This has been the coldest winter that I can remember since I moved to Madera more than a quarter of a century ago. Locally, I’ve watched friends come down with flu and serious colds that they’ve escaped during previous winters. Nationwide, I’ve heard from other friends who have been similarly affected. Now, I’m battling flu.
Of course, I realize that being cold doesn’t cause either colds or influenza. However, cold weather does encourage people to form into tighter groups than otherwise. Cold weather also makes people bring their hands to their face more often. And both phenomena make it easier for cold and flu viruses to spread from person to person.
Here in the Central Valley, we’ve had it easy compared to the rest of the United States where our fellow Americans have had to deal with a “Cyclone Bomb” or the freezing cold winds of a “Polar Vortex.” And, unlike Florida, which likes to compare its generally mild weather with California’s, we don’t have frozen iguanas falling out of our trees. But the fact is that all of us are feeling the effects of climate change.