We've been colder than usual here in Pittsburgh. Generally the deep freeze hits us Jan to mid-Feb. But it set in the first part of December. Bleh.

Then again, it was 60 on New Year's. Go figure.

OK, but completely house bound in the North Atlanta area. Horrible icy conditions. Started Sunday. No school, mail, UPS or FedEx, Red Cross struggling to transport needed blood to hospitals. Most flights cancelled, hundreds of Greyhound passengers stranded. Oh my!

Rosie, Sugar Hill, GA

We've had snow (broke the record for November) but thankfully, no ice. More snow today, then it's supposed to warm up and rain for a few days.

We usually have snow until some time in March...maybe a little in April. Good news...the lilacs will be beautiful! They always are when we have a lot of snow.

Hope everyone is warm and safe! :)

Crazy weather here too. After the coldest, snowiest December in a century it is now 53F with solid rain forecast for the next 24hours. Yesterday, when I was at work, it was lovely and sunny - just right for gardening. Today, being my day off, it is, of course, pouring.

The snowfall at the airport measured more than in any one-day storm since 1905 here in CT. The snow is halfway up to my windows and my granite garden bench is out of sight under the snow. There's close to 3 ft. on the ground everywhere you look. Neighbor showed up & shoveled a narrow path across my breezeway to the driveway. Winter sown containers are all safe & warm under their 2 ft. deep snow blanket. I took some pictures and will post a couple as soon as I download them.

Talk about crazy weather, the last few days the ground has been frozen with a thin crust of frozen snow/slush all around. Last night we got about a foot of snow, was up at 4am knocking the snow load off the dogwood tree out front.

Today the sun is out and it soooo mild for this time of year, you would think spring is just around the corner. Not counting my chickens tho.... I've been led down that path too many times LOL.

Annette

Like RosieW, we've been a bit snowbound on the South side of Atlanta downtown. Yesterday it warmed enough to melt some and we were able to walk a mile and back to water the greenhouse at church. Today everything was a skating rink and our street did not melt but got worse. UPS made it through, the post office was opened today but few carriers made it in so no delivery on my street. No trash pickup today (not a big deal here). Very thankful that it was not an ice storm so trees have been holding on and power is on. Atlanta is not prepared for these events: there are few plows, few private plowing services to contract to and hardly anyone thinks of shoveling their walk. I could only manage to go around the block today and not even to get 2-3 blocks away. It will start to thaw the next few days though!

Brrr!

so far this season we got maybe 8 inches here in Springfield Ma.but last night we got dumped on with 20 + inches of snow and had the plow guy get stuck in my drive way,so now I'm stuck here with a half cleared drive and a plow truck sitting until he can get a tow truck to get him out, at lest I can get on line and look for more seeds on ebay and see what every one else is up to with all this snow around

Yuck! It is so slushy outside! We got several inches of snow the other day (though not as much as they said it would be). Now today it is a warm 40 degrees out and everything we got yesterday is melting, lol. Good thing about the melt is that I can bring in the big containers of soil that were frozen in place outside for winter sowing! ;-)
CMK

Temps in the teens here today but it didn't seem too bad when I was out shoveling the light fluffy snow from the drive. Our snowbanks are high as we have had just under 50" of snow this season with only a small amount melting during one light rain. This is the third snowiest winter in MN recorded history, and more snow coming tomorrow. Expecting very cold weather early next week with temps in the single digits.

My gardens should be fine as the snow acts as a blanket keeping plants from heaving with any eventual freeze/thaw activity.

Though we have had a lot of snow most of it has been dry, light & fluffy, which makes for easy shoveling. The concern in the city is where to put all the snow they remove from streets and sidewalks.

It is unusual as we have hardly had a day without at least some snowfall.

It hasn't seemed all that cold to me, no 30 below zero yet.

I hear people my age, sixties, saying, "This is what winters were like when I was a kid." and I think that myself, an old fashioned winter.

I just checked and we're at minus 10 degrees here a few minutes before 7 a.m. in north central CT. That's cold enough for me!!! The snow from Wednesday's storm will be with us awhile since the forecast is for more of the same bone-chilling cold for at least another week. My driveway is plowed but the snow is piled so high at the end of it, getting out onto the road is like playing Russian roulette.

My new granite garden bench--just as the storm started. It's no longer visible under the snow.
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View of the house from about halfway up the driveway.
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A few nights below freezing. Just to be safe I had this "greenroom" added to the patio. His labor was $250.

I must say, I am sure glad to live in central TX.

I don't remember the name of this vine/plant. I was surprised to see this bloom in there. I received the plant from BossJim. The leaves you see are on the Little Frosty angelwing begonia, not the vine.

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I'm from Ontario, Canada. We are fine up there. We didn't get as much snow as we normally do and we actually had such a warming, I was concerned my plants would be damaged. I hope they come out of winter alright. Those that got a good blanket of snow are lucky because your plants will be insulated against the thaws and freeze cycles. Those that did not receive as much snow - protect your plants with mulching.

Anyhow -- to answer the question 'What's happening with our weather?' -- It's called EL NINA... a couple of years ago we experienced the EL NINO - The El Nina always comes after the El Nino. Both are weather displacement phenomena which causes rain in areas that don't normally get rain,drought in areas that normally receive rain, flooding in other areas, etc.. So we are in for some strange weather pattern this year and possibly next.

Glad to hear everyone is getting by OK. We had a bit of snow here, not quite as much as Gardenweed, and now we're in for a bit of a deep freeze for a couple days. I'm glad the garden has a nice blanket of snow now.

Suffering from the La Nina weather pattern. Very dry with long spells of mild, warmer weather, followed abruptly with sub-freezing temps dropping 50-60 degrees over night. Had just a dusting of dry snow last week. A few misty rainy days, but little precip to actually do any good. Having to water. This past week we had highs in the 20s and lows in the single digits.
We have been in drought since last summer and if this continues we will have one horrible spring and summer. There will be either high summer temps and no rain, or cold summer temps and too much rain - either pattern is possible if the Jet Stream stays put and La Nina continues.
Gads!

Eduarda told me they have had heavy rains and severe storms, even tornadoes, for gosh sakes! In Portugal? That is too bizarre! Bad flooding there too. A tornado hit an elementary school near her home while school was in session. Did a lot of damage, but miraculously no one was killed. I hope she and her family and Timmy are okay. Has anyone heard from her?

I have two cousins in Aussie. Susan and her hubby have a sheep ranch and Bill lives in the city. Haven't heard one word from them or about them.

Extreme weather everywhere! Horrible weather of one extreme or another all over the globe!

Geez Annie I hope your cousins are Ok, we saw the severe flooding they're having down under on the news the other night.

I hope weather has improved for them and Eduarda, we've gone from freezing cold to extremely mild almost overnight, torrential rains are probably just around the corner. I expect it will go to freezing cold again before our winter is finished. My poor garden, oh well there's nothing I can do about it. I just received a good book "The Resilient Gardener" in the mail so guess what I'll be doing for the next few days :).

We have most of our outside water shut off, one of our faucets burst a couple of freezes ago, a first time for everything I guess. I have to water the planter around the koi pool today it's bone dry, having a roof over it has one disadvantage it doesn't benefit from the rain. We still have one insulated tap so we'll be stringing hoses from it.

The countdown has started only 65 days till spring :).

Annette