Sunday, August 23, 2015

Forecast: An Uncertain Winter






New Zealand school bus signals keeping kids safe! NV buses have stop signs, flashing lights and lots of markings.




The leaves are starting to turn to gold on the cottonwood trees. What happened to summer? Yellow lights flash in school zones as a reminder to slow down to 15 mph. Orange buses trundle through the neighborhoods to pick up sleepy kids getting into the swing of classes.


Weather specialists are forecasting a wet, wet winter. The discussion on snow vs. rain is still on the table as the experts decide whether we will have stacks of snow by October or not until January, if at all.
Winter 2015  Will it rain..
or snow


The fruitless mulberry tree out front holds its deep green leaves the longest. A deep November frost usually freezes them all and drops them to the ground overnight. 




The first hard freeze of fall knocks the leaves off all at once.


I’m preparing for a long, hard winter. I’ll have one stack of wood near the house without being a fire hazard, and replenish it from the stack against the far fence. The signs point to days of being snowbound without power and cooking on the woodstove. I thrive on sunshine, so a mild winter is okay with me. 



This stack is close to the house so we don't have to venture far in the freezing temperatures.

What is the winter forecast for your area? Is there anything special you do so you’re ready to face it?

15 comments:

  1. Oh gosh I surely hope that there is a mild winter in my area this year. The last few winters have been really brutal for us!

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  2. I have seen two different predictions. I am going with the one that says it is going to be a mild winter.

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  3. Winter in Wisconsin....COLD. It would be ok if we got a good amount of snow but I live on the border of Il and WI and lately it's just been cold and not enough snow.

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  4. I am in Florida so we don't have much of a winter. We don't really prepare at all. I have never seen snow.

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  5. I have dived into the winter forecast yet. I do hear buzz about how much the weather will be different this year. You blog post is actually a good reminder to prepare. I believe that in Texas we are expecting a lot of rain. Here we go ...

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  6. I am hoping for a mild winter. You just never know what nature will do.

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  7. The leaves are already changing here too. It has been a very weird weather year for us. I hope we don't get a lot of snow this year!

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  8. Well you've piqued my curiosity to find out about our area (not that I can really do anything once I do find out!). It's still pretty hot here so hard to imaging winter will be here before we know it.

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  9. I'm so ready for fall. It's been so hot here in NC this summer!

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  10. The changing of the seasons. Always something different.. which is why I like living where we do... sometimes snow, sometimes quite warm. Variety is nice.

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  11. No snow for me this year. I'm finally home (Florida). Not how I intended, but I'm still here and I'm going to enjoy it!

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  12. We are still pretty warm here in Florida. I'm looking forward to some fall weather.

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  13. We usually have to change to snow tires and load up on rock salt. I can't wait to move to Florida and have Summer all year round, lol.

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  14. Not sure what they are predicting but living in Wisconsin we are ready for just about anything. We start getting winter ready in October.

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  15. Luckily I don't have to deal with snow in my area but I know that I hate winter stil. I can't stand the cold air or the frozen temps!

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