It seems a little silly to be pontificating about the weather in a region that is nationally known for being absurdly inconsistent when it comes to the moods of Mother Nature.

However, given these past couple of weeks, we find it a little difficult not to at least point out the things that everybody has been talking about and experiencing, and wondering whether this even crazier pattern of weather is simply becoming our new normal.

Did you shovel a bunch of snow last week only for it to evaporate within a day because of a torrential downpour that occurred after the temperature climbed back up into the 50s?

Did you wake up to a light, fluffy snow on Tuesday morning and think, “Oh, that can wait,” only to be smacked by freezing rain a couple hours later that turned the previously easy task into whole upper body exercise? Have you gotten sick and tired of needing to run back upstairs to the closet to grab a sweater when you go to walk the dog and realize the summery weather of yesterday gave way to a near-sub-zero windchill just a short evening later?

While weather has never been particularly predictable in New England, at least we could once rely on the seasons to provide us some guidance on what to expect. September brought out the light sweaters, November brought out the winter coats, December and January put the shovels purchased over the summer to good use. Then, mercifully, March and April meant putting those heavy coats back into storage until the cycle started all over.

But 2024 seems to be off to a rather bipolar start; with no one day really seeming to make much sense in terms of what will happen tomorrow. Days of golden sunshine and t-shirts blend seamlessly into whiteout conditions where you’re teeth are chattering while scraping ice off the car windshield.

While no anecdotal experience is equitable to the vast complexity of climate science, we do have to start to ponder how anyone could believe that something is not amiss with our planet when things seem to be so utterly out of whack with the norms we all grew up learning to understand and accept.

If we’ve learned anything so far, it’s to make sure that you keep your hallway closet stocked with the essentials to survive any weather in New England for the time being; a raincoat and umbrella, a shovel, an ice scraper, and of course, your sunblock. You never know which one you’ll need.