LibertyBell

Tomorrow will be warmer.

Many don't realize this, but 2 weeks of cold is plenty. I'm over March "cold" and barely accumulating snow, but the last two weeks of February being more hospitable to snowfall is plenty.

No idea where Lake Naomi is, but my place is near historic Jim Thorpe, PA, and in the mountains overlooking the town, I have a swimming pool, two ponds, and it's gated. Montana is not where most people from here would want to be for a variety of reasons (though the land is amazing.) Vermont is gorgeous.

Interesting that they are considered one of the main reasons the wild population of pheasants has gone down: https://www.pheasantsforever.org/getdoc/bef628f7-35d2-4b82-bac4-2d68d7bffc75/Pennsylvania.aspx PENNSYLVANIA—MOST WILD BIRDS OFF LIMITS FOR NOW Forecast: Pennsylvania’s few wild pheasants live mostly in the state’s four active Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas, where hunting is closed—at least for now. There’s a small chance of finding wild pheasants in agricultural areas elsewhere. But most pheasant hunting this year will be for stocked, pen-raised birds, says Ian Gregg, game management division chief for the Pennsylvania Game Commission. It wasn’t always so. Breeding Bird Survey data from routes run in primary pheasant range counties in southeastern Pennsylvania show that pheasant numbers increased an average 3 percent per year from 1966 to 1974. The population held steady through 1980. But then it plunged. The roadside index fell from 32 birds per route in 1966 to less than a single bird in 2005. According to the Northeast Upland Game Bird Technical Committee report for 2015, “Loss of farmland habitat and intensification of agricultural practices on remaining cropland acres are the primary causes for these declines. In addition, the release of large numbers of game farm pheasants is thought to have greatly reduced the gene pool and survivorship of pheasants in the wild.” The Pennsylvania Ring-necked Pheasant Management Plan 2008–2017, completed in 2009, laid out a two-pronged approach to pheasant recovery. First is restoring wild birds in designated recovery areas. Second is providing put-and-take hunting. https://www.pennlive.com/life/2022/10/why-am-i-seeing-pheasants-in-pennsylvania-again.html A big part of the decline of pheasants in Pennsylvania has been loss of farmland, which dropped from nearly 8.2 million acres in 1974 to about 7.6 million acres in 2017. In addition, according to the commission, “economic trends in agriculture intensified farming practices, herbicides, pesticides, chemical fertilizers increased substantially in use. Increased row crop acreage, urban developments, and the elimination of fencerows on agricultural lands also are thought to have accelerated the decline in pheasant populations.” And two hard winters in 1977 and 1978 further depressed pheasant populations. The commission attempted to offset declining populations by mass producing and releasing more pheasants, but it soon became apparent that that only resulted in a bird of reduced quality, with a loss of hardiness and increased tameness. Early snowfall disrupts pheasant stocking by Pa. Game Commission Partly in response to declining pheasant numbers and places to hunt pheasants, but also as part of overall declines in participation in hunting, the number of hunters has fallen from a peak high of more than 700,000 in 1971 to about 65,000 to 75,000 in the past few years.

I was thinking around 4 too and it looked really nice on the trees

we used to have wild ones but they disappeared years ago haven't seen one out there since 1994 or 1995.

How do you still remember this storm lol. I don't remember much about it at all except that there was some minor snow event around Valentines Day and the pictures out of Central Park looked pretty good. I don't remember snowfall amounts or what time it occurred (day or night-- although I think it was at night.)

Oh look we have a new weenie to add to the list GS1717, he's a pheasant killer too ;-) check out seagull boy's page lol. He's banned from OT for good reason and about to be 5 posted

and the wettest too?

speaking of podunk LOL

being close enough to NYC to drive there every week is important to many also it's not podunk when you live in a private community and lakeside.

West Milford is great-- any idea what the average annual snowfall is up there?

Except that pheasants have actually vanished from the Poconos because of overhunting. The last time I saw one was back in the 90s.

I dont care that much about below or above avg, let's get more sunny days in here! NASA needs to invent a device to suck up clouds and send them to another planet or to the moon

exactly-- and I say bring it on. Even if it's frontloaded they end up being some of our best winters in history

Less back door cold fronts is definitely a great thing once it can't snow anymore bring on the HEAT!

I think it will our last really good winter was a la nina after an el nino and so were 95-96 and 10-11

This is exactly why there are plans to dump aerosols (SO2 specifically) into the atmosphere every year starting in 2030.

la nina after el nino..... so it follows our pattern of very snowy winters that happen in la ninas that come after el ninos (even when the prior el nino was not snowy). Next winter may be significantly more snowy.

and also more extensive in terms of coverage too? Was that a weak el nino or weak la nina? I don't remember, but I do know we had two big snowstorms that winter and a couple of moderate ones too.

1895-96 was the one with the greatest March on record for snowfall wasn't it? Nothing in December and only 3" in January, that must have been the greatest backloaded winter on record to get to 46" on the season lol.

Feb 2016 had some very cold days (below zero) and snowfall opportunities, and big snowfall east of Manhattan

but 1966-67 which was one of our best winters, did not, right Don? I would love to see a repeat of that winter

Maybe not so fast. The last two springs have been warm and dry. I think going from el nino to la nina we will roast and likely be dry too. Of course dry is relative in our current climate, but hopefully we wont be getting more than an inch of rain per week.