weatherpruf

81 is desolate for long stretches; it's a nice ride in summer with daylight. For night driving I'd stick to 95 because you are always near civilization if something goes down. That said there have been numerous times when we have found ourselves wasting hours driving around DC due to a wrong turn, with or without GPS. It gets me mad every single time and, well, I don't travel anymore. I'm travel adverse. Nothing I wish to see anywhere.

Happens a lot down here. All of the epic storms in 09-10 were meh down here, in the late Feb one. There are many others; Jan 2018, Jan 2015, March 2017, March 2018.

You wouldn't be missing much from the looks of that.....

Well the fires in Australia are extensive enough that they are expected to have some effect, though I am unsure if that will cause any cooling.

I had heard nothing about a warmup in the time period referenced until today. So I am not putting much faith in anything. I'm already bored to tears with this winter and am ready to plan the garden and get the fishing gear ready.

Well put, my friend. I would love to have bought that cabin on the lake, and spent my days chasing perch and bass. But I just put my son through college and now my daughter is ready to go, and she isn't happy with state college. So here we are. I'll buy the tin boat and tool around the bay chasing fish I'm not allowed to keep for dinner so that trawlers can continue to strip mine the seas....and rent a cabin and tow the boat up there to ME for a week. It'll do. I remember when Sheepshead Bay had dozens and dozens of fishing boats...they are fast disappearing. Across the bay in Atlantic Highlands, two slips are unfilled, in a place where the waiting list for a head boat was over 20 years. And ice used to block the harbor in winter...my condolences on your loss.

Yeah, I remember that. But it didn't have the same feel as others, because it was so warm in Dec, and that 26+ inches was gone in a hurry. We had one 3 inch event after that in Feb. That was it. Nothing of serious consequence IMBY since. Some notable misses though.

A guy I worked with 30 years ago claimed he had a picture of his grandfather standing on ice next to Old Orchard Light ( blown away by Sandy )in Raritan Bay.

I can remember the local ponds freezing and we all had ice skates and would go skating. I can't imagine that around here anymore. And that ice lasted most of the winter. Now you do have to go to the local rink.

I could live without it TBH. I'd have no issues moving to a milder climate if I didn't have the godawful heat in summer. Reason I didn't buy a summer place in ME, while I love it there, is the season is too short and I don't want to retire there. Splitting wood and sitting inside for months or trying to ice fish are not for me. I'm no outdoorsman, but I like to spend time on a lake or the ocean casting about. I can do that all winter not too far south from here. I would miss the snowstorms, but thems the breaks. Mulan, an old poster here who always had a comic relief effect, moved to FL a few years ago. He seemed to get used to it; the bass were biting, he said....but, FL is not for me for other reasons ( snakes, gators, land crabs....tropical heat...)

I think the big difference between stinker years today and 30-40 years ago ( and I was around for them ) is you did not have the ridiculous warmth. You still knew it was winter, alright. And if you walked to the bus stop without gloves on it would sting....

I'm guessing what many of us suspected would happen, the 18-19th threat is falling apart?

Please don't take it to your therapist....last thing a professional needs is a depressed snow weenie in the group.....he' d be surrounded by people suffering from SAD and they would not be understanding....gadzooks one could never make bank by setting up a group for people who don't get enough snow in their lives....

There are trails locally that never reopened because they couldn't clear all the trees. Walking paths I had used for a decade were blocked. Some of those dead trees are rotting away enough to walk some of those areas again. I'll never forget the local mall parking lot filled with timber, and the local parks filled with mountains of wood chips.

This is why I don't come to banter during the work day....

I suspect it is rooted in the magic of childhood snow days; a day off from school, unexpectedly, and a day with friends sledding and having snowball fights. In the past kids in the neighborhood all did this together, differences were put aside, and there were no cellphones and only a handful of tv stations. There was the thrill of hiding behind a snow bank and tossing snowballs at passing cars, before there were cameras everywhere to record the deed. You never knew what would happen til the next morning. You didn't get calls the night before or an email or a posting on a school website canceling the next day because the Euro said you were going to get 2 feet, when you wound up with 3 inches....no, you had to wait til the next morning, and it if it wasn't cranking, you were going to school. Bummer. It was before life became complicated, with mid-terms, exams, dating, teen angst, the drudgery of becoming a wage slave, and having to drive to work in the snow to satisfy the boss man ( or lady ) who expected fealty for giving you the privilege of a job....think "Rosebud." Anyone who has watched through curtains at night, longing for the snow to fall, could understand the meaning of that last gasp...."Rosebud"......indeed.

Ok, this is rather unusual....

We have a few of them around here.....

It was sickening and abnormal. And yes, we are going to see it again, because the planet is burning up. I had tomato seedlings popping up that December. A tropical plant. Quite disturbing.

If you hate winter, as a lot of my cohort does, there is not, nor has there been, any kind of warmth to get excited over. These folks want sunny and 80 all year round. " At least it isn't snow" is all I hear in winters like this.

And they are complaining about it loudly already. My BIL was livid his stepson took his snow broom ( whatever that is ) to work with him and he couldn't clean the snow off the deck today.

Remember a documentary about a guy who got stuck there during a snowstorm years ago. Dude starved to death in his van. Apparently some roads get closed in the winter there. It was really sad, the guy wrote letters of farewell to everyone.

Not much to disagree with there, TBH.

After doing a little research, I found AZ fishing does leave something to be desired. Not bad, but not a retired angler's paradise either.

I think he means south of Flagstaff? Too lazy to check.