WEATHER STILL ESCAPES EASY MANIPULATION

For most of us, this winter has been a pleasant one as far as the weather is concerned. Snow bunnies who shift to sunnier climes in what are supposed to be our coldest months have found themselves often experiencing worse weather than if they had stayed at home. Meanwhile, golf courses in our area have been busy through December, January and February.

Everyone likes to talk about the weather, and this year most conversations have included at least one reference to El Nino, the huge weather-affecting system of ocean temperatures and currents in the Pacific. But most of us really don't understand El Nino. About all we know is that we've had a mild winter, and if that's because of El Nino, then so much the better.

Of course, other parts of the country and the world have had far less pleasant scrapes with El Nino. The Northeast was socked with terrible ice storms early on. Much of the Pacific Coast has been deluged with heavy rains and the accompanying problems of flooding and mud slides.

Around here, everyone has been pretty much lulled into believing an early spring -- a really early spring -- was upon us. Flowers that normally don't bloom until April were blossoming. Trees were putting out leaves. Birds like the purple martins and goldfinches were arriving much earlier than usual.

But the weather, like most things that are beyond human control, is having the last laugh. Subfreezing temperatures have pushed down from the Canadian Arctic, reminding us that it is still the first half of March. (Classical students will remember that the Ides of March have arrived.) Snow, biting wind and bloom-chilling temperatures have swatted the area not in an untimely way, but in such a way as to be characteristically uncharacteristic. What is it they say about the weather? If you don't like, just wait a minute?

There are serious consequences of weather patterns that go far beyond the inconvenience of not being able to golf every day during the winter. The human suffering and loss of life have been tremendous as the result of floods, tornadoes and blizzards. The impact of bad weather on crops, vegetables and fruits won't be felt until the marketplace begins to suffer with low supplies and higher costs.

The weather, so taken for granted, continues to overwhelm us in an age when technology and science are unlocking so many mysteries of our universe. Decades from now, people young and old will continue to recite the refrain of a popular TV commercial of a few years back: "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature."