Do you think it's been a hard winter? You're right!

The next time you complain to someone about how hard this winter has been, you can quote some statistics.

Decorah weather observer Richard Bernatz has been studying Decorah's weather statistics from November 1st through February 28th. He says 41 inches of snow has fallen during that time--12 inches more than normal. The winter of 1977-78 tops the list with 58 inches of snowfall.

During the same time Decorah's high temperature failed to reach the freezing point--65 days out of 120 with a high of less than 32 degrees. That's 11 more days than average.

Bernatz has combined those statistics and several others and has reached the conclusion that this winter was the 21st more severe winter since 1951. That means Decorah is on a string of hard winters--Bernatz says last winter was the 8th most severe and the winter of 2007-2008 was the 10th most severe.