This time of the year, it’s easy to go on about the weather. All I have to do is look out my window and see the icy evidence that nature is indifferent to my comfort or more likely, my existence at all.

At 10:41 pm night before last, I heard the rumble of thunder as the snow fell. I happened to look at my computer’s clock at that moment, so I know the time. Been a few years since I heard any thundersnow.

The beginning of a long snowy winter? Maybe. Winters tend to be unpredictable. For all I know there will be a snow drought after this week. Or a tiring series of hardcore blizzards to come before the first croci bud in the early spring.

Further away, much further, I was glad to hear that the InSight probe landed without incident on Mars. The weather at Elysium Planitia looks pretty clear, even if the air isn’t breathable. Even though spacecraft have been flying to Mars for over 50 years, and landing nearly that long, it’s still a thrill.

Could have a better name, that probe. Like New Horizons could be better. InSight sounds like a company that sells “software solutions” for vague problems, not one of the most sophisticated machines ever built and whose purpose is pure exploration. Must be that capital S.

Mariner, Viking, Pathfinder, even Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity — those are names for explorer craft. Insight would arguably go with the latter three.