six weeks

Yesterday's warmth naught
but a groundhog's brief dream.
Punxatawney sleeps still.

Yesterday the temperature here reached a balmy 70 Fahrenheit; people were out on the courtyard in their shirtsleeves, enjoying lunch on the patio outside the cafeteria. Today the temperature already has dropped into the 30s, there’s a mix of snow and freezing rain falling, and the winds are fierce and bitter. By tonight, temperatures are forecast to hit the lower 20s, completing a drop of 40-50 degrees over a 24-hour period, and wind gusts of 45 mph also are predicted. Twain famously may have been speaking of New England, but his quip that “if you don’t like the weather…, wait five minutes” could easily apply to DC today.