What about the weather?

We seem to talk about the weather quite a bit. Is it true that for all the talk we don’t do much about it?
My suspicion is that we do indeed do something about it. We sometimes plan an activity – or cancel our plans – depending on what the weather will be. We also choose our clothing so that we will be appropriately dressed for what weather we expect. There are even clothing styles that are said to be “Spring” style, or “Summer” or “Fall” or “Winter”. So, it is pretty clear that we do something about it.

We often open the door to see what weather there is outside. Here's a snowy day in December 2011.

Another icy storm in February 2012 left us with lots of crystal covered trees.

But some would argue that “doing something about the weather” would be taking steps to “change” the weather. Excepting in a Biosphere we aren’t very effective in changing the weather. Nor are we effectively stopping change in the weather. We’ve heard talk of the need to stop global warming. Some people get pretty excited about such issues, but no one has been able to trace any changes in the weather to any of the efforts of the activists – or even to the failure of the public to act as the activists would have us act. It takes just one active volcano – which is totally outside the control of man – to change the global weather far more than anything that man does or does not do. Nevertheless, Adam was told that his responsibilities included taking care of his Garden, so we should never give up our efforts to try.

Some blossoms and green grass begin to show up in March 2012 before the April General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Here in southwest Kansas the weather has given cause for concern for quite some time, and this year it is quite a common topic for idea sharing.
For most of my life (at least while living in the Northern Hemisphere) we have looked to General Conference weekend as the time for the first signs of spring to show up. There might have been a few crocuses show up earlier, but even that was unusual. I remember many times on the Saturday of General Conference I saw the first greening of any grass. The earliest leaves or blossoms on trees came a little later. A real green tree, excepting for the evergreens, was still a few weeks off.

Here's a great shot of a beautiful blossoming tree by our apartment building. Notice our car behind it.

It seems things are out of time here in Kansas this year. We had a heavy snowstorm during the week before Christmas, and it remained cold for a long time after that. We had no more snow until late February, but we could still see snow that had come down during that December storm. Then there was a sudden warming up with temperatures climbing to the 50s and even 60s. Now it is late March and we have seen warm days that have set records. We began using air conditioning in the car and in the house before the middle of March. As we were waiting for General Conference weekend, a majority of the trees were already green. The flowering trees were in full bloom. Crocuses didn’t show up much this Spring, but they are all wilted away now. Spring rushed in a full three weeks early. And since that December snow and the “trace” that came in February we have had very little additional moisture. We have had only one rain storm since it warmed up.

What a beautiful lavendar Lilac bush Elder Howlett shot in a close-up photo.

And are we doing anything about it? Well we’ve seen several out mowing the lawn already, but as for trying to change it I don’t think so. We hear talk among members of the agriculture community. They say that the weather right now is right for planting, but they are afraid to do it for fear that the winter will return and kill the crops. After all, from long tradition, the fifteenth of May is when the frost-free season begins. But with a lack of summer moisture like last year, waiting could make the planting of crops at a later date a waste of time and seed.

So what are we supposed to “do” about the weather? The prevailing answer seems to be, “Wait a bit and see what develops.”

How fun to find these colorful tulips in the front yard of the home of one of our member families.

Well, we have waited for another three weeks, and now Spring is in full swing. If the trees aren’t green now they are dead. Caring homemakers have already mowed their grass at least once. Yesterday we saw a new lawn that was planted this spring, and it was beautiful to exceed most of the lawns at their prime last year.

They are already mowing the grass in our apartment complex. But it is lucky that the grass is watered by sprinklers. Many places in town may not get water this summer unless it rains.

We’ve had a couple of gentle rains that continued through a whole day and account for around 95% of our annual precipitation so far. The government weather analysts report that across the nation thousands of records for high temperatures have been broken during the first quarter of the year. It has been a period of devastating tornados too. It doesn’t appear that we as people are doing much to change the weather in desirable ways, but we definitely have a lot of work to do that is weather related.

It is so nice to see the world come alive with color again.

Isn’t this a time for us to be following the Spirit as we decide what we should “do” about this weather? Already the citizens of Kansas face serious water problems this summer barring a change in the weather. Would an appeal to God with willingness to obey Him help?