Here in the Shenandoah Valley, we’ve had February days when you could comfortably picnic under leafless trees and others when you might ski on a major highway without fear of traffic. In general, however, the month is simply miserable, with a lot of gray dull days and cold dreary nights which discourage everyone from venturing forth more than a short walk to the mailbox.

It may be most miserable of all for meteorologists, the scientific weather forecasters who appear in hordes whenever a winter storm approaches. Most of the time, none of them have predicted the huge winter storm until we are already up to our knees in snow and ice. But somehow they make us believe that they did.

"This will be a mild storm with a little rain in our area, I can firmly avow," the television forecaster will say, pointing to squiggles and colored blotches on an electronic weather map. "We should see lots of sun tomorrow and temperatures in the 50s."

Several hours later, this same expert will be standing in front of the map again, pointing to many more squiggles and moving multicolored designs: "Well, it looks like we will have up to three inches of snow with some ice." He speaks firmly and forthrightly without acknowledging that his previous prediction was completely incorrect and there is already four inches of snow right outside my front door.

Fast-forward to the 11 o’clock news. There he is again, pointing at the map, now roiling with squiggles and amorphous white, green, orange and red shapes. "Well, as we told you, snow, snow, snow. It looks like we’re going to have up to seven inches in some parts of the mountains." Okay, I just measured eight and it seems to be snowing a little harder. And I’m not even in the mountains.

The storm passes. The dull, dreary days return. The weather forecaster’s map is almost blank – a tiny green and white mass way up in Maine. But now the television station livens things up with a promotion of their meteorological acumen.

"Channel 19 News: When the winter storm hits, we are there for you – fast, accurate and complete. You can trust Harry Whathisname and Doppler 2000 – the area’s most accurate weather reports!"

The promo shows film of Harry predicting the last snowstorm, just as if he had hit the nail on the head.

While forecasters can get away with this, those of us who actually have to put up with February weather are not so fortunate. We shovel the snow. We worry about whether to put on a sweater and shorts or a parka and long underwear. We mop up the water running through the basement.

We get through all this by recalling that without the variety of weather, this late winter period would be almost unbearable. At least, it gives us something to talk about and fret over.

Soon we will be into March, the month of spring and the time when...hey, wait a minute, around these parts, March is usually worse than February in regard to weather. Hurry April.