Regardless of one’s residential latitude in continental USA, February’s weather has been snaggle toothed. It bites.  Atmospheric rivers have pummeled the California coast with heavy rain, thunderstorms, and flooding. Southern coastal New England celebrated a couple of hefty snowstorms, and snowbirds in the south are complaining that their Crocs are cold and wet. Since hibernation is not an option during wintertide, I savor the simple pleasure of apricity, the warmth of the sun in winter.

I pray for apricity on drawn-out, dank days when the sun is cloistered behind a wimple of cloud cover. The only way I’ve been able to adapt to the New England thermocline is to adopt practical fashion habits favored by women currently signing up for their half-century high school reunions and 20^th century nuns. Our couture favors cloaking our bodies with layers of cotton, wool, and fleece rather than thin, high-tech fabrics that wick sweat. Women in the habit of winter-layering know that the only time they will sweat is around 3 o’clock in the morning even though the thermostat is set at a degree far beneath the year they graduated.

This year’s Farmers’ Almanac predicts we are journeying into a Polar Coastal Spring with many days of chilly temperatures and nasty weather. The Equinox appears to be unstable and thus incapable of breaking winter’s clench. The agrarians of Nostradamus prophesize a cold and stormy season where weather patterns will range from cool, wet, and thundery in the northeast to balmy and stormy in the south. Regional predictions eerily reflect political trends. Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana will be cool and unsettled, while Texas and its neighbors are predictably warm and thundery. California, not surprisingly, anticipates scattered showers while the northwest can look forward to grungy days of cool, cloudy, and showery weather befitting endless cups of overpriced coffee.

Ride the Spring Polar Coaster ahead of the wind facing the sun. Shed winter habits as you approach the growing heat of Solstice. Enjoy the trip by savoring apricity. Be mindful of the forecast by being a pragmatic optimist and apply a dollop of sunscreen daily.