I seem to remember that winters were colder and more hostile years ago when we were kids. For a very long time, perhaps the last 20 or 25 years, winters have been mild. Now all of a sudden this winter seems like an old time winter. It's been cold and nasty for a long time. Maybe it's just a perception, but this winter reminds me of the hostile winters we had when we were kids.

What do you think?

 

For California, this was a wet winter, more like when I was a kid, than the dry ones we've had lately.

 

I was thinking the same thing. This winter is the worst in this area since 1993. Must be that pesky global warming.

 

Actually, the last few winters have been like this, lingering on well into the time when we've come to expect warming temps. I can remember mid March when I'd regularly be out and about in light jackets and shirt sleeves. In 1979, I started riding my motorcycle to work (out of necessity) by the end of the first week of the month. In 1996, we had a major blizzard on April Fool's day and 18 inches of snow the week before the Boston Marathon.

In 1978, we had several inches of snow on 10 May and in 1972, we had a significant snow storm in early April as well.

As to the idea of global warming, it relates to the overall average or mean or median (one of those statistics numbers) temperatures over the entire global surface. 2004 was the warmest year, globally, on record. The only reasonable discussion would involve the impact human activity is having on this versus the natural shifts of temperature over time.

All that said, this month really sucks. I drove home yesterday top down and today, the snow was so bad, my wipers (and those of a pick up I saw) could not handle the volume of snow.

 

This week back in 2002 the temps up this way were in the 50's and I drove to Vt. and bought my S2K.... After that we got a few dustings of light snow...Just to note the temp here now is zero and the wind is howling...chill factor must be 30 below.

 

Yep. The winters of years ago seemed like the recent winters. Never really bothered me until the last few years. The shovelling is wearing me out and we may never recover from all the salt that's been dumped on the roads. It's getting downright depressing!!

 

It seems to me that you folks up North are not getting the winters, particularly the amount of snow, like I remember in the good old days. I'm not sure if it's true or not. It could be that I'm just a lot taller now than in the days I can remember the snow banks and drifts towering way over my head.
And to think that I was young and foolish enough to enjoy it. If we were meant to live in such climates, we would've been born with long underwear.

 

Yeah, my grandmother used to tell me stories about the snow drifts keeping them from getting out of the front door (6' up from the sidewalk) when she was growing up in Chicago.

At any rate, this winter definitely has NOT been severe down here, but the rain has bordered on ridiculous (can't mow without getting the riding mower stuck in the mud....have already had to pull the truck out while trying to retrieve the trailer from beside the garage). My nifty endangered pink panther boots sure have come in handy this winter

 

Quebec city,march 09,it's been snowing since Monday,windy and cold (-18*C)50 cms.of snow since Monday;not appropriate for an S2K cruise top down.

 

A couple days ago our local tv weather said this was our 7th snowiest winter on record, and that was before the snow of the past 2 days. Not many 2' snowfalls but we've had plenty in the 6"-12" range.