Eclipse Day: No Totality Here - But at my Birthplace

 

oday is the day of the total eclipse, Today is the day of the total eclipse, the last one for several years, apparently (in the US.)

We won’t see any of it here in St. George since its southern-most entry in the US is just south-east of San Antonio, Texas, and the path heads north-east from there. Looking at the radar, it looks like a lot of eclipse chasers are going to be disappointed — there’s lots of cloud cover along the path through the south and midwest.

However, the town I was born in — Watertown, NY — is directly on the path! And, it looks like it will be clear!

So, if I were still a resident of Watertown, I wouldn’t have to do much except park a chair out in the back yard, put on eclipse-viewing glasses, and enjoy the show.

Not a chance of my re-residing in Watertown — not in this universe. I left (more accurately — my Mom left) Watertown when I was five or six. I still have recollections of the winters there, with six foot snowfalls pretty much the regular occurrence (at least that’s the way it seemed.) Mom would bundle us up in our space-suit-like snow gear, with the instructions to, “Go out and play!”

I went out. I made an effort, but I hated it. I hated my fingers, toes and nose freezing — hated it all.

Today, I don’t think I could survive a Watertown winter. I’ve noticed as I get older my comfort temperature tolerance band gets narrower and narrower — 50˚F or lower and I’m not happy, especially if the wind is blowing. 95˚F or higher and I’m looking for air-conditioning.

Watertown winters are legendary — the phenomenon known as ‘lake effect’ happens when the wind sweeps over Lake Erie, picks up a couple of inches of moisture off the surface, and then dumps it on the nearest available community — which happens to be Watertown. Cars disappear under the newly deposited snow, sidewaks and driveways are obliterated, residents routinely have to dig their way out the front door with snow shovels, and temperatures regularly get below zero F.

My constitution can’t take it: I’m convinced that, if given the opportunity, winter will kill me.

Even St. George — which rarely gets below twenty degrees F — is too cold in the winter for my comfort. I used to do the sunbird thing and head south in the winter in my RV to southern Arizona or maybe Florida for the winters, but that hasn’t been in the economics for the last couple of years.

I’m hopefully going to resume that migration in the not-too-distant future.

For this year’s eclipse — happening in the early spring — the weather in Watertown doesn’t look too bad, actually: sunny and 58˚F.

But, it isn’t worth weathering the winter for the convenience.

Ever.