ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — The City of Robertsdale and the surrounding communities awoke to the area’s first hard freeze of this winter on Monday morning. With 40 degree fluctuations in temperature occurring weekly, many have found it difficult to predict.

Most winters, this region sees a typical pattern of cold fronts; persistent back to back highs and lows (pressure systems). This pattern is still seen in our current weather, but with one major variant; frequency.

Usually, during this dismal time of year there is a six- to seven-day cycle. It begins with two or three days of cold weather (below 55 degrees). This cold is followed by two days of miserable grey clouds. Then, the clouds are followed by two days of rain, after which the cycle begins anew as another cold front begins to bear down.

This winter, something is different. The whole cycle occurs over roughly a 3 1/2 to four-day period. It consists of two days of cold, followed by one day of clouds, followed by one day of rain.

This is then immediately displaced by another cold front, starting the cycle over. This indicates abnormally fast moving and frequent fronts.

How long this will continue is anybody’s guess. However, understanding the phenomena might help a little, whether you are trying to dress for the weather or just set your thermostat. More than likely, this weather pattern will perpetuate with more cold rain, warmer over-dressed afternoons, melancholy overcast skies and sporadic biting freezes.

In next week’s paper, this bizarre cycle (and its correlation with wind) will be explained once and for all.