Perspective: How long does a northern winter last?

I grew up in the deep Southwest. We would fry eggs on the sidewalk in November.

Then I moved north and endured polar vortices that made me long for a night in my refrigerator as a vacation.

How long does a northern winter last? Ask an Upper Midwesterner and you will get the following answer: December doesn’t count; that’s not winter — that’s the holidays. January does count, but by the middle of February you can no longer drive the monster truck onto the icy pond safely. That’s spring.

So winter lasts up here about six weeks.

If you believe that, please believe that my name is Elon Musk.

Actually, it’s Tom McBride, and that’s my Perspective.