The East Coast is enduring one of those “Storm of the Century” events, though apparently the worst of it shifted east of where the worst of it was predicted to fall. Even then, they got and are getting amounts of snow that exceed what I’ve seen here this year. It is the only thing on the news.

While the East Coast is shut down, however, we in mid-continent are enjoying a curiously springlike forecast.

January 27, 2015 at 4:21 AM.

Yes, the predicted high here today is 65°F/18.3.°C! It reached that yesterday, when the predicted high was a little lower. Maybe today will be the same.

Then there is the current temperature, at 4:21 AM, of 40.5°F/4.7C. This is April or May weather!

Most of our snow from or last snowstorm is melted, yet New York City (1625 miles/2615 km east of me) and New England are in shutdown because of a blizzard.

It is a lovely old fashioned yellow climbing rose with a soft, floral scent. I can’t wait till it blooms again!

What to make of this? Woo hoo! I’m not on the East Coast today! Good luck to those who are. Keep warm and don’t be stupid dealing with the vicissitudes of power outages, nasty roads, snow removal, and plans made before the storm came through.

If I’ve learned anything about winter survival skills it is this: virtually nothing is important enough to risk your life going out into a severe storm.