Why I Can’t Leave Vermont

Why I Can’t Leave Vermont 

By Anonymous 

It’s winter in Vermont 

And the gentle breezes blow

72 miles per hour at 52 below.

Oh how I love Vermont

When the snow’s up to your butt

You take a breath of winter air

And your nose, it freezes shut.

Yes, the weather here is wonderful 

So I guess I’ll hang around.

I could never leave Vermont

Cause I’m frozen to the ground.

I don’t know who wrote this poem, though it’s been posted in several places on the internet, including the Vermont Country Store’s Facebook page. I initially saw it elsewhere on Facebook, and it made me laugh when I read it. 

While the “ 72 miles per hour at 52 below” is an exaggeration, we did have real temperatures of -21 degrees with a windchill of -30 or lower. During our last snow storm, we got 11” of snow, while that’s not up to my butt, the snow drifts did make up to my knees. The most accurate lines in this poem are:

You take a breath of winter air

And your nose, it freezes shut.

I have had the wind blowing so hard and the temperature so low that my nose did feel like it froze shut.