I know a lot of us viewed the calendar flip with a cautious optimism and mused, "Well, it can't be much crazier, right?"
Well, even if you got off to a rotten start to 2022, heed the advice of one of the most reliable clichés of our area.
Because as the saying goes, "Don't like the weather in Chattanooga? Wait 15 minutes."
And in 2022, waiting 48 hours covered the gambit across the weather dial.
Early Saturday afternoon, with temperatures hovering close to 70, our family took a New Year's Day faux polar plunge in a neighborhood pool. It was cold, but far from polar if we're being honest.
Monday morning, less than two days later, the snow that surrounded that pool screamed full-blown polar possibilities.
"Welcome to 2022 and a lot of wild weather across the Tennessee Valley," WRCB meteorologist Cedric Haynes said, opening Monday afternoon's weather segment in the 4:30 First at Four broadcast. "It was quite the snow event for areas with some elevation, especially."
In between the highs of Saturday - seriously, there was a softball team practicing at our neighborhood field - and the arctic blast delivered to the higher elevations on Monday was the full monty of meteorology scale.
Noah-worthy rains made parts of the first Sunday of 2022 feel downright Old Testament and the shifts in temperature and wind made tornado warnings warranted in Northeast Alabama and Northwest Georgia over the weekend.
It's almost like WRCB chief meteorologist David Karnes and Channel 9 weather watchdog David Glenn were given a final exam in a meteorological master class to start the new year.
"It's been a truly unique 48-hour period. I was doing some recollection on this type of temperature change," said Glenn, who, like Karnes, grew up in this area, "and the closest comparison I could make was New Year's Eve in 1984. It was 73 on New Year's Eve and an arctic blast hit and 10 days later it was like minus-10.
"I was on Facebook Live with some viewers [Sunday] and told them we've seen a year's worth of weather and it's only been three days of 2022."
As for the sudden changes and the surreal extremes, well, Glenn and Karnes were well-prepared to warn us of the changing conditions.
In the end, though, is anyone prepared from the switch of AC on Saturday and extra blankets on Monday morning or short pants to long johns in 48 hours?
But in the grand scheme of things, maybe the best advice is the most familiar for unpleasant weather conditions.
Just wait 15 minutes and roll with it.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.
View other columns by Jay Greeson
Jay Greeson