J Paul Gordon

Rain 47F and going up.

So when has the climate NOT been changing? We are in a warming spell. A significant amount of it is human driven, some is probably a natural thing. In my grandson's lifetime we'll probably be moaning about the pinwheels and fields of glass scaring the countryside and using fusion, hydrogen, and who knows what else to drive our vehicles and supply our power. No one can be absolutely sure how long it will take the oceans to absorb the excess CO2 and when we'll enter a natural cooling spell. The long and short of it is that the ice will someday come back (most likely a lot of lifetimes from now) and then it will melt and sea levels will rise, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum. The climate keeps changing and the weather is fickle. Let's enjoy the show. Would I like to see some real 2015 like snow stretched over an entire winter? You bet! But I'm not going to whine about a beautiful 50F day with the low winter sun and long shadows under a perfectly blue sky. Maybe I'm just getting old and with a limited number of years to go, everday is good enough. Let's hear it for Christmas, white or green, and its message of hope born in the least expected place and least convenient time.

May you be at the hypocenter and me on the farthermost outer edge of it. Of course, your neighbors (and your near and dear) may not feel as blessed as you with hurricane force gusts.

Me. I'll take it. Smack in the middle of some of the best snow.

The original Rudolph guided Santa through fog, not snow. Guy who wrote it was supposedly inspired by a thick fog in NYC. Lots of stories about Robert May's inspiration in 1939, but that is one of them. So, yeah, let's stop with the "White Christmas" mania, especially here in SNE. Up north, its a different story, but fog and rain are more common down here. Let's start dreaming of a Wild Sou'wester on Christmas Eve. Sincerely yours, The Grinch.

50F high today 28 low. Looks like a wild ride tomorrow night into Monday. Would be nice to see a few flakes at the end of it, but not putting much down on that.

Snow in the late Christmas Eve Day into Christmas night range in interior SNE. (Not for the whole period unless we get lucky. Anywhere from a wet couple of inches to something more significant). Rudolph told me. PS Average high temps here for the 10-15 December are in the 40-42 F range. Average high around Christmas is 37. So the AN outlook is normal to above but doesn't consitently hit the "torch" range.

Its November 10th and people are freaking out about an entire winter ahead. Some things never change. One of the reasons I love this Board.

High of 36 Low 33. A raw November day here.

Where is the "torch" people were talking about? And what constitutes a "torch" in November. Last year it got up into the mid 70's here more than once. I can understand that being called a torch. But is a 60F day in November a torch or just a sort of normal warm November day?

70-75 for most of SNE on T day. Higher in the CT Valley, a little lower in the higher elevations of the Worcester Hills. Real possibility of some 80 + readings. Mid 60's to low 70s for Christmas. No significant snow before Jan 15 if we are lucky. Got up to 64 here today.

Any likelihood that we'll see the mid seventies we had last November? I remember hiking on a nice trail on Wattaquodock Hill on a day that felt like early September.

I'm working on positive negativity this year. When someone says it will be AN, I'm going for historically (and hysterically) AN. This way we can confuse the weather demons into giving us just the opposite. On occasion, I'll get serious and listen to the real mets--who actually know what they are talking about.

Upper 80s in the Connecticut Valley on T day. Near 80 right up to the Canadian border. No need for further discussion. We are doomed.

Dews remained in low fifties here througout this ordeal so it never actually felt hot.

I would absolutely believe them and add 5 degrees to it.

Hit 77 here. Glad to see it go. I'm sure November will have a slew of 25 degrees AN days, too. Feels nice and wrong at the same time--like snow in May.

When will the Torchvember thread be up?

These the forecast temps here tomorrow? Hit 75 here today. Just about that warm on the Maine coast when we left Wells at 2:30. Temp dropped from 80 in Bolton to 74 here at Ridgefield just five miles west.

I'm going with the idea that if I say it will be a much above normal winter with almost no significant snowfall it will end up being cold and snowy. There is a psychobabbel term for this. So, for the record, its going to be a well AN winter with very little snow. Temps near 70 on Christmas Day and no snow until after January 15th.

Have a feeling it will be. I'm usually wrong, though.

Since the first week's heat wave ended, high temps here have averaged in the mid-sixties, which is hardly extreme. Lows have averaged in the mid-fifties, which is quite a bit above average for this time of year. Altogether, it's been quite pleasant. It seems like GW has hit hardest with the low temps. Our highs are generally about the same as always, sometimes even a bit lower. That works for me. I'd take an average high of 30 in January and a low of 20. It would give us the same average as now but with more snow retention. At any rate, whining about the weather is useless since it never seems cathartic for those who have a habit of doing it.

We have a place in Wells. No frost in the long-range until the very end of the month. Huge difference between being a mile from the water and 10 miles inland in Sanford.

Got down to 40 here on 9/27, 9/28. We're about eleven miles southeast of Fitchburg Municipal Airport.

Looks like a warm first week and then pretty close to normal afterward. Might call it "Torchtober" if the whole month looked exceedingly AN, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Perhaps "Mildtober" would be better?