The word normal has been getting a lot of press these days in the weather world. It seems like every on-air hit on Northeast television networks starts with the news anchor tossing to the weather anchor with something like :"It sure seems abnormally cold these days...is this normal?" Or, "This seems like an awfully high number of tornadoes this early in the season...is this normal?"

As somebody who spends a good portion of my life absorbed in the weather world, I am well accustomed to the fluctuations, discrepancies and deviations from the norm that Mother Nature entertains us with. In fact, abnormality in the weather has become the new norm in some cases, which is illustrated in the comparison between the 2005 hurricane season and the 2006 hurricane season.

Some climatoligists point to Global Warming and El Nino/La Nina phenomena as representative of a trend towards fluctuating weather trends. Whatever the case may be as to why some hurricane seasons are dramatically more active than others, or why New York City is 24 degrees below the seasonal average, what I find interesting is why we are predisposed to achieve some sense of normalcy at all.

Why is "normal" desirable? If normal means a lack of significant deviation from the average, then think how boring the weather would be. My job would certainly take on a different role as I would be struggling to find new ways to explain the same story on a daily basis. This must be the biggest challenge for forecasters in Arizona for months at a time, with the exception of the monsoonal season.

Many critical thinkers of our time have studied the importance of normalcy including the French sociologist Emile Durkheim. In his "Rules of Sociological Method," he cited that the most common behavior in society is considered normal and people who behave differently will invite a negative reaction from others. It seems as though "abnormal weather" invites a similar reaction. It takes people out of their comfort zone.

As for the the weather this week, if you live in the Northeast, expect to be kept out of your comfort zone until the weekend with temperatures plummeting 20 degrees below the norm. Embrace it! Adapting to change is one key component to success in life - at least in mine!