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Newspaper Archive of
Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
February 14, 2019     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 14, 2019
 
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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 Periodicals postage paid in Shelton, Washington. The Shelton-Mason County Jour- nal is a member of the Wash- ington Newspaper Publishers Association. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $52 per year ($43 for six months) for Mason County addresses and $75 per year ($55 for six months) outside of Mason County. 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-