Marshall McClung
The return of cold weather in early-April – after a period of balmy spring days – may have had some people wondering what was going on.
It’s actually nothing out of the ordinary: folks who have grown up in the mountains know to expect this and have given names to these returns of winter events.
Even though Easter doesn’t always fall on the same day of the month – or even in the same month – it seems that around most Easters, there comes a period of cold weather called an “Easter Squall.”
Weather experts say a “squall” is a period of unsettled weather. The word is sometimes used by locals to mean to cry or weep, so perhaps that is fitting also.
“Dogwood Winter” is a period of cold weather that arrives with the blooming of our dogwood trees so prevalent in our woodlands. Then about the time our native blackberry briers bloom, comes another cold spell, called “Blackberry Winter.”
A shorter, cooler pattern arrives with our catbirds known as “Catbird Winter.”
“Laurel Winter” makes its presence know when our mountain laurel bushes bloom. A little lesson in “Appalachian English” might be needed here.
Locals call laurel “ivy,” and rhododendrons “laurel.” While we are on this speech lesson, flame azaleas are “honeysuckle.”
There is another chilly spell that is not as well known called “Snowball Winter,” which coincides with the blooming of the snowball bush found in many local yards.
These weather events go far back in our local history. Some local loggers told me that they were once snowed out of the woods on Big Santeetlah Creek in June. The heavy snow covered the ground in minutes.
My wife’s grandmother Mary Jane Wiggins spoke of hoeing corn with a coat on. This may have been the time people called “The Year with No Summer.”
Several years ago, a number of older citizens in Graham County told me that they had seen frost every month of the year except July, and snow every month except July and August in Graham County.
If you are unhappy with our present mountain weather, be patient: it will soon change – perhaps for the worst.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.