Jay Cronley: Oklahoma weather takes us from freezer to frying pan
BY JAY CRONLEY World Staff Columnist
Friday, August 03, 2012
8/03/12 at 3:42 AM
Here, the first new full season of the year is global blowing: tornado season.
Unstable air inside and outside the television studios are causes for many nervous moments.
The climate has expanded tornado alley to include the upper plains, the Midwest, and the southeast.
Next comes global blistering: the summer, which has zapped this once bubbly area into Beige Country.
After that is global shortening season: fall, which seems to last two fewer days each year.
And finally there's global icing, when we're called upon to drive in something like a gravity-free environment.
Extreme weather - temperatures ranging from 113 degrees above zero to 5 or 10 below - has provoked a debate about which is worse, summer or winter?
Here is an analysis of four major lifestyle categories that could prove when we should be happier.
Degrees of difficulty: Physicality: During the worst of the winter weather, you can't get the front door open. You can't get to the gym. Dogs are lucky to get walked to a curb and back.
As temperatures approach record highs, at least you can get up at five in the morning when it's all the way down to 88 degrees and move around for half an hour.
Bad winter is the worst when it comes to exercise.
Driving: Put some of the worst drivers in the country on slick streets?
Regarding transportation, bad winter is the worst.
Expense: Having experienced the ice storm of the century here, there's less around to replace.
Crazy heat kills more greenery and pipes than does a blizzard.
The bill collector cometh: And there are two potentially frightening utility bills to concern yourself with in the summer - electric and water.
Summer is the worst for expense.
Psychology: Extreme cold usually lasts a couple of weeks. It seems like it can be 100 degrees here from mid-June through mid-September.
Which is more likely, a mild winter, or a cool and refreshing summer?
Summer is far and away the most depressing.
So what's the tie-breaker concerning the worst of the seasons? Which of the bad weather streaks is the easiest to escape?
To lose the summer, you wind up in Montana.
The worst of winter puts you on a beach.
Winter wins - crazy heat is the worst of it all.
Original Print Headline: Oklahoma: From the freezer to frying pan
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