Weather 2012

[cohan]

Sandy was half of the national news cast here tonight, too! Of course it's still a pretty significant storm for eastern Canada, too, one death already in Toronto, from windblown debris, and they mentioned 4 metre waves on lake Ontario; at least 70,000 people in Quebec and Ontario without power already, far more in the U.S.... I only recall one hurricane remnant from my 10 years in Toronto, but it wasn't that distinguishable from any other wet windy day..
Hope all are well and power outages are not too long lasting ..
Our forecast is for still below 0C temps next 2 days, then up to 10C by the weekend..

[Spiegel]

Just got the power back and fortunately only minimal damage.  My son was not so lucky.  A neighbor's tree crashed through his roof with one huge branch coming through the guest room (fortunately unoccupied at the time).  He has live power lines 4' above his front lawn.  We know so many people who have had terrible damage but are all safe.

[cohan]

Good to hear you and yours are safe, Anne, I know that's not true for everyone..

[McDonough]

Unusually warm weather today, 61 F and sunny (16 C), supposed to be 70 F (21 C) tomorrow.

[cohan]

And we've been mostly below average since winter descended on October 20 and we have had snow since then, even though we had some melting a couple of days; now around a foot (variably) on the ground.. We got to somewhere below -20C the other night, but now are supposed to warm up again, possibly as high as 5C daytime this week, average now is 0C..

[Hoy]

Somebody do think we need help

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLqyuxm96k" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJLqyuxm96k</a>

[cohan]

! My internet connection is not nearly good enough right now to try to see videos-- is this a serious effort?


The last few days we were several degrees above freezing, but now we have a week forecast with highs from -4  to -14, today through Thursday the coldest.. Snow forecast for 3 of 7 days, but doesn't look like it should be much (knock on wood!)

[Hoy]

! My internet connection is not nearly good enough right now to try to see videos-- is this a serious effort?

No, it is a parody and ironic work of students (if I remember right)

[Howey]

Trond - I really enjoyed the video and was gullible enough to think it was for real.  However, even as a parody, it is well done and I have deep admiration for the people who made it - and aren't they a good looking lot?  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

[cohan]

! My internet connection is not nearly good enough right now to try to see videos-- is this a serious effort?

No, it is a parody and ironic work of students (if I remember right)

That's good- I thought maybe with your recent rain the country was washing away 

[Hoy]

Fran, it has has ricocheted past days here!

Rumors say that somebody had seen the sun for 10 minutes yesterday! And today I saw it for myself as I had the sun in my back and an impressive rainbow in front when I drew home. However, we had gale force wind last night with heavy rain and a thunderstorm is due tonight. Still 8-11C though. The forecast says colder weather with some sun next week. I don't believe it before I see it

[externmed]

or Weather 2013. (whether or not we like it)
Predict -6F (-21C) Wed night in NE Massachusetts, USA.  This takes me below what I feel is the effective USA zone 6a.  Some snow tonight.  Our coldest weather may come Feb. 7-14; so this winter may be quite a ride.  Will be spreading some salt marsh hay and putting out bait for voles, perhaps after digging out in the AM.  Will try to cover Allium "Summer Drummer", approaching 2 ft in height, with Styrofoam.  Will cover Cyclamen hederifolium and purpurescens/repandum, which are all wonderfully leafed out, so inappropriately for a long, dim, frigid winter.  Neighbor in adjacent town reported Cyclamen growing in her lawn, so with gardening, there's always a place for hope (I hope).

Charles Swanson Massachusetts USA z 6a (lows possibly from -13F to 3F more or less)

[Tim Ingram]

I think officially the UK has had the wettest year on record (and probably our records go back as long as anywhere). Where we are in Kent our average rainfall is about 25 inches per year - this year we have reached over 35 inches! It is all relative of course and there are many people in areas of higher rainfall in the west, and near rivers, who have had a really bad time. For many of the later flowering woodland species it has been a real benefit. However, to put this in perspective I think the lowest rainfall ever recorded in the UK was in Kent, back in the 1920's, at around 10 inches or less, and we generally fluctuate between around 20 inches (very rare) and 30 inches (more common). This will all seem very mild for those gardeners in continental climates, or further north in Scandinavia, where the weather is so much more dramatic, but we are a nation of definite weather watchers!!

[Peter George]

We got about 5 inches of snow yesterday, and the snow cover is finally 'right' for my garden. I like about 8-10 inches on the ground before the temps drop into the single digits, which is what we're expecting this next week. I planted quite a few marginally hardy things last year, and it will be interesting to see how they do over a winter. Last year was such an anomaly that there is really no comparison. So far this year is much more normal. I hope it continues.
My special plant this year is Pyrrosia sheareri, a fern collected by Steve Doonan on Taiwan, and obtained from Far Reaches Nursery in Port Townsend, WA last March. Far Reaches is a very special nursery and one you should visit on the net.

[cohan]

Still considering ourselves lucky here compared to so  many places with troublesome weather! Our winter (at least as measured by snow on the ground) started very early, but while we've had a lot of below average temps since late Oct, on the other hand we still haven't had much in terms of extreme cold, which we could have easily by now.. Also no really heavy snowfalls even though it's been white more than 2 months..
knock on wood!