The weather outside is frightful—thank heavens!

Without the cold, wet and wind we’d have a much poorer planet to live on. We’ve been slammed lately with a series of big storms, but they are a blessing in disguise.



Many species of seeds depend on cold to germinate in a process called vernalization. If it doesn’t get cold, the seed doesn’t know that it’s been winter and that it’s time to sprout. This mechanism saves them the deadly embarrassment of sprouting in the fall and then getting frozen stiff by the winter weathers. In fact many types of fruit trees, and crops—like winter wheat—must pass through a cold period or they will not flower and produce fruit or grain.

Cold weather also helps freeze out some pesky insect species, like those nasty yellow jackets. Harsher winter usually means fewer of some bad bugs in the spring.

Bad weather can swing both ways depending on your point of view. Cold weather without snow means the mice and voles must move around more to eat and stay warm, which is good for the hawks who eat them. But if there’s a layer of snow on the ground, the mice burrow around snugly underneath, while the hungry hawks can only circle overhead and look for other prey.



And of course all that snow on the ground is a bank account against summer’s drought. Ideally it slowly seeps into the ground as it melts, providing nice moist soil for spring’s sprouting and summers growing season. Remember April showers bring May flowers? So do January snowstorms.

Besides, a blizzard is Nature’s way of saying “Sit down and relax and have some cocoa!”  Put your feet up in front of the fire, or if you don’t have a fireplace, put your feet in front of the TV with the fire video playing. Better yet, get off that couch and start playing in the snow! Sledding, skiing, snow people and good old fashioned snowball fights await you. Sure, you might freeze to death and we won’t find you until spring. But it’s FUN and good for you!



So say thank you to old Ma Nature for every storm. It’s just her way of relieving stress, and in the long run, we’re all better off.