In the preceding 12 months, it's been wet, and then wet and cold. In a word, horrid!

Sorry Faron, I couldn't come up with a single reason to visit Fargo in the middle of winter!

Southern CA here, and our weather has been a "perfect" dry 70-80F nearly every day this past month, with nights in the 50's. The problem is that it is supposed to be our rainy season and we haven't seen a drop of rain. We will pay for this sooner or later in the way of fires and/or drought.

Well Chispa-

I REALLY wish you guys could get some soaking rains!! I'll take MY weather, believe-it-or-no, over the fire-paranoia some of you must feel down there.

KSWL-
You must be in Seattle?!

Hey...we're up to +FIVE now!

Faron
("Hell" must be near here...except it's frozen-over now...;-))

I just finished my walk as it warmed up to the upper 20s. And it's snowing. I decided that snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes are not some of my favorite things!

It's not supposed to get above freezing all next week either. Woolly bears know their stuff.

It has been very cold. I somewhat joke I have jinxed this by getting my Mustang convertible top motor fixed over the holidays. Now that I can finally put the top down again, it has been way too cold to do it.

Yesterday we did not even get above freezing here in the Carolinas. The normal high is supposed to be 51. We've had to worry about pipes and keep our faucets dripping. The building codes here are not like up north.

I grew up in Buffalo and DH in Chicago and Minn before he moved here in middle school, so we know plenty of cold.

I'm in southwestern B.C. (just north of Seattle) and we are close to setting a lack of rain record for January and that is not a good thing, There is basically no snow on the local ski hills and if any of you have booked holidays to Whistler you might want to consider cancelling. No rain means no snow pack which means a dry summer. However there is always March.

So our days are foggy, although I live above the fog so my days are clear and sunny.

Brrrrrr damn cold here, we had 18 inches of snow that is ice now. I wish I were in Venice.

Faron, fire-paranoia??? We don't really think about fire until something starts to burn, just like other don't think about blizzards, hurricanes, tornados, mudslides or earthquakes, unless they are happening or about to happen. You get used to whatever nature offers in your part of the world. And fires here are usually started by stupid people and not by nature.

Medium-snow coming thru E.-ND for a few hours now. My fairly clear driveway now has a good inch of fresh powder on it...arrggh!
We'll probably get 3" by Sunday am. Then the wind will crank up!

Faron

I'm in the Seattle area, and it's been glorious - 40 - 50's and great sunshine, also lots of ground fog early in the day, as blfenton noted. Took the grandson out to the park on Thurs., and he's taking off his coat and saying, "It's a great summer day!" We're way down on our rain, snow; so we might get hit with a soggy spring.

It's pretty cool here in southern Kentucky!!! Feels good to me....in the midst of hot flashes!! After the broken pipe fiasco several weeks ago, we leave the faucets drip when it gets down to the single digits.

We had a little snow that stuck because the temps were so low, then we had a good snow this morning, but the temp warmed up to the 40's, so it did not stick long. I was really hoping it would, because I want to hitch up a horse to the sleigh!! Both of my sleighs have wheels, since we are from Texas. I have never driven one in the snow.

Nancy

Hmmmm....cool in KY, with occasional "Hot-flashes"...that's kinda funny!

To those who want/need snow (or rain!), I'm "willing" it your way!

By afternoon tomorrow, possible 50+mph gusts to blow fresh snow around...Uffda!

Faron

Also in SoCal here. Way too warm for January. The plants and trees are starting to bloom and are confused. We normally have around 15 inches of rain per year. 2012 we only had around 8. 2013 ended up being at a little over 3. The vegetation on the hills around us is dead. If we don't get any rain soon, it will be really bad this summer. Chispa, I do worry about the fires. I've been evacuated once, and a good friend had to spend two nights with us because of fire a few months ago. We watched the fire crews working around her house on the TV news coverage.

Hope you all who are in cold/wet weather stay warm and dry, and that spring is kind to you. The normal weather patterns are definitely a little off this year.

I'm not too far from you, Faron. Madison, Wisconsin. I'm sick, sick, sick of these wickedly cold temps. The forecast for Monday night is -21, with a high on Tuesday of -4. Poor little groundhog probably won't even show himself on Groundhog Day (and we here in Wisconsin go by Jimmy the groundhog in Sun Prairie).

I think DH and I should head to CA for a vacation as I usually make it rain wherever I go...I made it rain in Vegas and I even made it rain on the dry side of Hawaii where they only get 2" per year!

Wow, I had no idea the rain situation in California is so bad. Hoping for some relief for you soon.

Pugga, I have a colleague in Madison, and although she has lived there nearly 10 years, she said this year is just the worst.

CO here. Weather has been so confused the last decade. No clue what to expect at any time of the year. Someone posted a link that the Rockies was going to see severe weather all along the route. No clue what this means or when they decided it would happen.

We need a darn good blizzard and spring rains. Temps are 2 or 3 days of 50 during a week, mixed in with 20s. Snow is minimal, just enough for shear ice the next day. Predicting weather here has never been easy, but this erratic behaviour is depressing. Drought, fires, floods, vulnerable driving. Hoping for life to get back to what was for all.

Very cold and snowy in MN - more like winter as I remember it when I was a kid - except now they close school when it's cold.

Here in Miami we had an unpleasantly warm/humid fall. It had us locals grumbling, because usually the pay off for blazingly hot/humid summer is a lovely cooler, dryer season...that didn't happen for a LONG time. Then we had a stretch of what I guess is PNW style weather: cool, humid and rainy/gray. Yuck, bleah, how in the world do you folks who live there manage to survive?!

And just since the holidays, the weather has turned into what all those folks who visit pay the big bucks for: gloriously clear, cool and dry days with chilly enough nights to put on a blanket. No rain, it's been pretty wonderful :).

Ann

It's 16 degrees here on Sunday morning. I'm south of Pugga in northern Chicago burbs and our weather is the same, just a few degrees warmer. Monday's predicted low is -20 and the high -4..... plus wind chill, of course. We got fresh snow - again - during the night and it will be blowing around tomorrow with the high winds. It's been a tough winter and we have a long way to go - Feb and March are generally nasty, too. Our plans to move to NC aren't even as appealing as they've had awfully cold weather there.

Faron you are obviously made of tougher stuff than I but my DH would give you a run for the money - he's out walking the dogs now..... in shorts. :-/

AD- So you're one of those who can "make it rain up in h'ya"...;-) You made it rain on the dry side of HI?!?! Wow...was it Oahu? That drive around the Diamondhead area is a VERY abrupt change from the wetter E. side!

TC- Yeah, I'm used to seeing very snowy Broncos games late in the season!

Gibby- I'm a little "disappointed" that they cancel school up here now. Looking back to the late-70's (my HS years...), we lived 3 miles out of town (E-central ND). Got on the bus in MINUS 20 weather sometimes! It had to be a BLIZZARD b4 school was called sometimes!

WHEEEEeeee....we're on the way dOOOOooowwwwnn to -21 tonite...and MINUS 25 Mon. nite. ACTUAL temps here...not the goofy windchill!

Faron

Very dry and warm. The warm is good, but the dry isn't! It hasn't rained at all- not good for the upcoming fire season!

Windchills to NEGATIVE 50s over next two days. Schools are closing again. I saw a show where some people were visiting a tropical paradise, and there was a sign that said, "watch for falling coconuts". I want to go someplace where there is a falling coconuts sign!

DLM2000-
I have done dog-walks the same way! Only a few times, but it's been done...in shorts!

Wisconsin Jan-
Well, I suppose one could "adapt" to hazards like that...;-)
I wonder if Keith Richards (of Rolling-Stones fame) has that issue too!

Our winds most of the aft. here have been out of the N., ranging from 30-50mph!

Faron

It's 6 pm here and, oddly, it is warmer than it was at 2 pm. It's 17 degrees now and it was only 13 degrees this afternoon.

We're supposed to get more snow tonight, but tomorrow they are predicting it will get above freezing! Can't wait for that to happen--it would be nice for a bit of the snow to melt. It's getting difficult to make some turns downtown because of all the snow heaped up on the corners. That's what you get when you live in an old New England town with narrow streets designed before cars were invented.

Camlan-

I s'pose it's too much to ask to see some pics of your area?! I've never been in an "Old New-England town"! Sounds so charming...!

Faron

Faron, your weather is heading our way too. As of 7:30 pm tonight we are under a blizzard warning. All plows have been pulled off of the roads. The wind is really howling. We got snow early this morning and then again this afternoon so lot of snow to blow around. We were gone for the weekend and drove 4-5 hours this afternoon getting home about 6:15 tonight. Was very glad to see home. The last 20-30 miles were getting pretty rough driving in the dark.

Mary Lu-
Wow! Glad you're home!
Take care too!

Our winds are fading finally, but still 20+ mph.
We're now @ -10F actual. Uffda...

Faron

In NW Oregon we have had less than 1/3 of our normal rainfall. We have no measurable snow pack-there have even been forest fires in January! I believe we're going to be in a drought this year. We're nearly to the point that if we get significant rain, it will cause short term flooding at lower elevations and wreak havoc.

We are dependent on snow pack to recharge the groundwater and storage reservoirs-rain fall just tends to run off and flow directly to the Pacific Ocean. California is a similar situation. So the west is practically guaranteed to be a tinder box this year because the moisture index in the vegetation is at dangerous levels.

We did have a deep freeze (nothing like the polar vortex!) just after Thanksgiving, but since then-virtually no rain and temps are typical. But to wear T-shirts in January-well-that's really unusual, as we've been in the 50's during the day.

I was wearing shorts yesterday, and tonight we are expecting sleet and snow flurries. Texas weather-if you don't like it, just wait a day and it will change. The old adage has never been more true than it has been this winter.

Texanjana-
Yes...I now know what you mean about your Texas weather!

You & other Texans here may recall all my babbling about our Fargo-to-Dallas trip to see our NDSU-Bison win their 3rd-STRAIGHT Div. 1 National-Chamionship.

We were in Frisco/Dallas Friday aft. Jan 3rd, thru ~ 10am Sunday the 5th. I THINK that Friday was ~~low-50's. The Friday-night Pep-fest was breezy & upper 40's. I was COOL @ that Baseball-field! Gameday Saturday was GORGEOUS! Just about 70 in the afternoon! However...that first cool-wave was pushing South, & by Sunday am the 5th...it was 28 in Dallas!

Faron

Faron, it just isn't quitting is it? We are down to -12 now but forecast to get down to -25 tonight. I know how you feel about "wind chill" but they are calling for a respectable wind chill of -35 to -50 tonight. Top that off with the natural gas line explosion this weekend and local energy companies asking everyone to turn down their thermostats to conserve fuel. We are also experiencing shortages of propane state wide and also locally. Sure glad we have a pellet stove for supplemental heat! Now all we would need is an ice storm to knock out the power....oh my.