“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”
~Philip K. Dick
Minnesota is an incredibly culturally diverse state that I don’t believe could exist in any other climate. We’re as far from the regulating effects of an ocean as you can be on the planet. The largest lake in the country defines our eastern border, Boundary Waters define our international border,
Minnesota’s lakes provide more shoreline than California, and that doesn’t include the river that splits our Twin Cities and the rest of the country.
Temperatures have ranged from -60F to 115F with 70 degree changes in a single day. Cook County has measured 170” of snow in a single season. We can get multi-day snowstorms of over 40”. Snow can start as early as the middle of September or fall as late as the first week of June.
We get world class thunderstorms, lake effect, polar vortexes, and tornadoes.
In other areas of the world “talking about the weather” is code for having a banal conversation. In Minnesota, these conversations can literally be a matter of life or death. The persistent prevalence of unpredictable weather is the glue that holds a diverse society together.
Whatever your race, color, creed, nation of origin, or even political persuasion, an unpredictable snow storm or cold snap bonds you to everyone around you.
Anyone who’s lived in Minnesota knows a repertoire of about 20 anecdotes.
A major rainstorm during the State Fair, grunting about the first annual cold snap, inevitable accidents from people forgetting how to drive in the first snow storm, apocalyptic snow storms during the State High School hockey tournament, minus-zero fahrenheit weather, and a late spring snowstorm after weeks of warm weather, and the out of the blue, Top-10, gorgeous day – you either develop the local sense of humor about it or you move.
Minnesota’s powerful mining and industrial base has polluted Lake Superior to the point where you can no longer safely eat fish from it. It has created species collapse in polluted wetlands, poisoned soil in each of the Twin Cities, and dumped immeasurable toxins into the Mississippi River.
From the 1940’s to the 1990’s Minnesota was home to fearless environmental activists who fought against corporate greed and power. Now, Minnesota is still home to a large percentage of global, high-polluting corporations and their media shills.
All the activists ever talk about is how unpredictable the weather is.
Curiously, no corporations are fighting against that.
