There are few things that occupy the minds and conversations of Saskatchewanians like the weather.
It's nearly always the first thing we remark on after, "How are you today?" when we begin a conversation. Actually, sometimes, it can even be included in that first exchange, when the answer to "How are you today?" is "Cold!"
So it's little wonder that we listen to the predictions of the weather people with rapt attention, especially during our long, cold winters. We don't set things in stone, because everything in our lives can be uprooted by a sudden storm. I've known those planning to head out on hot holidays to travel into the city days in advance, to ensure that a last-minute storm didn't keep them from the airport, and therefore escaping the cold.
In the months leading up to winter, however, we also pay attention to the predictions of forecasters of all shapes and sizes - those who look at the weather for a living, and those who have other ways of telling what the winter will be like. These are the people that look at pig spleens, count the number of berries on the Mountain Ash tree, watch how much the animals are eating, see how many nuts the squirrels are storing away, or crack open a persimmon fruit to see what shape the seeds are in (that one I'd never heard of before an Internet search on the topic).
There are also the folksy rhyming predictions: "Ice in November to bear a duck, the rest of the winter'll be slush and muck" is one of those I found on my search.
I've heard two predictions for the coming winter, both from my parents: one believes that, due to signs noted on the farm, the winter will be very cold, with lots of snow. The other believes the winter will be very cold, with not too much snow.
They agree that this winter will be very cold.
Of course, winter in Saskatchewan is very cold every year - it doesn't take looking at a pig spleen to predict that. But the snow debate seems to be a heated one. We'll see who's right at the end of the season.
As for the more high-tech weather predictors, they are saying this winter will be unpredictable, which doesn't seem really that different from any other year either.
However, a story on the CBC.ca website stated that "A senior climatologist with Environment Canada says the country should expect a cold winter, but warns that forecasting is getting more and more difficult....
"There's a new norm: Expect the unexpected."
But we already do that. We expect that, right up until the day of some appointment or meeting out of town, we won't know if we'll be able to make it. So we make contingency plans. And even then, we've all had to drive through sudden storms that hit when we're on the highway. We have all been storm-stayed somewhere, or wished that we had stayed put after heading out, thinking it only looked bad where we were.
Unpredictable, thy definition is a Saskatchewan winter.
And yet, at the same time, winter here is extremely predictable.
It's Saskatchewan. It's winter. It's cold, and it's snowy, and it's difficult to get places without sometimes risking life and limb. Block heaters, car heaters and space heaters become our best friends, along with sweaters, mitts, toques and huge winter coats.
We know what winter is going to be like, even if we don't know exactly what to expect every day.
We know. Period.
