I heard a motorcycle engine whine this afternoon

OK, so what's the big deal about that!?  I mean, people on motorcycles is not that unusual...is it?  Well, you need to know a few of facts:

1. I live in Idaho
2. This is February - the heart of Winter
3. My town is 1 mile above sea level
4. The motorcycle-riding season around here usually runs between April and October (if you are lucky)

Anyway, I was walking across campus this afternoon on my way back from the gym, and I heard a motorcycle engine whine.  What the devil!?  This is FEBRUARY for crying out loud!!

Normally by this time of year we have streets that are usually snow-covered and/or ice-glazed.  Walking can normally be a dangerous activity due to snow covered sidewalks and icy roads.  I have ridden motorcycles for a few years of my life, and unless you have some sort of death wish you would NEVER take a bike out on icy roads like that.  This year, however, our roads, except in a few isolated areas in the neighborhoods, are bare and dry!  This is an incredibly strange winter!

This is a look at our extended forecast, courtesy of Weather.com.  If you notice, every day in the extended forecast has high temperatures above freezing.  The average high temperature for us for the month of February is 33oF.  Remember, that's an average for the entire month, and we are still at only Feb 2nd and we are already seeing daily high temperatures up to 3, 4, 5, 6oF warmer than our monthly average.

The fact that at least someone was out on their motorcycle today attests to the strangeness of our weather this winter.  If it were me and I still had a bike, it would still be winterized and stored until warmer weather shows up, but there are people out there zipping around - albeit freezing their seat covers off, but out on their motorcycles none-the-less.

How much stranger is this winter likely to get!?  Life is an adventure - bring it on!

(Originally posted 2-2-2012)