Weather

We are having some very severe weather right now. Noknok, I fear you are getting even worse weather. I hope all will be well with you. Tornadoes and thunderstorms, oh my.

It is very windy here right now. I hope all the leaves I didn't get raked up yet blow out of my yard because leaves that my neighbor left in his yard are blowing into my yard. A friendly, neighborhood leaf exchange.

Same here.

Well, no actual tornadoes but across the river there were numerous trees down. One man dead in his home when a tree hit and cars in driveways smashed. Lots of power outages. Today, cooler and beautiful. What can I say?

WE didn't have a tornado either but we did have tornado warnings. That alone is almost unheard of in Conn.

We had driving winds but no real rain or damage. Tomorrow we may get an ice storm in the morning. I'm not looking forward to that.

I suppose winter had to arrive sooner or later, but I'd rather it came on gradually, not jump from 70 degrees to ice storms! What a strange fall.

This was taken 10 minutes ago here in Maine.

Candy, I'm in northern Poughkeepsie! We got HAMMERED Friday night. I LOVE storms but that one made me nervous. Winds over 60 MPH and horizonal rain for about a half hour. We never lost power, I can't believe it. I did lose a few cable channels but that's all. Lucky is an understatement!

Tom

Candy, i just saw this thread. Somehow that storm just about passed me by, barely a twig
down! My gardening friend, just 3 miles up 9W had roof shingles and minor house parts down,
plus his business sign, and the top 15 feet of a mature white pine snapped off.

I didn't realize it was so bad around the area. Our Open House took a beating though;
-very few people showed up second weekend, I guess the weather scared them off.

Now it's just plain arctic! I chickened out on my favorite Dahlia that I was going to overwinter under straw. Just got it into shelter last minute.
The rabbits are already eating my Euonymous, Fothergilla, Viburnums and Cotoneaster.
GRRRR! Hope the Coyotes get them (they're howling nearby every other night it seems!
The ponds are freezing over.
Time to dig out the long underwear, *sigh*, I hate them.

The bird/squirrel cafeteria outside the bay window in my workshop is a big party!
The first lot of seed had grain moths in it from last year. The birds went NUTS, throwing
all the seed on the porch to get to the larvae.

Pixie, that looks soo cold. I really don't want to be outside anymore. Enough cold for a lifetime!
I'm just focussing on the "winter work", there's so much of it, winter is barely enough for it.

There should be Crocus in a couple of months, folks...

I noticed that the ground was frozen yesterday. That's a mixed blessing. I can safely mulch up the perennials but the walking is hard. The dog doesn't have to wipe her feet when coming in but it's too cold to stay out long. lol.
Andy P

Gosh the weather is just crazy everywhere isn't it? I am in Northern Ontario Canada and lets just say we have seen some strange weather here in the last few years. We actually had an earthquake that rattled the house - that is almost unheard up way up here.

Off topic here but has anyone seen that documentary from Al Gore? We watched it a few weeks ago and boy that certainly was scary! It was all about global warming. I recommend watching it if you haven't seen it.

Crocus, what a pleasant thought Noknok. Andy, don't know if the ground is frozen or not as I'm too busy rushing around with seasonal activities. Thought I would have a day of down time (catch up at home time really) tomorrow but then was reminded of commitment for the afternoon. Oh well.

Have switched to suet and have Downy's and nuthatches. Saw an unfamiliar wren this morning. Unfortunately by the time I get in it's too dark to see any birds. I never dug up the gladiolas and I never moved the carpet rose. I still have unplanted bulbs.

Yesterday we had a dusting of snow on the ground and with the wind chill under 20 degrees all day, the school had indoor recess. Today was much more pleasant. Maybe tomorrow some lights will go up outside.

Dawn, haven't seen Gore's film although I expect I will some time. I think our weather patterns are different. Winters are milder, but storms seem more damaging when they come. Guess I don't really know if that's true, but it seems that way to me. This is our 16th year in this house. This isn't what I remember winter being like.

Candyinpok you are absolutely right in that the storms ARE becoming more severe! You really have to watch that documentary. It talks about all that stuff. Gosh we are going to see MAJOR changes in the next few decades...sad.

Hi all, I guess NJ is offically Mid Atlantic, so maybe that is why my weather is a little diffferent then others have posted, but even some of the more southern states seem to have colder weather then me. We did have a few frosts and 2 days of cold, one real freeze at 29 degrees so all the flowers were lost, with wind chill down low. Now it has bounced back again to the 50's. I have had snowdrops blooming for weeks now, on and off. All of my late winter, early spring, weeds like chickweed and ground ivy are growing and even blooming a little. I did hear on the news that one of the major insurance companies is pulling out of NJ because we are now considered in the hurricane zone. Neighboring towns have had tornados in the past year. No snow this year yet.

We normally always have snow for Christmas but it has been so mild it has already all melted and there is no white outside at all. It wouln't surprise me if we don't get any snow till January. It has been above zero celcius here for over a week now. I live in Northern Ontario and this is definitely unusual weather for us. No snow for Christmas - boohooo :-(

It finally feels cold out tonight. The funny thing is that I just planted out more tulips. Home Depot was blowing them out at 75% off so I couldn't resist. This is the latest into the year that I've ever planted bulbs, but I suspect they'll come up just fine in the spring given how unusual this fall was around here.

Good for you John. Wish I had.

I am sure your bulbs will come up just fine :)

I guess in the meantime we should just try to enjoy this nice weather right???

Much cooler here today although still above normal.

Heard a discussion about snowfall yesterday on Public radio. Apparently, Dec. 24 is the record in the Albany area for the first 1/2 inch snow fall of the year. Because of forecasts, we are set to break that record. Usually the first 1/2 inch or more snowfall occurs toward the end of November. So, we're regularly breaking the record daily high temperature and now the snowfall amounts. Some forecasters are predicting a harsh winter later this winter and some a milder than normal winter season. Seems curious to me. High today will be 51 degrees and it's already 45.5 outside.

Look like rain for Christmas in the Buffalo area. a little disappointing. it may snow a little Christmas night, but that's anticlimatic. I don't want any of it after Christmas LOL

Ugh we have a freezing rain warning here - anywhere from 2-5mm...then by tomorrow it is suppose to turn to just rain and probably melt all the ice. Looks like it will definitely be a green Christmas here too. Feels strange having rain at this time of year...it feel like just fall outside instead of winter hehehe.

The days are now getting longer!!!!

Rain here tomorrow, starts as a mix but turns to straight rain by the end of it. My kids were in Virginia @ 7:30 this morning. Should be here by 8-9 tonight, I'm soooooo excited!! DH & I didn't sleep very well last night knowing they were driving straight through from Florida, can't eat either. I'll get the muchies around 10 tonight, then i'll pass out when I know they are all home. LOL

Lot of rain here but that's fine with me, I don't have to shovel that!
I hope the rest of winter is as mild as the fall was!

Happy holidays and new year to all!

Tom

Hi all,
Something strange is going on, in my opinion. I visited relatives in Pawling NY, a normally very cold area, for X-mas, and saw forsythia bushes with scattered blossoms and some live old foliage on top of the bushes. Where I live, just a few miles north of the Bronx/Westchester line, I have the following IN FLOWER right now-several Korean mums, corydalis ochroleuca, and a Nemesia species from South Africa. Unheard of in past years that I recall. Phygelius "African Queen" still has all of its glossy green eaves and even a few green seedpods. Salvia greggii cvs are also with foliage (blooms were burned off a couple of weeks ago when we did get a cold spell), Nicotiana basal foliage is green, my primroses are growing new leaves, and a helleborus is showing a pink flower bud. Moraea polystachya foliage has not been burned off as it normally would be by now (this fall blooming bulb is hardier than people think, but being winter growing it often gets cut down before it finishes its cycle.) As I reported in the Dahlia forum, a tree dahlia actually bloomed in the Bronx a few weeks ago before it was cut down by frost days later-a highly unlikely event for such a late flowering plant species so far north.
If we make it to New Years and I still have blooms in the garden (and weather forecasts indicate that this will indeed be the case), and if the snowdrops bloom in Feb (as they do in all but the most severe years--of course if this keeps up it could well be January this time--I see them poking up already) it will be the first year I had 12 months of flowers in my small garden!
I teach high school science (including Advanced Placement Environmental Science last year), and it is obvious to me that global warming is real and already here. The weather may change, but the trend is obvious, the causes complicated but surely enhanced by our human actions. Locally this may not be such a bad thing, but I am deeply concerned about the global effects. I did some googling earlier to see what gardeners elsewhere in the world are noting, and I see gardeners elsewhere around the world noting similar things. I really dread if either the offshore continental crust methane hydrate deposits or methane bound in the (melting) permafrost are released in significant quantity--just google Eocene thermal maximum or Permian Triassic extinction to see what kind of global effects this may have had in the distant past.
As gardeners we see things happening before others notice. We are so attuned to the weather and the emergence and flowering of plants in our gardens. I looked at the Arbor day maps online and was amazed at how the zones have shifted northwards by hundreds of miles in some areas. As a person who doesn't like cold nor snow I may enjoy this change in my small garden, but I do wonder what the larger effects will be.
Anyways, I do want to wish all a Happy New Year and a great upcoming gardening year!
Ernie (Tuckahoe, NY)

Oh great! The world is coming to an end...but happy New Year! ;).

It is frightening. Less and less disagreement about it these days. Maybe we will start to do something soon.

Happy new year to you too!

How do we dismiss the two days of snow in Florida before we ever got it, Dave? Global warming hasn't seem to hit Colorado either.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from me and the cats!

In a time of transition there is disruption of weather patterns. This could lead to snow in FL. So, as you could something at a great price during a time of wicked inflation, you could have snow in Fl during global warming. Meanwhile the over-all, global trend is warming. Glaciers melting etc. I really don't know enough about it to do it justice but I do think it needs our attention because of the possible outcomes.

Happy New Year to you too.

Happy New Year Yankee! Do you really keep up with the Northwest Forum too or was that a mistake in your response to this week's poll?

Thanks, Dave!

Hi,
well I have a silly forsithia blooming inside... is just in water but look global warming is happening in my cold house... my house is cold...

all kiding aside, I am surprised with the weather here... I only remember a winter like this in 1990... really mild and no snow until way late january... well, not that people in colorado would call that mild!!!1

I remember that winter quite well and it was very mild - even January 1st was a gorgeous, sunny day - our wedding day.

How sweet pirl...a early Happy Anniversary to you and DH.
It is DG 's 8th Birthday on the 1st also, she's very excited as she has just realized she will always have her Birthday off! (school, job, ect...)

Dave47 - freudian typo. (That is not the first time that has happened either.)

So, pixie, your DD and SIL just missed out on the tax deduction with that one! that is kind of neat always having your birthday be a holiday.

temps are hovering around freezing here and I'm putting things together to start my wintersowing (first time!)

I'm worried about my brother & DSIL in Baton Rouge. hurricane hit yesterday. I should try to call today. I never call in the middle of a crisis because DSIL is a nurse and is always at the hospital and DB never answers the phone (my whole family is phonaphobic...Dave, is there a real word for that?). phones are probably out of service anyway (now I'm making excuses).

don't know anyone in Colorado but I feel for them. we've been socked in by that kind of relentless snow and it's scary. and it must have put an awful damper on their holidays with people not being able to travel to get together.

Happy New Year to all my friends in the NE! Be safe tonight.

P*E*A*C*E*
jan (gram)

Gram, We showed DG all the newspaper clippings from when she was born....she was really pleased to know she was a star from the moment she came into this world. She was born at 12:20 am...and I was there hooting and a hollering "Happy New year...I'm a Grandmother!!" Thank goodness that wasn't in the paper!

My Birthday is January 1st too and I too was the first baby of the new year!!!