Idaho Weather Offers Gloom and Rain Until June

Southern Idaho is one of the driest places in North America, but twice a year we get a reprieve, and it’s not pretty.  In an aesthetic sense.  The latter half of October often brings the sudden change to gray skies and cold rain.  Some years, I’ve seen a similar pattern develop in March and last until early June.  Then, boom!  Summer doesn’t arrive gradually, but all at once, and then it doesn’t rain for three months.

It Depresses Us Every Year

I won a broadcast news award almost 35 years ago for a five-part series I did on Seasonal Affective Disorder, known by the acronym SAD.  I’m still not convinced it’s real, but it does give a boost to pharmaceutical companies peddling happy pills.  But I’m also convinced that weather impacts mood, or when a pattern becomes prolonged.  I walked into an Oasis one wet spring (it was early June and gloomy) and the clerk announced she was a newcomer to Idaho.  She had been here two months and asked me if it was always like this.  I assured her not always, but I read her depressed question.

We Can't Hibernate as an Escape

One recent cloudy Saturday, I found myself sleepy and decided to take a short nap.  I was shocked when I woke up and three hours had passed.  It’s my experience that’s how a lot of people want to respond on gray days, but work, kids, and shopping beckon.

Here’s the silver lining.  The alternative is to cease living.  For the moment, I would like to stick around a bit longer and see a few more sunny summers.