Karla's Kolumn The madness of weather and time

What are two things people love to talk about this time of year? That’s right, weather and time.

The weather this week has been an especially hot topic with the recent snowstorm that brought record precipitation to Worland on Wednesday. People in Wyoming like to joke if you don’t like the weather just wait five minutes, or in fact just drive five miles and the weather will change.

On Wednesday and Thursday at our home just south of town it took more than five minutes but we pretty much had the full gamut of weather, the snow started ever so briefly as rain, then sleet then full snow. Then it was just cloudy and for a brief moment Thursday afternoon the sun shone through. But as I drove back to work after lunch I returned to Worland and complete cloud cover. And, finally, on my drive home Thursday night I was greeted with fog near the house.

Last year, winter seemed to get a late start, this year it’s starting early. All the leaves from our trees didn’t even have a chance to fall. Perhaps Mother Nature figures if retailers are going to usher in the Christmas season early, even before Halloween was over this year, then it might as well usher in winter early as well. After all doesn’t everyone wish for a white Christmas.

But don’t get me started on all that. I’m the person who like to celebrate one holiday at a time, not all of them at once. In some retail stores there was Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all out last week. Perhaps that is why people began saying Happy Holidays, not so much as an opposition to saying Merry Christmas, but just to cover all the holidays being celebrated in stores at once.

See what you made me do there.

OK my next tangent is about time, specifically about daylight saving time. It has to end. Yes, yes, I know it is ending Saturday, or rather Sunday at 2 a.m. (Who decided 2 a.m. anyway I wonder.) But I mean the practice of changing times semiannually must end. We must stop the madness.

Massachusetts had a panel look into selecting one time zone for the entire year, much like Arizona does, but instead of just doing it statewide they would like to do it for the entire Northeast Region. More and more states continue to look at the absurdity of changing our clocks twice a year.

The Conversation (see our front page) conducted and studied some research. “The practice of resetting clocks is not designed for farmers, whose plows follow the sun regardless of what time clocks say it is. [Many times driving home I have seen farmers in the fields in the dark, yes even during DST.] And it does not create extra daylight – it simply shifts when the sun rises and sets relative to society’s regular schedule and routines.

“The key question is how people respond to this enforced shift. Most people have to be at work at a certain time – say, 8:30 a.m. – and if that time comes an hour earlier, they simply get up an hour earlier. The effect on society is another question. Here, the research shows that daylight saving time is more burden than boon.”

There have been studies about how time change affects sleep patterns and health. But yet we continue the insanity year after year.

I know what you’re thinking, the time change is something I complain about each year and you are right. I’m one of those whose sleep patterns are impacted by the time change so it’s frustrating. I’m excited for the current change happening tonight because while yes I will be driving home in the dark every night, I like having light in the mornings.

I also have and will continue to support the legislation that is introduced in Wyoming almost every year, but unfortunately goes nowhere.

We can’t stop the madness that is the ever-changing weather, but we can stop the madness of the ever changing time.

Let’s stop the madness we can control.

In the meantime, don’t forget to fall back before falling to sleep Saturday. Set your clocks back one hour and Wyoming and most of the country will once again be on standard time instead of daylight saving time.

Enjoy the “extra hour” you supposedly get this time of year.