Let’s pick up where we left off 148 weeks ago.

Not even you, faithful reader of this column, will recall that we were well into March 2023. By turning on the snow machine then, Mother Nature appeared to be trying to make up for a lack of snow during the preceding winter.

“No,” we told Mother Nature that day. Winter sports enthusiasts of all ages need snow in December, January, and February. But in March, it was too late to make up for what hadn’t fallen from the sky when we needed it.

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Fast forward to this winter. Children are looking forward to building snow forts, building snowmen, making snow angels, and taking sleds to all of their favorite places. Others are looking forward to downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling in all of their favorite places.

Do we need a whopping winter like what you hear folks recall from the 1930s or 1970s? Well, that might be fun. It might be a lot of fun to hear places in the prime of the snowbelt report multiple hundreds of inches. A decent, respectable amount would suffice though. Enough to have some fun for an extended time.

You, dear Mother Nature, were doing just fine through Christmas and New Year’s. The beginning of 2026 left us with a nice snow pack.

So what’s with the rain and warmer temperatures since then?

Ski resorts have done great work, as they always do, in keeping slopes open. Skiers who haven’t hit the slopes this season really need to pick a time and go.

Others need some snow reinforcements. With wet snow, you can make a good snowman. Then, if your feat is quickly followed by freezing temperatures, you’ll have an iceman that will be around for a while.

Beyond that, the warmer temperatures make for tough going. The snow on some hills where sleds abound is getting sparse. And the snow on some cross-country trails and snowmobile trails is getting sparse as well.

So, dear Mother Nature, we still have plenty of January and all of February. Let’s have lots of the white stuff. Several good doses would do nicely. Enough to blanket the ski resorts, while covering other hills and trails as well.

Then we’ll need you to keep the temperatures below freezing so that they don’t wreck your good work.

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Thereafter, the vernal equinox will be almost upon us.

There will be plenty of time then for the first flowers of the late winter and early spring to rise from their slumber. Thereafter, daffodils–a plant that it seems no animal, not even deer or rabbits, will eat–will peek through the ground.

There will be plenty of time then to clean up yards and plant annuals.

There will also be plenty of time then to get out golf clubs and hit the links, and to think about putting docks and boats into the water.

But none of those times are upon us, dear Mother Nature. They’re not even close at hand.

So let’s get back to what we know you can do here on this side of Lake Erie in Western New York.

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All of this comes with one caveat, dear Mother Nature: If the Buffalo Bills have a home playoff game this season–which faithful readers of this column recall from the Dec. 26 edition is possible yet unlikely–please hold off on the snow that day.

That will allow fans to get to Orchard Park and return home safely.

The next day, you may please turn the snow machine back on.

To quote the familiar song, “Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.”

This is Randy Elf’s 300th regular weekly column, and he harbors no delusions that Mother Nature reads this column, much less takes direction from it.

(C) 2026 BY RANDY ELF