Seldom Remains More Than a Week

With all the weird weather this winter—some who follow the pop-news say it has been the coldest winter in 70 years, while I would guess that it has been milder than average in southern Utah—I was comforted to find, recently, that the weather has always been weird. In 1827, the trapper Daniel J. Potts wrote of his travels in the Sevier River country (not too far from Parowan) during the winter: "Having but little or no winter weather, six of us took our departure [from Bear Lake] about the middle of February, and proceeded by forced marches into the country by way of the Utaw Lake. The grass is at this time from six to twelve inches in height, and in full bloom. The snow that falls, seldom remains more than a week." They were having a February like this one (2014) 187 years ago (1827).