It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.

Since he was a new Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to
be.

Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.

But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked,

"Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again.

"Is it going to be a very cold winter?"

"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter."

The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again.

"Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."

I've always wondered how the National Weather Service came up with its predictions, and now I know.

Too bad Jerry Jones didn't check with them last year before he talked the city of Dallas into spending millions to host the Super Bowl.

 

This was the scene one year ago as Dallas struggled to host the Super Bowl while caught in the throes of a major ice storm.  Temperatures hovered in the low 20's all week.

I was reminded of this scene yesterday morning as I sat on the patio enjoying my coffee in short sleeves and no coat with the temperature a balmy 65 degrees. 

We simply have not had any winter so far.  Today is supposed to be in the 70's.  In fact, it has been so warm that I have yet to turn on my heat.

SIL said the other day that he wished we would have some cold weather because he's afraid we will have a really hot summer if we don't.

Yet, we had a cold winter last year and one of the hottest summers on record, so how can one predict this crazy weather of recent years.

Here's an interesting fact that I hadn't realized until I heard it last year.  Texas sits on the same parallel as some of the major desserts of Africa and the Mideast, which explains why it gets so hot in the summer and why the winters are often quite mild.

The farther south one goes in Texas the milder the winters are.  San Antonio is wonderful in the winter.  We visited there at Christmas two or three years ago and it was so nice.

That's my geography lesson for today....have a great Tuesday.