legitimately something to talk about.

It hailed this morning in Oklahoma City.  I was just sitting at the dentist thinking, Again?

Weather is a very, very common subject in the south. I think it’s an expression of friendliness, really, used by all ages. Not so much in the north; pretty much just the older folks.

How many times have we all heard the line: “Y’know how _________ is. If you don’t like the weather now, just wait a minute and it will change.” Really? I don’t think this is true for most states I’ve heard it in. I do have experience in a few recently, including Arkansas, Tennessee, and Illinois, all of which are really quite predictable.  Arkansas is hot, sunny, and humid for the majority of the year, with a brief cool season, and some rain steadily mixed throughout. Maybe a few tornadoes. Little else.

I would argue, though, that Oklahoma weather is legitimately something to talk about.  We moved here last September, and have had so many surprises. There have been two ice and snow storms, including one over Christmas with over 14 inches of snow.  We’ve had three significant days of flooding, where I haven’t gone to work because we can’t make it through the streets. There have been four hail storms since about February, and I’m fairly confident the hail repair folks should just move here rather than traveling around.  Cars are dented everywhere.  We also had an earthquake last week–yes, 4.7…somethings. (What is the unit for measuring earthquakes? Science is most definitely not my specialty.)  Really?

And Stephen & I just realized that when he was at the dentist last week, the earthquake occurred, and then it hailed today while I was there.  A little scared for him to go back Monday.