dryer. In Oregon, Mount Hood Meadows is experiencing a year of much lighter than average snow. They’re hoping for more at the end of the week, but day after day of sunny weather hasn’t done much to keep the skiers happy. Groomed snow every day is more like springtime than winter conditions. The Pacific Northwest has had a an unusually dry winter, sending most of their precipitation to other parts of the globe this winter.

The Colorado ski reports are reporting excellent conditions, with a good snowstorm yesterday. Steamboat is reporting 10 inches and Vail about 6 with more falling. Of course you need to be there to enjoy the skiing. About 180 flights were cancelled at the Denver airport yesterday and despite a fleet of over 600 snow plows, the Colorado Department of Transportation couldn’t keep up, closing Interstate 25 north of Denver. They were running periodic holds in Interstate 70 up into the front range so cars wouldn’t get stuck heading up to the tunnels. That is, I think, normal for Colorado at this time of the year, though. It is just that we were in Denver two weeks ago and enjoyed highs in the 60’s and dry roads for our entire drive home.

It isn’t this month that is worrisome for us. We keep looking forward to the summer around here. If we don’t get our winter and spring moisture the woods can get really dry and with all of the bug killed standing timber in the forest, we’re primed for a fire season. It could be a long summer. Along with the possibility of a dry and hot summer, locals around here are trying to get our minds wrapped around predictions of a million guests coming to the hills during the first week of August for the 75th Anniversary Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. That puts us at about ten motorcycles for every car and the promise of ten days of heavy traffic for people who get cranky when they have to wait for a couple of minutes at a traffic light doesn’t make the imagination soar to heights of joy.

These days I try to say something sensible when the conversation moves to the topic of weather, but the truth is that I know very little about the weather. The book of common prayer, in the extended pastoral prayer, has a line about praying for good weather and good crops. When we lived in rural North Dakota it seemed like I tried to always put a line about rain into a prayer, because we were always praying for rain. Eleven inches a year has to be well timed for there to be any profit in dryland wheat or sunflowers. My congregation these days is less agriculture-dependent. We probably are more dependent upon the summer tourists, including those who ride motorcycles, than we are on the success or failure of crops. The problem is that they have a pastor that knows far more about herding sheep than advertising for tourist trade.

I watch the weather. I make a few comments. And I know in my heart of hearts that I can do little to change it. My prayers about weather are more for the strength and grace to endure what comes than for some divine intervention to change it. One thing for sure, you don’t want me in charge of the weather. I might make a mistake and in trying to get a bit more snow for Oregon skiers, end up leaving South Carolina a desert. Trust me, even though the weather is a bit strange, it would be worse if you put a fool like me in charge.

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