FROM THE HIP: March in MN... Charles Dudley Warner knows best

(KMSP) - Have you ever heard of Charles Dudley Warner?  He was an American Essayist and Novelist from Massachusetts in the late 1800's who wrote, "Politics make strange bedfellows".. a different take on “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows”.. from Shakespeare's "The Tempest." But he also came up with one of the best quotes that any Minnesotan can understand.  His friend Mark Twain has sometimes received credit for the quote, but it was Warner who penned the phrase later used by Twain in lectures.  And here it is, "Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."

So true as we sit here and scratch our heads about the fact that a week ago we were dealing with temperatures around 60 degrees and tornadoes!  Now we've been blanketed with snow.  Our Fox 9 Weather Team reports just over 3 inches in the Metro and more than 9 inches in Southern Minnesota.

Is it just me or over the past few years does it seem like most of the heavy snow storms go around the Twin Cities to our North and South?  I guess I'll bring that up with my buddy Ian Leonard when I see him with his feet up on his desk with nothing to do someday!

Fortunately, we're used to this kind of March MAD-ness.  The State Patrol reports 384 crashes statewide with 50 injuries but thankfully none serious. 

I often joke about when I was a kid here and the TV and Radio weather folks would say, "And here it comes the Tourney Snow Storm".. referring to the MN State High School Playoffs.   What they didn't say is that there's a Tournament every weekend for a month or so this time of year, so odds are you're going to get a "Tourney Snowstorm!"  Even a meteorological novice like me could predict that!

The beautiful thing about snow this time of year is the fresh white blanket that seems to make everything glow.  The frustrating part is it's hardly enough snow to do most of the Wintertime activities so many of us enjoy.  A time of year when we're pretty much stuck between seasons.

So unless you're going to "do anything about it".. take a hint from Charles Dudley Warner.  As always, we''ll get through this and before long the birds will be singing, the grass will be green, the patios will be open.. and by mid to late summer some will be saying it's too hot!

Several years ago a colleague of mine, who loves to pull practical jokes, moved my car from the Fox 9 parking lot and then ran out on the set and told me he saw my car getting towed away.  Complete panic ensued.. right in the middle of my doing the newscast.. before I eventually figured it out and I told him I'd get even.  So if you do have an issue with the weather take it up with our Fox 9 Vice President of Complaints.  He can be reached via email at ian.leonard@foxtv.com or on twitter @ian_leonard ! Please feel free to inundate both spots with never ending inquiries!

That'll be the last time he ever moves my car!!