Hopefully the woolies are wrong . . . or the predictors, I should say.

Haven't seen them here in our area yet but one thing for sure here - it is NOT a normal fall. We had one of the driest Septembers ever (we were not in drought over the summer, which is common, but we were last month!). Now we are having an abnormal wet October.

Regarding winter thankfully I live in the south! We do have winter here but it is milder and shorter than many areas.

Chijim sent this to me this AM, as I have been whining about WARM temps of 75 here in Maine this week, and I like cool, crisp fall days. We have also had a record dry Sept, and October has been so far. We hope to get an inch of rain today.

"AccuWeather reports:
Cold air will surge into the Northeast in late November, but the brunt of the season will hold off until January and February. The polar vortex, the culprit responsible for several days of below-zero temperatures last year, will slip down into the region from time to time, delivering blasts of arctic air."

âÂÂI think, primarily, weâÂÂll see that happening in mid-January into February but again, itâÂÂs not going to be the same type of situation as we saw last year, not as persistent,â AccuWeather.com Expert Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said.
âÂÂThe cold of last season was extreme because it was so persistent. We saw readings that we havenâÂÂt seen in a long time: 15- to 20-below-zero readings.âÂÂ

"Snow accumulation is also expected to be higher than usual, with especially heavy hits to Philadelphia and New York City.
According to CNN, a polar vortex is the âÂÂcirculation of strong, upper-level winds that normally surround the northern pole in a counterclockwise direction.â Generally, these winds are confined to the region, but the winds have been known to distort, and dip much further south than usual."

Ha ha.....DH just took the snow blower in for repair. And I am trying to decide if I want to retire in December so I can just stay cozy all winter at home, or stick it out until June and put up with commuting in the snow and cold.

I'm dreading winter, especially if it is anything like last winter! It's no fun to tell your kids that they can't play in the snow.... on a snow day from school.... because it's too cold outside.

amj - i hear you about not being able to let the kids out when there's snow, but extreme negative temps!!

The Almanac, and Washington State Climatologists are saying the same for us....Above normal winter temps and below normal rainfall for WA and OR, average rainfall in Northern Calif.

Sounds like a good winter to me, on both the pocketbook and the soul :) Only drawback, while I don't ski, I don't like to see the snowpack too low in winter, begins with lost revenue for the ski areas and surrounding businesses, then impacts the rest of the state over the next months.

I have seen a couple wooly bear this season in my garden.

We know someone who likes to predict winter weather and she says it will be a mild winter. She is part Indian and uses knowledge from that culture to predict weather.
She is adamant! So, we shall see.

This year we have had an extreme number of woolly bear caterpillars. Most are black but we also have the lighter ones too. My hope for the winter is cold enough to bring the grasshoppers under control, enough snow pack to keep forest fires down and enough moisture to get the drought out of here but in such a way that the road does not become a mud bog. The predictions for El Nino have been all over the place this year so all I can do is sit back and see how it goes.

Nooooooo, I'm just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Last winter was bad enough I don't want another one.

At least DH retired a few months ago so he can help man the snow thrower while I make the hot chocolate.

Nooooooooo, from me too. I simply can't take another winter like last winter. Ugh.

Snow days from school! Seriously, they cancel school if there is an inch of snow.

You can all keep your cold and snow, but we need some rain here in So. CA. Hardly any rain in my area, during the last 2 wet/winter seasons.

Hey chispa, yes we WILL take the snow! Sock it to our mountains and fill us up with he melt. Someday. Sigh.
But, my3 and chijim, what I got out of this post was a cozy feeling of the camaraderie here on gw. Love it!

I should probably head to CA...I can make it rain wherever I go...I made it rain in Las Vegas, and I even made it rain on the dry side of HI where they only get 2" of rain a year! When we were vacationing in England, they were complaining about how much rain they were having. I said, doesn't it always rain in England? And they said, not like this!

All I need to do is plan an outdoor picnic or wash a car. It'll pour!
;)

Without any sources, many here are expecting a hardy winter. Already have a foot on Pikes Peak. Oddly the same weather as Tinam. And I hate to be the odd man out, but am ready for snow, snow, snow. When it snows here the day time temps are close to nice in the 50s. Plus we need the moisture and snow for the skiing industry. One has already opened and chains required a couple of days ago on the major I to get through the mountains.

There are times I question school closings and/or short days. But if the temps are single digit and below, far safer for the kids. Roads become ice arenas, snow only would be fine.

Hope all doesn't have to go through what you did last winter.