In the “olden days” when senior gentlemen gathered around the pot-bellied stove in the local general store to discuss the miserably cold weather outside, they blamed the dipping mercury in the thermometer to an Arctic blast or to winds escaping from Siberia.
Nary one of those men who had decades of experience in winter on the Prairies blamed something called “the Polar Vortex.” If something like that had been mentioned, surely the speaker would have been accused of staying outside in the snow and wind so long that his brain must have frozen — said goodnaturedly, of course.
But that term has become accepted terminology in modern winter weather reports, having gained traction in the winter of 2013-14. Televised weather reports of a “Polar Vortex” are usually accompanied by maps showing in different colours, the path of the cold weather.
As a man at the grocery store said the other day, “it is nice to have something to blame besides the Russians and Siberia for this rotten weather.”
And indeed, it has been unbearably cold but with that cold came an abundance of good will and neighbourly gestures that served to warm the hearts of old and young alike.
Social media pages had many kind souls offering to drop around to provide battery boosts or to tinker with a furnace that needed some tending. Others offered their services to shovel snow, provide rides to appointments, to pick up and deliver groceries and to check on the elderly without close-by family.
In addition friendly warnings were given about safe driving habits, being careful when crossing icy intersections and taking along some extra clothing and food if venturing onto the highway.
Local residents, we’ve learned, have been typically generous in their assistance in providing blankets, winter coats, scarves, gloves and hats to be distributed to those among us who are existing outdoors, in makeshift shelters.
If we’re lucky for the rest of the winter, we won’t experience another Polar Vortex. And in say 10 years, the elderly will chat around the fast food tables about that “Polar Vortex” of 2024, suggesting it was the coldest, most miserable January they had ever experienced.
Maybe by then there will be a new name for Arctic air.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
