Around this time each year, when the weather is too much with us, when we think too much about it, talk too much about it and – like it or not – when we have to deal with it, we again wonder: Why do we live here?

Around this time of year, we here in Maine have every right to still expect our fair share of bitter cold weather and a few snowstorms, with a dash of sleet and freezing rain, just so we won’t forget where we are.

This also is the time of year that the national news and weather people keep their eyes on places like Caribou. That’s so they can make the rest of the country feel warm by reporting: “… and the temperature in Caribou, Maine, this morning is a cool 47 degrees below zero.”

They’ll never tell you what the temperature is a few miles down the road in Presque Isle, say, or over to Fort Fairfield, because a name like Caribou sounds so much colder than those other names.

Around my town, although it hasn’t happened yet, I expect any day now to have someone ask the obligatory, “Hey, John, cold enough for you?”

How do you answer such a numb question? What can you say? Are they doing this just for me? Nobody asked me where to set the outside thermostat, so why ask me if it’s cold enough?

If you have friends who have fled Maine to join the hot, sweaty masses of malcontent northerners in Florida, you can expect to hear from them anytime soon, if you haven’t already.

They’ll say they only called to ask how you are, but you know they wouldn’t waste their time calling to inquire about your health. In fact, they called to make you feel bad by complaining to you that the temperature at their overcrowded RV park is only 81 degrees, but it is sunny, and they expect to go to the beach later.

You end the call with an appropriate expletive, while slamming down the cordless phone. That’s when it pays to know your facts about the earth’s poles.

Even though it’s summer at the South Pole, the temperature never gets above zero and summer storms can bring gusty 200 mph winds. The North Pole – the one we’re closest to – is actually warmer than the South Pole because it has thinner ice that floats on the balmy waters of the Arctic Ocean. The South Pole consists of mile-thick ice that sits on a very large, cold mountain.

Just knowing that makes me feel better about winter in Maine.

John McDonald is the author of five books on Maine, including “John McDonald’s Maine Trivia: A User’s Guide to Useless Information.” Contact him at mainestoryteller@yahoo.com.