According to the calendar, winter arrives in this hemisphere on or somewhere around the 21st of December, close to the old Julian calendar solstice.
That same calendar is ALWAYS wrong and has been every single year of my life. Winter up here begins WAY before the 25th and ends when it gets good and ready. Believe it or not, we had frost the 8th of June this year, the latest I have ever seen. (There was ONE year, back when my brother was still in the service, when we had the oats planted by the end of March and all the fence built too, but it was such an aberation we are still talking about it.)
Wikipedia says this, "Winter is one of the four seasons of temperate zones. Almost all English-language calendars, going by astronomy, state that winter begins on the winter solstice, and ends on the spring equinox. Calculated more by the weather, it begins and ends earlier and is the season with the shortest days and the lowest temperatures. Either way, it generally has cold weather and, especially in the higher latitudes, snow and ice."
Say what you will about Wikipedia, they got that one right. In fact, it looks as if winter is throwing its snow hook our way starting about noon today. (Oh, joy.) Not to mention its ice. Rain. Sleet. Freezing rain. High winds.
I think I will hibernate.
Or, alternately, I will betake myself off to the grocery store for some dog food as we are out, and have five (count 'em, five), bottomless canine consumers, warn up the homemade soup from last night's dinner for the human contingent and pray for school closings, which will send the company of helpful and entertaining young adults my way tomorrow.
***Stormy day update, file under unbelievable: the tank driver mentioned in the post below turned the dial on the bulk tank washer backwards AGAIN today and broke it (these things are like a washing machine dial and can't be turned backwards. He has been picking up milk for decades and knows better). Last time he did it it cost us six hundred bucks to fix. Eventually we got part of that paid for by the trucking company. I doubt we will get them to do anything this time. The boss is so mad he is fit to spit.
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As I remember from helping Megan do a report on global warming, one of the symptoms is that in temperate zones the changes will be more extreme and the extremes will be more extreme. Basically, the cold spells should be colder, the heat waves hotter, the storms more violent, etc.
Something to look forward too, eh?
We're getting it to, to the East of you. Churches are closed, so we're home-bound with our own Bible lessons today.
I always thought it was weird that winter solstice was so heavliy celebrated, just being the longest night and shortest day of the year... even Christmas is just a winter solstice celebration-- the pope way back when established it to include the pagans into a Christianized winter solstice festival. Jesus was actually born sometime in March or April!
Anyway, I'm glad to see some snow. Stay warm!
I'm catching up on my blog visits and you are my first click.
Thank you for the picture of Bama Breeze! She's lovely.
When I heard the news say the guy was only wearing road flares, my first response was "Then why is he still standing?"
Winter here keeps dipping in and then retreating ... which is perfectly normal for us. Our most recent warm patch will end tonight as a cold front comes through.
I wish I could teleport two big fallen oaks to you. There's no way we can burn all that wood in a FL fireplace.
Hi Stacy, I am one of those much-reviled skeptics..not so much on climate change as on the climate variation as man-made catastrophe side of the topic. When I was dating a guy who went to college in Colorado when I was still in highschool, we were treated to scare tactics on global cooling, blaming the same culprits. He couldn't get home to see me several times because couple of Thanksgiving snow storms that gave us a yard of snow...a yard deep that is, and days and days of blizzard weather. Sure was nasty/ lol
Mrs. M, I didn't know that about Jesus' birthdate and I thank you for the information. very interesting!
FC, thank you so very much for the kind thoughts about the oak...man, that would be wonderful. The guys brought in wood all day yesterday and it still won't see us through the storm. I hate it when they have to do it on Sunday, but I guess they will.
I think of Pure Florida whenever I look at Bama. The picture doesn't do her justice; she is a really pretty baby.
I totally agree! It seems winter is more greedy when it comes to his share of days in the year. Even though the winters may be more mild, the frost dates end most hope of a longer growing season.
Yep I am figuring snow day tomorrow mostly because of the potential for ice.
Oh ThreeC, you just reminded me of something when you were talking about a yardful of snow. I'm going to have to try to dig up some photos (if I have them anymore) of some wild storms we had here in the mid 90's, out by Richfield Springs. The area was clobbered with snow, and I had some photos of roads that looked like the Red Sea with frozen water on each side. The roads had been plowed but only one lane wide, and cars were dwarfed by the tall walls of snow on either side. Driving was not very fun if another car was coming your way.
Like you, I remember all the stories of Global Cooling and the Coming Ice Age. How can we not be skeptical of global warming as we experience cold and have that explained away as part of warming. Hm?
Joni, winter is too long for me for sure. We are getting a mess of it today for sure
WR, You folks will probably get more than we will too!
Mrs. M, I will look forward to seeing them if you post them!
Jan, it used to scare me so much in school. Now I can't help being skeptical too. My dad keeps pointing out that they didn't name Greenland that because it was brown or white...and now it is covered with snow and ice.
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