Throughout the state of Iowa, movement came to an almost complete stop yesterday under the heavy blanket of snow El Ni¤o dropped on us.

Overall, however, El Ni¤o has been good to Iowa.

This entire winter has been one for the record books, with all-time high temperatures and all-time low amounts of snow. And then, suddenly, this massive amount of the white stuff brought us back to reality.

Only one day this whole winter season have we been forcibly confined to the solace and leisure of our televisions, or forced to remain engulfed in the warmth of our beds with only a good book to pass the time.

The whole mess is truly unbearable.

The snow interrupted home satellite systems from picking up this weekends’ basketball games, and Gumby’s took over an hour for delivery.

They even closed the Farm House Museum for the entire day because of the snow.

But, in all honesty, Iowans have little to complain about.

There have been no large snow storms or blizzards, no flash floods, no days that would freeze your nose off in just one minute of external exposure.

The whole season of winter has hardly existed, as compared to normal Iowa weather. Leaves stayed on the trees well into November and December, and temperatures have only been low by Florida standards.

All in all, Iowans have had a very docile and calm winter season.

Granted, anyone from kindergarten to graduate school has been robbed of the joy of listening to the radio each morning to hear the joyful news of their school being closed.

But, that is the small price to pay for avoiding the inconveniences that normally accompany winter.

Ultimately, winter with all its disruptions has passed Iowa over until this weekend.

We knew it was coming, though. Native Midwesterners just assume that nature won’t let us get away without at least a small dose of cold, messy weather.

Who can really complain when we were wearing spring jackets and shorts in the middle of February?

No, you couldn’t go to the mall or to many restaurants yesterday, but a winter of warm weather was worth one day of immobility.