If you’ve lived in Idaho for at least a year, you’re starting to grasp the concept that we don’t just get four seasons. We often get all four seasons on the same day. In early spring and late fall, it’s not unheard of to be scraping frost off your windshield in the morning and then hit the Greenbelt in shorts later that afternoon.
Idaho’s sometimes wildly unpredictable weather is why generations of Idahoans have trust issues when it comes to long-range forecasts, television meteorologists, and weather apps. Plus, some of us still haven’t recovered from the “trauma” of Snowmageddon 2016–17.
If you remember, Kody Wilson at Treasure Valley Weather HQ was the one that most accurately predicted the snowfall and subzero temperatures that winter. He doesn’t work for the National Weather Service. He’s not a television meteorologist. But he was able to take what he learned during a mentorship with former CBS-2 weatherman Vin Crosby and his college courses at the University of Northern Colorado and turn it into pretty accurate (and entertaining) forecasts that were shared all over Facebook.
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So what do you do when you don’t quite trust the “official” long-range winter forecasts that you’re fed? You look for little signs from Mother Nature herself. Before television and weather apps, Idahoans relied on these not-necessarily-weather-related signs that a cold and harsh winter could be ahead…