The Spring Stud Storm

There's really no point in complaining or even commenting about the weather in Central Oregon. It's just to predictably unpredictable. Summer one day and winter the next. But one meteorological phenomena continually leaves us scratching our heads and that's the inevitable snowstorm that follows springtime reminders to get our studded tires off our cars and our beleaguered roadways. It never fails. Every year as studded tire deadline approaches a storm rolls as if to punctuate the folly of a winter without studs. Even in this El Nino year where the grind of studs on bare pavement has become a constant backdrop in Bend, the four winds see fit to throw a nearly weeklong winter storm. We're not a holy bunch around here, but we're starting to think that the Good Lord Above is a minority partner in a certain formerly Prineville-based tire franchise.