Will We Have a Winter this Year??

It's been almost Spring like some days here. No snow at all. Not even flurries. In New York.

reply to post by CaptChaos


Isn't the winter your big tourist time?
Must be awful for your economy if that is true.

It's so warm here in Des Moines, I noticed the other day my rose bushes look like they are trying to turn red and grow!! Oh My God (said like Charlton Heston) even if it snows now.....what? 6 weeks of Winter?? I can do that with one arm tied behind my back! Thank you God!!

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Up here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota, we're...not frozen. It was 62 degrees in the western part of the state a couple of days ago. I love it (it's great for my SAD), but I can't help but wonder what the summer will bring. Last summer was especially hot, and oh, the humidity! Going outside was like walking into a wall of water. I've been a certified Skywarn Spotter for the past decade, and in the last two summers I saw more wall clouds and funnels than in all the other years combined, or indeed in my entire life here in Minnesota. It seemed like every garden-variety thunderstorm would turn severe, and every one of them developed wall clouds. There is something going on, for sure. The comical part of it is watching the local TV weather people...reporting new records day after day but being unable (due to their corporate overlords) to mention the elephant in the room, climate change.

In Oklahoma, we were in the high 60 last week. Almost record breaking on a couple of days. It's dry and warm. Our economy doesn't rely on winter storms at all so it's enjoyable here.
On a related note, my strawberry plants are still green and growing.

Considering its sunny and I have my windows open, no.

Today is more temperate but still warm for January at well above Freezing and 42 Degrees in the shade warmer in the sunlight.
Yesterday it was over 50 degrees as well....I almost pulled out the motorcycle but rode my mountainbike instead.

Here in New England we rely heavily upon the numerous crowds of New Yorkers to spend their money here during ski season...
The Ski Resorts, Ski Shops (where I used to work), Hotels/Motels and Restaurants...even the Outlet stores in New Hampshire and Maine.

When there is no snow on the ground the tourism market really plummets. This lack of snow will definitely effect the ski industry and the overall economy here in NE as well.

Times are definitely a changing. When I used to ski regularly we always had great snow as early as Thanksgiving...the trend of less snow and longer Fall temps has been going on for sometime now.
And even lead to my no longer partaking in the sport....if I could ride my mountain bike well into December for Free....why pay $50 for a ski lift ticket.....???


Peace

Green Bay WI, we've been in the upper 40s, its been nice but odd.... We had some snow but it melted off of course. this weather surly has got to be messing with outdoor plants, insects, etc... I'm not too much into winter so I won't complain.

Unseasonably warm here in California. No snow to speak of at the big ski resorts, Tahoe and Mammoth. Had to cancel a trip because of it. I do not remember a Christmas that Mammoth Mountain did not have a ski season.

So yeah, this is strange and going to hurt. And what's with Mexico's strange weather? Raining in the dry season?

Pole Shift underway?

Northern Illinois here. Been pretty nice, cleaned out garage the other day, and did some yardwork. In January! We had a couple dustings of snow this season. Chicagoans warned that this would be a winter to drive us to relocate. Pfffft. Its the midwest, Seen our share of bad winters, -70 windchills, multiple feet of snow dumped on us, nothing new. Bring yer worst ol man winter!

Pretty mild in Western Washington too. The Seattle/Tacoma area had one day of snow the week of Thanksgiving (which melted the same day) and not a flake since. I believe the ski areas in the mountains are finally getting snow though (may need to double check that). Winter was late here last year too other than our deep freeze the week of Thanksgiving. Seems like we get a taste of winter during Thanksgiving week and then nothing until January. No complaints from me though - my daily commute is over an hour each way without the snow and ice. We have had many days that almost seem spring-like. I would be fine with skipping winter this year. Mt. Rainier has a pretty decent snowpack on it, so this summers water supply ought to be just fine.

reply to post by DontTreadOnMe


Its the same over here in the South West of England. All the signs could easily be interpreted as the trigger for the next ice age, leaves still on trees in January, freak warm weather, 1 mile across fountains of Methane gas erupting from pockets in the Ice shelves causing extreme temperate warming, the rising sea levels.

It all builds a picture, and the picture looks Icy.

I'm in Kansas City, Missouri and we seen about five minutes of the very lightest snow in mid-December, but it melted as soon as it hit the ground. It's very strange. If there isn't any accumulation in the mountains like their ought to be (or very little accumulation), will that mean a lack of run-off from the mountainside? A lot of different ecological systems depend on the nutrients and such that come down in the run-off during the spring. I've also seen some trees and other plant life in the process of blooming as though it were spring, which also has me worried. If we do see the normal kind of freezing and wintery mix that we usually do sometime down the line, it could mean an awful lot of dead trees. To use the metaphor of the living planet from another user's posting, it might seem like mother Earth is having some sort of stroke. It doesn't look good to me because it is very unnatural to have this kind of weather throughout this region. Last year the Kansas City had to pull funding from other services to be able to afford the snow plows and general street cleaning.

South East UK here.
We had one day of snow on the 16th Dec 2011, this only stayed on the grown for a couple of hours!
Since then we have had a couple of days of frost and some very small ice patches. But it has been mild and there have only been a couple of days i've needed gloves and a hat.

I'm more concerned about the kind of summer we could all face.....if things are warming up then summertime could be very unpleasant!

there have been several threads about this. it seems like everyone is having a warm winter. i'm in texas and we don't have very cold winters but it's NEVER 70F in january like it is this year.

North UK here. Further north (in Scotland) they HAVE had snow. Here just a trickle and a problem with ice on just one day so far. It has been oddly mild but we have had record breaking wind and rain.

I also live in S michigan and If you will notice the trees are actually budding. The sugar maples with their red buds are allmost ready to fall off and start the leaf buds. If it does snow it will be cool to see all the red dots in the snow where the "red" buds have fallen off the sugar maples.


Here is a pic I took yesterday of a beech tree bud.


Here is a shot I just took of the sugar maple I mentioned with the "red" buds.


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Yesterday, I went out without a jacket on, here in Kentucky. That's the way it has been so far, for the most part. We did have snow just after the new year and the kids got one snow day off school. After that the temp shot straight back up. 25 or so years ago, getting two feet of snow several times a year wasn't unusual. Things have changed BIG TIME, but this winter has been especially warm. Even with warmer winters, this is the time of year when they're usually brutally cold regardless of how late winter sets in.

here in mid southern MN..warmest 'winter' i've experienced. 40's and mid 40's in janurary AND no snow?!? the grass is still growing even tho we have been having mild winters for a while, this is the worst. weird weird weather....

people forget that northern climates depend on winter freeze and snow for life. no snow means no water come spring...rivers, lakes, farming. super dry conditions then followed by the eventual rains......we all are enjoying the mild weather but, it is comeing at a cost...nothing we can do about it, 'cept change with it

Southern Alberta checking in here. We've had what has seemed to be a constant Chinook (Foehn wind for the europeans) since the beginning of December. Very little snow and daytime highs pretty much consistantly above zero. We even reach 15 C (59F) last week.Infact it has been so warm that many of the trees have buds on them that you would normally see here in april. Kinda hoping it stays warm so we don't loose any. We've also had very destructive wind gusts of up to 149km/h (~93mph) in Calgary, higher outside the city thanks to this weather pattern we are in. Farmers are worried about soil moisture content as well, as the winds are removing every last bit of it. Large grass fires have also ravaged farmland outside the city, driven by the high winds and dry conditions.

We were supposed to have the coldest winter in recent memory, so much for that so far. Enviroment Canada should just give up on long term forcasts for us as they are useless.