Hey old timers ...whats gonna happen this year?

Rob Keeble

Member
Messages
12,633
Location
GTA Ontario Canada
Ok some of you have been around the cold part of this continent way way longer than i even knew it existed. :rofl:

So I need to know what you think. My wife has the winter blues already and its only been a week of snow. Are we in for a long cold winter this year. ?

Usually Linda looks forward to the snow and winter but oh boy yesterday something went wrong and it got to her.

I am wondering what those of you that have been out in the woods watching mother nature prepare have to say. There sure was a bumper crop of things to eat around us during the fall for the critters but this is a new area to me so i dont have a clue if its normal or not. I do know its either been eaten or stashed now because non around anymore.

So whats your take on this early blast of cold we have just had? Sign of things to come or just our normal weather pattern returning.

Ski hills here are opening up this weekend.
 
I can't answer your question since I'm a bit south of you, but I'm with your wife on the issue... we had a light dusting of snow yesterday and I'm already done with it and waiting for spring for warm weather... I could live along the equator where it never gets cold and be perfectly satisfied.
 
Not really ready for all of the cold weather we've had so far. But we live in New England so you bundle up, pay the oil bill, and deal with it.

Come February I've really had enough. The joy of winter really gets old. Cabin fever sets in big time.

Truth be known, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else (except Canada). The 4 distinct seasons are great. Just as you are getting sick and tired of one a new one starts :rofl:
 
Hadn't noticed it much around here.....:rolleyes:

I just knew that he'd pop into this thread. Don, we all hate you and your sunshine and warmth. ;)

Rob, Weathernetwork is predicting a "variable" winter, for Ontario. Sounds about normal to me.

The Farmer's almanac is supposedly forecasting a "bitterly cold" season.

And here is an article from the Ottawa Citizen (far colder and more easterly than us, whew) that says that Environment Canada is not so sure. What is interesting there is their comments about how there is so far a lack of any pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which would then affect us (like El Nino).

Like you, I too noticed that there were quite a few bumper crops this fall, which would incline me to lean toward the "colder" prediction.

Your wife might want to start watching for some deals on a February getaway to Cuba... WESnowplowHL.gif
 
I went through a case of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) shortly after the time change. Wish they would leave it on DST all year long. However, although I've heard this winter will be extra bad, we have been enjoying a quite mild fall so far. Loving it.
 
I just knew that he'd pop into this thread. Don, we all hate you and your sunshine and warmth. ;)

Art apparently some of your neighbors agree with me. I was talking with one of our winter visitors yesterday at the golf course and I wished him a happy thanksgiving day and he said it was his second of the year. He and his wife are from your neck of the woods and every year after Canada celebrates Thanksgiving up there they head south in time to celebrate it again down here. We do love our winter visitors though it is good for the economy.

I took this picture this morning at a golf course a few miles from my house. We like to make our visitors from the north feel welcome.
IMG_1807.JPG
 
We'll Rob, I don't know for sure, but I think I saw two squirrels taking the wheelbarrow out of the barn the other day to haul acorns and the wild bees nests are 15 feet off the ground.

You have two choices: embrace winter, snowshoe, skate, ski, curl, camp...
Or, a friend keeps sending me promos like "Varadero, $689/week all in", trouble is in a week, you're back to winter:(
 
Well, going into my 57th Southern Ontario winter, I can assure you that although the present snow will be gone by the middle of next week, it will be followed by freezing rain, ice pellets and wet snow, or by trans-freezing temperatures and wet icy roads, or possibly by mildy cold temperatures with little precipitation. Christmas will be white, or not. January will bring weeks of -20º until in February it warms up to -10º, or we will have temperatures of -5 or so until we get a freak winter cold front of -25 in february. We may, however, miss both these extreme events and simply slide around on slush until we get sleet all through March. It will rain from April 1 to 30, at about 3º, and people will go into the corner shops and say to the shop girl, "Is spring ever gonna come?" or "Did you order this weather?" In May the weather will warm up to 15, and women with fat, ugly legs will start to wear shorts outside. That's my prediction.
 
Last edited:
Never know, of course. Where I live it can be like winter forgets to come at all. OTOH, we can have several weeks of genuine 'up nawth' white stuff and cold. Nobody likes that at all. It is why we moved south, to get away from snow and cold. Forecasts seem to agree this year will be cold with a couple short periods of heavy snow.
 
...Forecasts seem to agree this year will be cold with a couple short periods of heavy snow.

Well, it's started already here. On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning we got about 7" of snow, and then the temps dropped into the teens. Yesterday (Thanksgiving), at 24° for a high, was the coldest Thanksgiving on record since 1930. Supposed to snow again on Sunday, and the temps aren't supposed to get above freezing until late next week. My little backyard pond already has an inch of ice on it, too.

Hopefully, it'll warm up a bit over the next few weeks. Maybe we'll even get a green Christmas. :p
 
Not that I'm an old-timer by any means, but I'd like to offer a suggestion regarding "cabin fever". While we don't have to deal with the degree of cold or the snow you guys up north get, we do have to deal with cabin fever. I shift between the "house cabin" and "shop cabin" routinely, so I get a change of scenery. BUT, I still have the need to take a stroll around outside and let the sun hit my face. Which leads to the subject of light therapy. When I first heard about it, I was a bit skeptical. Then, I realized my strolls around the yard and neighborhood were giving me the same effect. Light therapy can be especially important in northern areas where the ability to get outside is somewhat limited at times.
 
Rob for me winter is anything below 40, about is bike weather, not saying I don't ride in the 30's and may in the the 20's if the day will warm up to 40's.
Not putting up with this cold to many more years. Just bidding my time till the wife retires and heading south.
 
Just bidding my time till the wife retires and heading south.

I like the ebb and flow of the seasons. Of course that being said, you must remember that I live in an area where there is not extreme weather. If it does get very hot or very cold, it is not for very long. But I would not trade any of that for the sameness of seasons that some parts of the country have. We have had a mild and beautiful November. They are talking about the possibility of snow next week down here in the "lowlands" and I don't mind, as I know it will not last long. So we will just enjoy the snow, taking a long walk at night through the many trails that exist around our home. The key for us is no matter the weather, to get out in it and enjoy being alive and able to move.
 
Top