> cRay wrote: > It's been unseasonably warm for the past 5+ winters around here.
Here's what a local weather dude says about MN: Stephanie Holeve writes, "Is there any way to predict how many more years we can expect unusually warm winters? Is there a possibility that this is a permanent phenomenon?" Great question; the trends are increasingly hard to ignore. Could this be a typical 21st century winter? Shorter, milder, with fewer subzero nights, the snow that does fall melts faster. 2000 and 1996 were classic tough winters, but they were the exception, not the rule. One can measure the severity of a winter many ways: the average temperature, the amount of snow, the frequency of subzero lows, quantity of sunlight. One interesting measure is the number of days with at least 1" or more of snow on the ground. By that measure our winters are, in fact, shrinking. National Weather Service data shows an average of 90 days/year with >1" of snow, averaged for the 60s, 70s and 80s. The 1990s brought an average of 86.5 days/year with 1" or more, but the last 5 years have recorded an average of 68 days with snow. Will this be another 2004, when there was only 46 days of snow cover? I hear more winter weather enthusiasts commenting about the unpredictability of our snow season. We've lost some of our Winter Mojo, a blessing for many, a curse for others. Sunday's cold rain changes to snow over northern Minnesota; a winter storm watch is posted up north for 3-6" of icy snow north of Brainerd. A little wet snow may decorate metro lawns late New Year's Even with a whopping inch of slush possible by daybreak. Shoveling may be optional any snow melts by midweek as highs approach 40 (above zero!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade & integrate Adobe Coldfusion MX7 with Flex 2 http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:223816 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
