Milder Winter?

[W1RKW]

NOAA states we're in a weak El Nino and that typically means a milder winter.  I hope so.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WEATHER/09/13/weather.nino.reut/index.html

[John Holotko]

I hope to God that we have an extremely mild winter with temps no lower than 50. I pray that I don;t have to see a single flake of snow or ice this winter. Winter sucks and so does snow. I hope it stays very warm this winter and leads right back into an extremely hot and humid summer. I love the very  hot weather. I think I'd do great on the equator.

[Carl WA1KPD]

Have to disagree.
Looking for a lot of good snow, cold wx sking and /1 oepration in the evening from Maine

[John Holotko]

Have to disagree.
Looking for a lot of good snow, cold wx sking and /1 oepration in the evening from Maine

Actually I was being a bit facetious in my  calling for an extremely hot summer. The extreme heat we can do without.  Matter of fact I am actually looking forward to the cooler weather. It will be a pleasure not to have to run fans and air conditioners for a few months.  And I don' tmind some snow. A fresh snow cover and a brisk wind adds a nice touch to the otherwise drab winter scenery. Only real problem I have with snow is that it always tends to come at the worst possible times. Otherwise I can appreciate the change of seasons. I don;t think I'd want to live in a place where it's the same all year. I like the variety of the northeast New York/New England area.
 

[k4kyv]

I hope we just have a normal winter.  The last 10 years or so, our winters have been more like what is expected in central Alabama. 

We used to always get a few days of subzero temps every winter (here in northern middle TN).  But I haven't seen it even reach zero in at least a decade.  The coldest I ever remember seeing here was about -18° F.  The record is supposed to be -20.

When we have a period extreme cold in the winter, the bugs are less of a nuisance the following summer.  But at least, the mild winters have helped the pocketbook, considering the price of heating fuel in recent years.

When I lived in the Boston area, I didn't mind the winter temperatures or the snow.  What bothered  me was the long duration of the winter season.  It seemed like in the spring, warm weather would never come.  But I hate the hot, nasty summer we have here with its humidity, ticks and poison ivy.  The best month of the year for this region is just round the corner, October.

If there is an El Niño forming in the Pacific, then from what I have noticed in the past we can expect, along with a mild winter, summer-like QRN all winter long. 

[Bill, KD0HG]

The country as a whole needs a cold, snowy winter. 60% of the CONUS is in drought conditions.

Here in the west, hundreds of thousands of acres of pine forest are dying off because of a pine beetle. Entire mountainsides are covered with standing dead forest.
It isn't a pretty sight.

It takes a prolonged period of -30F to kill off the beetle larvae, which we haven't seen for a long time. More moisture would let the trees produce more pine sap, a defense that prevents the beetles from boring into the tree. Combined with fire suppression over the last hundred years, it's a triple whammy. Like almost everywhere else, they just can't let forest fires burn themselves out anymore, too many folks live out in the back country now.

Maybe the winter odds will favor us this time.

[k4kyv]

Here in the west, hundreds of thousands of acres of pine forest are dying off because of a pine beetle. Entire mountainsides are covered with standing dead forest.  It isn't a pretty sight.

I noticed the same thing on Mt. Mitchel a few weeks ago when we took a trip to Asheville, NC.

[k7yoo]

View Inconvenient Truth when you get a chance.
Winters are not what they were even 10 years ago. When I first moved to Winona in the mid 80's we would get some extended - temps that froze our local lakes over so you could drive your pickup out there to drill your ice fishing hole. This is now pretty dicey.
Skip

[wa1knx]

that pine beetle wiped out one of our trees way up here in maine. 2yrs ago, it got so
cold, it froze down 6-7' to block my mom's cellar drain system, and she had a flood.
good news, no more beetles and the stupid stupid yellow jackets were down to a
minimum last fall!

[K1JJ]

and the stupid stupid yellow jackets were down to a
minimum last fall!

I'm amazed this year - I've been out in the field every nice day this summer and have not been ambushed by hornets or yellow jackets once this year! They usually get me in Sept, but so far nothing. Even the ticks are non-existent. Some years ago Yaz set a record of having 23 ticks combed off after a run. Now I don't even need the FrontLine insect repellant on his neck.. no ticks.

They certainly run in cycles.

An interesting fact I read: Did you know that oak tress have a three year cycle with their acorns? Every third year they have very few and it causes the squirrels to starve. Otherwise the squirrels would multiply and wipe out the oak population. I notice the same cycle with the nut trees here.

A few days ago I laid out a BIG bag of shelled peanuts. The first day there was just nibbles. But after they got a taste, the next day there was just shells. Just like getting a first taste of shushi, yes Dino?

T

[N0BST]

There was a time when Greenland was actually green rather than the snow-covered island we know it to be now.  It's just a normal earth cycle and Algore's bloviations about it being our fault are bogus.

Scott Todd

[John Holotko]

There was a time when Greenland was actually green rather than the snow-covered island we know it to be now.  It's just a normal earth cycle and Algore's bloviations about it being our fault are bogus.

Scott Todd

Yeah, but al gore got it from somewhere. Must of got  it from people like this

www.realclimate.org

[WA1GFZ]

Tom Vu,
I only saw a few yellow jackets early in the spring. Also some a week ago. very light this year. I have not seen a single tick. I think the cold spring set them back a few generations.