ON MONDAY, Northwest Arkansas got its first snow of the season. Temperatures dropped, rain moved in, sleet formed and the Ozarks were granted a quick glance at the powdery white stuff that’s typically only seen a few times each season.
The problem? It’s only November.
Now this wasn’t any blizzard moving through, and the snow was gone in a couple of hours without any major power outages or road closures, but the early snow made us realize we’re just not ready for winter weather yet.
We’re smack dab in the middle of fall. Arkansans are supposed to be enjoying the winding down of high school football, the approach of Thanksgiving, the changing of the leaves, apple cider and all the other great things about this season that seems to be shortening more every year.
It’s not fair to fall that we rush straight from Labor Day to Christmas, with just a brief glance at Halloween and Thanksgiving. There will be plenty of time for the fat man in red, carols, stockings, eggnog and whatnot once December gets underway. And snow can feel free to visit then, so we can have a traditional white Christmas (something most Arkansans haven’t seen in years).
Getting snow in the middle of November is just one more ounce of justification to people who have their Christmas trees up the day after Halloween. Let’s get those temperatures back where they should be, nice days and cool nights. We don’t need anything to drop below freezing until we’re running low on turkey leftovers.
Now, Gentle Reader, you may think we’re over-reacting to a brief dusting of white, but you have to look at the larger picture. Snow belongs in winter, which doesn’t officially begin until Dec. 21. To have it grace us with its presence a month and a half prior is just rude and overstepping its bounds as a season.
Surely plenty of Arkies up in the northwest corner saw the snow as some kind of approval from Mother Nature to go ahead and pop in their King Cole Trio CD of “The Christmas Song” and begin humming about chestnuts roasting on an open fire, but back the train up.
We’re nothing if not punctual about our holidays here in the editorial department. There’s an order to celebrate things, and by golly that order will not be upset for some eager Christmas warriors ready to give their holiday season an expansion.
First we put on costumes and take the kids trick-or-treating. Then we gather around the table to stuff our bellies full of turkey and remember to be thankful for our blessings. Finally, once the mayhem of Black Friday subsides and we heal up from all the in-store rioting over low-priced electronic goods, we can start talking about putting up lights and seeing Santa at the mall.
So, Mother Nature, if you are a subscriber to Arkansas’ paper, do us a favor and put your ice sprinkles back in the freezer for another 40 days or so. Thank ya kindly!