Okay, so we're not Miami Beach, and yes, I'm (hopefully) not in denial, and yes, I do "get it." Still, I will make an unabashed claim that Lakewood's weather is one of the best "weathers" around, at least here in Cuyahoga County.

The reasons are simple. In the first place, we live on a fairly low cliff near a lake, yet are still at a lower elevation than many of our southerly and easterly neighbors. Prevailing winds coming across the lake tend to hit that cliff and do the updraft thing, often hopping that snow, ice, and nastiness right up and over our placid little rectangle of real estate, only to be driven inland and dropped right down on places like Parma and Seven Hills. Another reason is that we sit on the narrow part of Lake Erie. Cities sitting on the geographic east end of a Great Lake (like Buffalo) often bear the brunt of what we fondly call "Lake effect" snows, as the winds have plenty of time to pick up the moisture from the lakes on their way to landfall.

I have one of these stories that school-age Lakewood children might not fully appreciate about Lakewood's favorable weather position. The year that I retired from teaching, the Parma City School District (comprising Parma, Parma Heights, and Seven Hills) called for a snow day. Like the rest of the staff, I was notified by phone at my Lakewood home in the wee hours of the morning about this event (and yes--now it can be told: Teachers love those snow days just as much as their students do!). Anyway, as I usually did on such days, I went down into the basement, grabbed the old snow suit, and got ready to plod my way through the snow to the shed to start up the old snowblower.

As I opened the side door, I was greeted by a strange sight. No snow. As I stepped outside for a look around, I also noticed that it was quite warm. Much too warm, in fact, for that snow suit. With a bewildered expression on my face, I went back into the house, took off the snow suit, and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast. Not long afterwards, and on Parma's snow day, I cut the grass while in my shirt sleeves! Yes children, on that particular day, while you Lakewood students sat attentively in your first-period classrooms, Parma students turned off their alarms and went back to sleep!

It seems that a frontal system blasted the higher elevations south and east of the city on that day. When I drove off to school the next day, the ground cover went from zero inches here in Lakewood to about eight fluffy inches of powder by the time I entered Hillside Middle School's driveway in Seven Hills.

That's not the only time I experienced this type of thing either. The jackets that I piled up in the back seat of the car during a week of commuting between Seven Hills and Lakewood actually became a standing joke around my house. In Seven Hills, I would dress for Alaska. By the time I got home, it felt like Tennesee.

Of course, there were other times when Lakewood did not escape violent weather conditions. On July 4th, 1969, a direcho came across the lake (unlike the rotating winds of a tornado, a direcho's winds are in a straight line) and knocked trees onto houses and cars. The storm caused many injuries and fatalities, including here in Lakewood, resulting in the death of one of my own school friends.

Once in awhile, snows will indeed hit us big-time. Several times last year, Lakewoodites will remember being hit by mammoth snowfalls, with drifting going to five feet in places, but fortunately these are rare events, and they usually do not last for very long. While we're on that subject, I've got to hand it to our city crews. They really take care of our streets.

We live more or less halfway between the equator and the north pole. This gives us four distinct seasons, and the probability of having very changeable weather just about all year long. I recall experiencing days when there was a variance of perhaps thirty degrees on our thermometers. Prevailing wind patterns around here can change at the drop of a hat. I recall that a family friend visited from way up in Canada during one winter. Within a few days, she'd had enough of our weather and had to go home. Although in her town it often snowed much more than we experienced, she had never felt the deep, unremitting, damp cold of Lake Erie's piercing winds. It was simply too cold for her down here in Lakewood!

So as we wait with baited breath for the blossoming daffodils, tulips, and dandelions, at least we do experience the winds of change around here, as we mark the pulse of our city.