Winter weather weenies

I endured many winters in the Great Plains (below-zero temperatures), the Great Lakes region (gray skies, sloppy snow) and the mountains of the Pacific Northwest (snowfall exceeding 100 inches).

I am winter tough.

Check that. I was winter tough.

Since moving to the South, and especially since landing in the subtropical Deep South, I have become unabashedly a winter weather weenie.

So I’m now an authority on spotting other weenies, as follows:

You’re a winter weather weenie if you grumble about chilly air while walking to your car under a cloudless sky, temps in the mid-50s, as friends in the Northeast buckle under a foot or more of snow.

You’re a winter weather weenie if you activate car seat heaters even as outside temps top 60 degrees.

You’re a winter weather weenie if you buy extra groceries when expecting temps below 40 degrees.

And you’re a winter weather weenie if you report a single, suspected snowflake to Facebook friends, even when the speck probably is ash from a neighbor’s barbecue grill.

We know who we are, fellow weenies. Own it.