" 'Tis that time of year, ya know..."

Rudy and Terri Thread have a marriage that was, well, made in the heavens, I guess you could say. They met while they were meteorology students at Penn State some nine years ago. Rudy's main area of study was hydrology, while Terri's niche was Great Lakes climatology.

It must have been love at first forecast; only 5 months after their first date, they were engaged to 'weather' life together as husband and wife. You can always tell a healthy, strong relationship by the ability of the partners to banter and verbally spar in a playful, even competitive way...and end it all with a good belly laugh and a hug.

It's pretty normal in the Thread household to stage contests to see who can nail the high temperature for the most consecutive days, or predict what weather will occur one month out, that sort of thing. All in good fun, of course. Terri worked at a local National Weather Service office and Rudy for a competitor of sorts, Accuweather. You couldn't argue against the fact that they truly respected each other.

This time of year, forecasting gets even more squirrely since concerns arise over potential snows, ice storms, even with severe weather and tornadoes mixed in. Just last week they had such a situation bearing upon their area. Terri and Rudy began laying their bets on what was going to happen with the incoming storm system.

Terri had seen many early season storms like this one, and knew there was a potential to have rain quickly ice up with cold air invading quickly with the precipitation. She voted for a moderate ice storm followed by a dusting of snow. Rudy shook his head and said, "You National Weather People are all the same, over-forecasting events...we've been too warm, and the air mass will moderate almost immediately...sorry, babe, no wintry weather this go-'round, just the liquid phase."

Terri scoffed as she quickly retorted, "And you private sector meteorologists think you are God's gift to forecast wizardry, but I have news for you: you put your pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us!"

Now things were getting good. Smart guys learn tricks from women along Life's path...like using someone's formal name to get a point across, so you don't have to raise your voice...just inflect the ol' childhood enunciations we all remember well...

"Is that so, THERESA? Like you have Kreskin in your head and know ALL there is to know about winter storms?"

"Yes, RUDOLPH. Need I REMIND you I've won the past 4 contests in a row????"

The gloves were off. The gauntlet had been thrown down. He had been challenged to yet another duel. He was like a cougar in a box canyon, and could only blurt out one thing...

"RUDOLPH THREAD KNOWS RAIN, DEAR!"