According to the National Weather Service, this past February was the warmest in the city’s history – at least dating back to 1894 when they began keeping temperature records.

A story in the Gazette provided all the details. “Colorado Springs sees hottest February ever.” The headline was technically accurate, but I wouldn’t consider an average high of 41.8 degrees “hot” – and “ever” is a lot longer than 131 years.

Not everyone engages with sports or music as hobbies, but everybody encounters the weather. It’s a shared experience, though the same storm that can be one man’s fascination can be another’s frustration. We amateurs spend a lot of time monitoring, pondering, and even measuring meteorological trends – sometimes by choice and sometimes by chance.

It’s often said you can’t do anything about the weather, but that’s not true. The whole reason you watch it is so you can prepare for it. You know you’re getting old when you look at children at the bus stop wearing shorts and t-shirts, shake your head and think, “They obviously didn’t pay attention to the Gazette weather page or Matt Meister’s Peaks2Plains weather app.”

There’s no denying it’s been a mild winter, though like anything in life, it’s still a matter of perspective, timing – and location.

A few weekends ago, our 15-year-old son, Will, and I went on his Trail Life USA troop’s annual “Winter Survival” campout in Breckenridge. It was a three-day, two-night adventure held on a private 300-acre ranch. All throughout the weekend we could hear the avalanche cannons designed to trigger controlled snow slides. Vail Resorts may not have as much of it to manage as in past years, but there’s still enough snow to be catastrophic should it give way at the wrong time, location and direction.  Tragically, David Pickett-Heaps was killed this past Saturday in an avalanche near Copper Mountain.

The troop’s leaders are all good men who helped us weekend warriors thoroughly prepare. From subzero sleeping bags to the right “R-Value” sleeping pad to Nalgene bottles that can hold boiling water to keep you warm(er) in your bag, we learned a whole lot about how to (somewhat) comfortably navigate the cold. It snowed four inches the first night, and on the second the mercury dropped to five degrees below zero.

We sometimes talk as a family about who would have stayed in the more civilized and comfortable east versus venturing to the unknown, wild west back in the 1800s. It’s a window into personality and temperament. It’s been a snowy winter in the northeast, but unlike here, Easter snow is rare.

There are people who set the sail of their whole lives based on weather. It’s usually those looking to get out of what they perceive to be bad weather and into good weather. There’s a lots of reasons Florida and California are popular, especially not having to shovel snow and worry about slipping on ice.

One of life’s joys is conquering bad weather. It’s all about having the right gear. I also love being warm inside when it’s cold outside. My late mother used to open the basement door and listen for the roar of our furnace. She said the sound was music to her ears. As a kid, that sentiment seemed strange – but it doesn’t anymore.

Reading by a crackling fireplace when the snows or rain falls and wind blows is heavenly. Ditto for a hot shower after a wintry run. Our boys say one of their favorite memories of toddlerhood was climbing into the back of our car in the garage when it was pouring. We’d open both the garage door and hatchback of the van and watch the monsoonal rains dance off the driveway and street. To be warm and dry when everything else is cold and wet is extremely satisfying.

Weather is a great metaphor for life. We get more sunshine in Colorado than most places, but into every life a little (or a lot) of rain or snow ultimately falls. There are days when the winds are at our backs and the tough ones when it’s in our faces. The dissatisfaction comes when we think we’re owed the opposite and can control the uncontrollable.

It’s the diversity and the fleeting nature of weather that makes it special, especially here in the Rocky Mountains. It’s mild again this week, and spring arrives in just nine days, which means the heaviest snows will follow. Maybe it’ll be the biggest storm ever!

Paul J. Batura is a local writer and founder of the 4:8 Media Network. He can be reached via email Paul@PaulBatura.com or on X @PaulBatura.