February has arrived, but the weather is behaving badly. Here, the forecast calls for temperatures in the 50s over the next few days, which is a curious development for a month better known for shoving us down to -30, and occasionally into the -40s. At the same time, the eastern and southeastern parts of the country are being hammered by a bomb cyclone, delivering record snow and cold with little restraint.
You’ve
likely heard the old saying, “he doesn’t have the salt.” It’s usually reserved
for someone who softens when things harden, someone who looks capable right up
until the moment endurance is required. The phrase comes from a time when salt
meant survival more than flavor. Long before it sat on tables, salt preserved
meat through winter, sustained armies on the move, and kept bodies from failing
under heat and labor. To lack salt was to weaken or spoil, and over time it
became a way of describing people who simply don’t hold together under
pressure.
In
some of the places now getting battered, salt is used to melt and clear ice
from the roads, and they quite literally don’t have enough of it to fight their
way through the storm. Meanwhile, if you stop by a local grocery store here
today, you may spot a few residents wandering the aisles in shorts.
—Mitchell
Hegman
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