I’ve been riding my bicycle almost every day since I purchased a used electric bicycle last summer. Although we have lived in the Pacific Northwest for four years now, I still haven’t adjusted to the simple fact that riding a bicycle is a year-round option where I live. All of the other places where we have lived invited putting bicycles away in the winter. Having said that, I have missed a few days recently due to the weather. Even though the electric bike makes riding in the wind much easier, I still haven’t wanted to go on long bike rides when wind speeds are high. And though I’ve taken a couple of bike rides in the rain, I’m not a big fan of that practice, either. Until I figure out windshield wipers for my glasses, rain presents a real challenge.

I’m not complaining. The weather around here is very mild and we walk outdoors every day. As someone commented to me just after we moved to western Washington, “Here we don’t have bad weather, just bad clothes.” the meaning was clear. If you have a good rain jacket, and perhaps a pair of rain pants, and waterproof shoes, you can engage in outdoor activity whenever you want. We had established the pattern of walking every day before we moved from South Dakota, but we haven’t faced the bitter cold and slippery ice and snow that we faced there.

I have been paying attention to weather reports lately because sometimes we can get in our walk or a bike ride by paying attention to what time of day the rain will come. Weather forecasts that predict each hour’s conditions are readily available on my telephone and they are fairly accurate. However, I have learned that while they are pretty good at predicting weather conditions, they are less precise when it comes to predicting what time conditions will change.

This morning, however, I read an honest weather prediction from an online meteorologist. I’ve been paying attention because another atmospheric river is supposed to move into the region today bringing heavier precipitation and a warning for possible severe flooding in certain low-lying areas of our county has been issued. Although where we live is not in a flood-prone area, I am interested in the ways in which water moves in this place that is far more wet than anywhere I have previously lived. What I liked about the weather prediction was the simple, humble confession that even the best trained meteorologists don’t know exactly what is going to happen. Meteorologist Anna Lindeman added to her prediction of heavier precipitation and breezy winds that “timing and location of the heaviest precipitation is still uncertain.”

Uncertain is a term that I don’t often see in weather predictions, even though uncertainty is surely a major component in the business.

This year promises to be a year with more snow in the Cascades than recent years. The ski resort on Mount Baker is already reporting more snow than fell on the mountain all last year and local skiers are reporting very good powder conditions. I haven’t skied since we moved and I probably won’t go back to downhill skiing as the sport of my choice despite having pursued the sport with a passion when I was younger. On Sunday, however, as I was visiting with some of the teens in our church following worship the talk was all about snow. When I asked one young man how it was going with him, he replied, “Pretty good. I wish I was skiing, however.” It turns out that he had planned to go skiing instead of going to church, but when a friend was unable to accompany him, he ended up coming to church with his family instead.

I’ve got more than six decades more under my belt than he, but I can associate with the feeling. When the snow is good it can feel like you are wasting an opportunity when you stay off of the mountain.

Skiing is a sport where global warming is immediately evident. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the number of days with snow on the ground has decreased by more than 15 days since 1955. Yes, grandchildren, it really did snow more when I was a kid than it now does. And the prediction is that the future holds even less snow. A recent study predicts that by 2050 the demand for artificial snow at ski resorts will increase between 55% and 97%. As ski seasons grow shorter, resorts are embracing technology to expand the season.

In Copenhagen, Denmark, skiers can head down the piste year round thanks to a human-made mountain covered with a green artificial ski mat. The snowless surface mimics a packed and groomed slope. Skiers and snowboarders turn out to descend the hill by the thousands. Ski resorts around the world are taking notice and investigating the possibility of installing artificial ski mats on some of their runs. The mats could be employed when there is no snow, extending the season potentially year round. When snow comes, the mats would be covered and snow skiing could resume as usual.

I couldn’t find any information about how it feels to fall on a ski mat. I’ve taken some pretty spectacular falls on ski hills over the years and have appreciated soft powder as my preferred place to fall despite the challenge of finding any dropped equipment or clothing. It seems that an artificial ski slope might be about as appealing as lying on a bed of astroturf. I suppose that the material has its place, but I doubt that I would be enticed to pay ski resort prices for a dry slope.

Whatever the future, I don’t think there will be any dry slopes around here today. Even though the forecasters can’t predict the timing, it is safe to say that it will be raining sometime today. And sometime during the day I’ll be over at our son’s place visiting our two-year-old grandson who knows what to do in the rain. I can count on him standing at the window looking outside and asking anyone who is available to don their raincoat and boots and join him outside to “Splash, splash, splash.” Who needs a ski hill when you have a grandson and puddles?