i meant to post this weeks ago, but forgot.
here in Chicagoland, we recently had a streak of record-breaking and nearly-record-breaking warm temperatures, as did much of the country. on March 11, we were experiencing one of many beautiful, warm and sunny days. around noon, i was admiring it looking out my bedroom window, and what did i see buzzing against the window? a mosquito!! yes, a mosquito in northern Illinois, 10 DAYS before the end of Winter.
it's cooled off a bit since then, but if March was any indication of the coming Summer, there's going to be an Insect Apocalypse! i'll probably need to eat DEET straight from the can to be safe.
the funny thing is, before this Winter, some scientists were predicting two things: the Chicago region would have its worst Winter in a long time, and the region would have one of the worst Winters in the country. of course, these turned out to be laughably false, punctuated by the balmy, Summer-like end.. New England got more snow by the end of October than Chicago got the entire Winter, iirc.
We have EVEN MORE themes now, but some old ones are gone...