Thrown over a chair in my kitchen is a red quilted down jacket. I’ve been wearing it all spring.
A long-ago Christmas gift, it’s puffy and out of date. It’s also warm, which trumps all vanity. I pulled it from the closet not to ski at Stevens Pass, but to watch my son play Little League Baseball.
League tryouts were Feb. 13, a frigid night at Everett’s Legion Memorial Park. Coming home with numb toes, my only comfort was the surety of warm weather to come. Between then and now — it’s mid-May, after all — we’ve had a sunny day here and there, only to be followed by snow, rain, hail, cold and more cold.
Tuesday, with an evening Little League game on the calendar and a depressing drizzle outside, I had some trouble trusting an expert.
“It’s going to be hot as hell,” said Clifford Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington. Mass insisted Monday that by the weekend we’ll feel the heat. “Saturday will be the warmest day, into the upper 80s, even to 90,” he said.
By Tuesday afternoon, the Everett area forecast from the National Weather Service was for clear skies with highs in the 80s on Friday and Saturday. Clouds were predicted for Sunday, but by Monday forecasters expected more sun.
Right. I’ll keep the red coat handy.
Mass, who claimed that this spring has been slightly drier than normal, confirmed what we all know by the fleece we’ve been wearing. “This has been an extraordinarily cool spring, much colder than normal. It’s up there in the top 10 coldest, over the last 60 to 70 years,” he said.
In a normal year, early May in Seattle means highs of 64 degrees and lows of 46. “Sunday it got to 56,” Mass said. In April, there’s usually a good stretch of warm, sunny days. “It’s La Nina this year, but it’s more than that. We’ve been stuck in a very persistent pattern,” he said.
La Nina, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is a period of colder than normal ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific. In an El Nino year, those waters are warmer.
Mass has words of hope for the weather-weary: “It’s almost over. It’s going to get warm and stay awhile.”
At Emery’s Garden, a nursery business in Lynnwood, manager Amy Tullis has seen sales suffer as gardeners await warmth. “People have held off, they are terrified of planting,” she said. Gardeners have bought trees and shrubs, but few take chances with fragile flowers and vegetables.
“Tomato plants especially, they’re still living in the greenhouse at night. It’s been too cold,” Tullis said.
Mother’s Day business was down, Tullis said. “Mom went to the movies instead — or they bought her a sweater,” she quipped.
Tullis said it’s finally time to get those tomato plants and get outside. “Don’t be afraid,” she said. “Our spring and summer is what it is. Just have fun gardening. October will come, and that will be it.”
Nasty weather comes with the territory, but this spring has pushed the limits of patience, said Jo Levin, athletic director at Everett High School.
“Everybody is cranky,” Levin said. Her job includes leading students in a PE walking class on two-mile treks, rain or shine. By May, that ought to be a cushy assignment. Not this year. “Living in Washington, you have to be resilient. We can’t control Mother Nature,” she said.
It’s been frustrating for coaches, with tennis, baseball and softball events frequently rained out. “You have to make the call by noon, for buses and transportation,” she said.
As a parent, she’s been following her 22-year-old son Tyler as he plays baseball for Central Washington University. “Other years in Ellensburg, we were wearing shorts in April. We’ve been bundled up freezing,” Levin said.
Before leaving work Tuesday, I dialed the Everett Parks and Recreation rain-out phone line. “Today is Tuesday May 13 and all games are on a game-time decision,” the recording said.
That means rushing home, getting a boy ready for baseball, grabbing an umbrella — and the warm red coat.
And for Saturday’s game, sunscreen and shades? Really? Can’t we ease into summer? How about a little spring first?
“We’re like moles crawling out of a hole,” Levin said.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.
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