Winter's coming FAST

[HEC]

I was really hoping that last years record-setting cold and long winter was a one shot aberration. Apparently not - predictions are for this winter to be even worse. I'm already running the heat in both houses, and it's only the 2nd week of September!! It's usually still in the 80's! Weather for tonight is calling for a hard freeze a bit north of me, and a solid frost here. Yikes. $3.50/gal heating oil is going to be a KILLER.

On the other hand - more opportunities to run my tractor/blower, and we ALL love doing that. Just in case you need some inspiration...though it DOES make me cold just looking at it (pretty deep stuff, eh?):

Your yard looked much like mine last winter , as for the cold I put in a coal boiler 3 years ago and it has already paid for itself , they run much like a pellet stove at half the price of oil .

 

[finn lander]

Last season's real winter did wonders raising the Great Lake levels here in Michigan.
Lake Superior still had ice until last June and Lake Michigan froze coast to coast.
As far as I'm concerned, bring it on again this year. With more water in the aquifer we never had to water
The lawn this summer and the corn crop although planted two weeks late, is looking fantastic.

I don't know much about this climate change thing but it seems like Al Gore. Has been pretty quiet lately. Just say'en.

You're right about the lake levels. I live on Lake Superior, and we have high levels. We saw our worst fall storm here last week. We've lived here for 8 yrs. and we lost a lot of shoreline and our steps going to the lake, as did many of our neighbors.

 

[tcreeley]

Frost last two nights (first of season), warmer today. Last year we had our first frost at the end of October. In the 1980's and early 1990's frosts in the last week of August were common. I wouldn't call last winter a cold one, it just felt like a normal winter. We've just forgotten how things used to be.
All of the local potato farmers have dug and installed irrigation ponds/equipment over the past 5 years. The crop was dying in the fields for lack of rainfall. This summer we had normal rainfall, and I didn't see a single field irrigated. The irrigation will be there for when it is needed, but meanwhile this summer was a bit cooler than last summer.
Cold winter or not...time will tell. A repeat of last year won't be too bad...but I did enjoy the year before- when the melt would get rid of the snow before the next storm!

 

[motownbrowne]

I don't know much about this climate change thing but it seems like Al Gore. Has been pretty quiet lately. Just say'en.

That's right, must be a farce...

Setting records left and right, but yeah, Al Gore was probably wrong.

 

[HEC]

The Sugarloaf ski resort (Maine) started making snow yesterday.

Amazing as it has been so warm here way north of Sugarloaf . I can remember many many years ago going to Sugarloaf and some of the lifts had to shut down as the snow was so high .

 

[TheIglu]

I can tell winter is approaching. All the 3pt hitch snowblowers on Craigslist are absurdly expensive here in New England. $1750 for a 20 year old 60" with rust covering 80%+?

 

[CanadianBeaverS370]

I can tell winter is approaching. All the 3pt hitch snowblowers on Craigslist are absurdly expensive here in New England. $1750 for a 20 year old 60" with rust covering 80%+?

No kidding!!! I'm shopping for a 48-60" and used rust buckets are going for the price of new ones up here. I shopped all summer and yes in the last week a bunch popped up at very high prices

 

[dave1949]

Amazing as it has been so warm here way north of Sugarloaf . I can remember many many years ago going to Sugarloaf and some of the lifts had to shut down as the snow was so high .

I think part of the early snow making is to get the kinks out of the machines, make sure everything is working. Plus anything that does stick will start reflecting the sunlight and cooling the ground faster than it normally would.

Elevation counts for a lot with the local temps but they are warm now, just a few degrees cooler than here.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Awww. You have a blower. Too bad it's on the back. I want a front mount blower because my back and neck hate being wrenched around like that. Until I get one, it's just the FEL and the back blade to wing it off.

Still not anywhere as cold as it was during the Revolutionary period. Then the Hudson River froze so thick they were able to bring cannons across it.

As cold as it was last year, it still wasn't cold enough long enough to freeze the stream (they call it a river, but I think that's an unrealistic aspiration) in the back of my property think enough to walk on for more than a couple of days.

 

[boggen]

as much rain as we have had here. it is going to be a ugly winter.... so much moisture.. just a little warm wave to get that moisture out of the ground, all it will take to issue in a ugly snow storms. :/