The Weather. It is the end of January in Southern New England (CT). Every night the weatherman says "seasonal temperatures will prevail", they are 40's during the day, rarely dipping below freezing at night. In my grandpa's day, the deep, wide Thames River froze solid enough that special spiked horseshoes were put on the farm horses & sleigh races were held on it. In my childhood, every year ice breaker ships had to come up the river so the coal barges could get through. My Dad built us an igloo that lasted for weeks. I have pix of the ectra-large mailbox having to be shoveled out. We had the Blizzard of '78.
Now, suddenly, 40's is correct???!! My grandmother's daffodils, along with every other Spring-flowering thing, bloom at least 3 weeks earlier than ever.
Methinks the powers that be wish to divert us with Fake News, again. Scary global-warming fake news!
The same is true here in Oregon. Growing up, summers were very wet up until mid to late July. It often rained on the 4th of July; and sometimes we didn't really get summer weather until August. Some summers it was overcast and too cool to swim in the lakes and rivers most of the time. I live in the Umpqua Valley, btw.
Now, we have long, hot, dry summers, delayed Fall, and a much dryer rainy season. Blooms are showing up on trees and plants as early as January. And, the grass would always go dormant for the winter--not now. It doesn't grow as fast as in the Spring, but it still grows.
Liverpool yesterday 31st Jan a high of 14C = 57F (or 287 Kelvin if you are being pedantic). I remember the winter of 62/63 (just) snowdrifts higher than my very young head. We still went to school though, even when the school bus could not take us to the gate because of drifts. It lasted until March
Well, I would have been talking to the TV saying”. “What the actual F, these are NOT seasonal temperatures you FING moron”. You don’t know me well enough to know that I almost never drop the F-bomb. And that weatherman is either a clueless dolt or he has been told to say what he is saying. I’d change the channel; I would not trust what any of the other newscasters report.
I actually Have said that to the TV, LOL!
@AnneWimsey My comments to the TV, often shouted as a form of primal scream therapy, are unfortunately not printable here.
I have worn shorts to work all winter. I work in retail & it is warm in the store. I even wore shorts yesterday during our 'snow storm' (dusting). Even growing up on the coast it was cold enough to wear pants, now I am on the mountains and I am wearing shorts. The temps have stayed in the 50s for the most part - a sporadic 40 here or there. Nights have been in the high 30s or 40s....
But global warming is a hoax.......
I live right on lake Erie I go to work at 5:30 in the morning I brushed my car off three times in the last 2 years before going to work I do not drive my car with obstructed vision, yeah no problem at all.
Of course the "normal" may well be based on average, which alters with time, and a few decades of mild winters will pull the average up, thus lessening the apparent effects of warming. Statistics can be dangerous and misleading, while still being true in a purely mathematical sense.
So far, here in the UK, this has been one of the mildest winters I can remember hardly a frost.
I remember the Blizzard of '78. I visited Massachusetts then.
A few of my palms which were healthy since the 1970's have dried up and died.
There are huge piles of dead branches giving me a lot of yard work and hauling now.