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Page A-4 - She/ton-Mason County Journal - Thursday, Feb 14, 2019
":~ ~i:i
THESE TIMES
1"5
The weather's been unseason-
ably hot recently in Sara-
sota, Florida.
Sarasota, which sits on the
edge of the western shore
of Florida, 60 miles south
of Tampa and almost 300
miles straight north of Ha-
vana, Cuba, recorded the
highest temperature in the
nation Sunday. It was 85
degrees.
Don't feel sorry for
Sarasotans because a cool
breeze was blowing in from By KIRK
ERICSON
the gulf to take the edge
off. And for those whom
the ocean breeze couldn't Swaddle
in its cooling caress, homes and
businesses had air conditioners
runmng.
The Gulf of Mexico around
Sarasota is colored turquoise, so
the palm trees were' swaying in
the subtropical breeze while those
magically blue waters shzmmered
in the background. Peopie.wer6:
walking on the beach in shorts and
flip flops, sunglasses fixed to fend
off the Florida sun.
Maybe they were looking for
sharks' teeth and seashells, which
can be found on many of the
beaches near Sarasota. Maybe
they were walking on a type of
beach locals call "sugar sand,"
which is a fme, white sand with
the consistency of sugar.
On Monday, I talked to Stephen
Shiveley, a meteorologist with the
Tampa Bay office of the National
Weather Service, to find out how
residents of the hottest city in the
U.S. were bearing their heat wave.
Stephen was in Ruskin, 10 miles
north of Sarasota, and at 4 p.m. on
Monday, the temperature was 83
degrees, 10degrees warmer than a
normal Sarasota day in February.
I asked Stephen what he did in
last weekend's heat.
"My wife and I went off on the
weekend for a walk in Tampa
you can just walk along the ocean
and there's a lot of other people
out there and you just enjoy it.
Nice breeze, woke up in the 60s,
really comfortable weather."
That sounds nice, but did other
people complain about it being too
hot yesterday?
"Not really Most people move
down here for exactly this weath-
er," Stephen said. '~e have a lot
of snow birds - people who come
down here for the winter months
to get away from the cold - but
people like me, I've grown up and
lived in Florida most of my life so
I'm used to it, but I do kind of like
cold snaps every once in a while."
What's a cold snap in
Florida?
'~ou're talking lows in
the mid-30s and highs only
reaching the 50s in the af-
ternoon," Stephen said.
Again, that sounds nice.
"People love it here,"
Stephen said '~ou can
tell tourists from up north
from locals because locals
walk around the beach in
winter, but tourists are
the ones in the ocean. Floridians
think the winter ocean is too cold
for them mid-60s is too cold."
But coming up for the good folks
of Sarasota is summer, which ap-
parently is no walk on the beach.
"I don't like Florida in the mid-
summer," Stephen said. "The cold-
est we get is 78 to 79 degrees and
i:t~s nlug~.: Im~ginewaki'ng up and
walking outside at 4 a.m. and you're
sweating because it's so hot. Then it's
90 in the afternoon and the ocean's
like 84 degrees so you can't jump in
and cool off. It's just bath water
"From May to mid-October, I
call it copy and paste weather:
Pop-up showers and storms every
afternoon, lows in the low to upper
70s and highs in the low 90s. It's a
wet heat - the heat index makes it
feel over 1007"
"Good," I told Stephen "I'll
think about how miserable you are
th~s summer "
I told Stephen about the inter-
esting weather Western Washing-
ton has been having, and how our
house went 48 hours without elec-
tricity, dropping the temperature
to 40 degrees indoors. Many roads
are impassable, and many schools
and businesses are closed Coffee
was hard to come by.
Stephen went-the other direc-
tion. "Imagine having a hurricane
come through and losing electricity
for a week and having the temper-
ature in your home be a constant
90 degrees. And it's humid.'~
OK. I'll take Washington's
worst and best weather over Flor-
ida's worst and best weather But
right now, it is calming to dream
of a sunny walk on the beach, the
Gulf of Mexico shining in the back-
ground:
Contact Kirk Ericson at kirk@
masoncounty.com
There's not much you can do when
Mother Nature dumps more than
a foot of snow on the ground.
That thought probably crossed
your mind at some point during the
past week, as snow closed businesses.
schools and government offices,
leaving the entire county under a
thick, white blanket.
As Mason County residents
continue to dig out after the big
snowstorm that began last week, we
are reflecting on what we've learned.
This storm left us feeling helpless,
but it provided us with something
we don't often get -- time to unplug
and take a moment to appreciate the
awesome power of nature. We spend
so much time on our phones or in our
daily routine that it's easy to forget
that we're one snow flurry away from
losing control of our schedule. So why
not enjoy it if you can?
We know that not everybody is
able to stay at home and take a snow
day, but if you were told to stay
home, we hope you got to spend some
non-stressful time outside with your
family in the beautiful white powder
Even if it hasn't been easy on parents,
we've seen the joy in children's eyes
as they build snowmen in their yards.
We've seen morns and dads scream
responsibly as they sled down hills
and ambush their children in snowball
fights.
We also learned that we appreciate
the men and women who work
tirelessly to keep our roadways clear.
We've heard stories about teenagers
helping clear driveways for their
elderly neighbors and we've seen the
private and public plows making the
rounds to clear our roads as best they
can. It's a tireless and often thankless
job, but we know they're doing their
best get us to and from work.
We've seen many strangers helping
one another free their cars from the
side of the road or pull each other out
of ditches. We've seen many business
owners shovel their entryways and
sidewalks -- a task most residents
aren't aware they're supposed to do in
order to keep pedestrians safe.
Nearly a week after snow first fell
on Mason County, the white stuff on
backroads' and driveways still makes
driving tricky. We're reminded to
drive more slowly and give plenty of
space as we make our ways down the
county's many hilly roads Allowing
an extra 10 minutes for your commute
could save you hours, if not thousands
of dollars in car repairs.
No matter how difficult this week
has been for you, we hope that you're
able to take some positive lessons into
the next snow storm.
Large natural disasters bring out
the best in humanity, so we're glad to
see that Mason County residents are
looking out for one another.
THANK ME FOR
NOT HAVING YOU
VACCINATED. WHO
KNOWS WHAT
DREADFUL THING
YOU'D GET.
C SHELTON-MASON COUNTY
USPS 492-800
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to She/ton-Mason
County Journal. RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584.
Published weekly oy the She/ton-Mason County Journal
at 227 W. Cota St Shelton, Washington.
Mailing address: RO. Box 430, Shelton, WA 98584
Telephone: 360-426-4412
Website: www.masoncounty.com
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Owned an(~ oub[ished by
Shelton-Mason County Journal. nc,
Publisher: Tom Mullen
Newsroom:
Adam Rudnick, editor in chief
Gordon Weeks. reporter
Michael Heinbach. reporter
Dana Kampa, reporter
Justin Johnson, sports reporter
Advertising:
John Lester, general manager
Theresa Murray, ad representative
Front office:
Donna Kinnaird, bookkeeper
Dave Pierik, circulation and
classifieds manager
Karen Hranac. customer service
representative
Composing room:
William Adams, technology and
design manager
Linda Frizzell, graphics
Delivery:
Jon Garza
Angela Lynch
All regular editorial, advertising
and legal deadlines are 5 p.m. the
Monday prior to publication.
To submit a letter to the editor,
email adam@masoncounty.com.
4-