The weather the past week in Central Illinois is a reflection of the year coming to a close - wild and crazy with plenty of ups and downs, full of surprises and frustration.

Like recent temperature readings, the stock market and gasoline prices have been rising and falling all year - sometimes dramatically. Who would have predicted in July that we would be paying less than $2 a gallon for regular gasoline?

As usual, there was a lot of hot air during the presidential campaigns with a flood of information and misinformation that left many of us in a fog about the facts.

But it's not just the metaphorical weather that caught our attention; it's the meteorological weather that has many of us talking around here.

After a week of wind chill advisories, flash flood watches, dense fog, severe thunderstorms, high winds, freezing rain and even tornado warnings (did we leave anything out?), more than a few people will be happy to say, "Good-bye and good riddance" at midnight tonight.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

For a reminder that the worse may be yet to come, try driving down the road amid potholes sprouting like dandelions on an unkempt lawn.

The biggest stories of the year are continuing sagas, renewed for the 2009 season, whether we like it or not.

The election of Barack Obama as the first black president of the United States was a big story nationwide, even worldwide. But the real test will come next year after he is sworn into office in January and has to put his promises into practice.

The arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich was a close second on the list of top stories. But the bigger story will come next year: Will he be impeached and will he be removed from office? Will he be formally indicted and on what charges?

The economy was the other big story of 2008, but it could become an even bigger story in 2009. Will the various bailouts and economic stimulus packages help get the country back on track? Or will the borrowing and spending send us spiraling from recession into depression?

Closer to home, it's been an abnormally deadly year of homicides in McLean County - something we can only hope is an aberration.

And if all that isn't bad enough, we close the year with Pakistan moving troops from the Afghanistan border to its border with India and Israel ramping up military action against Hamas in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket attacks against Israel.

We wouldn't blame Baby New Year if he decided to crawl back into his crib, but we'd rather not have Old Man Oh Eight hang around a minute more than necessary.

Our advice for 2009 is to remember the old saying about the weather: If you don't like what's happening, wait a minute and it will change.

Unfortunately, that change isn't always for the better.