November's Hot Topic:
What's Up With This Screwy Weather?
Something Funny Is Afoot!
It's true that as northerners, complaining about the weather is nothing out of the usual. When your livelong days are spent in an environment that ranges anywhere from bitter cold to searing heat and everything in between, it's bound to be the topic of conversation every once in a while. But something has been decidedly different about the weather in 2009. It's not just that the weather has been out of whack for the majority of the year, but more curiously it's been out of whack for the majority of the continent! Most years somebody somewhere in the North will experience a weather anomaly worthy of mention at the water cooler klatch, but never has it been so extensive as 2009. The weather this year has certainly been one for the books! Our commitment at Northscaping has been to give northern gardeners and home landscapers a forum in which to share our common experiences, good and bad. So without prejudicing the nature of this conversation, let's use this forum to vent our frustrations with the wacky weather year of 2009 and commiserate among friends. This is one year we can truly say that you are not alone! Jim Says... If you're a gardener on the Prairies, this is one year that you'll be able to say with all honesty that this was not a desirable place to be. And this is coming from folk who are rather accustomed to extremes of weather that make those soft-coast westerners wonder if we're missing a few screws living here! Let's recap. It began with a winter that would never end, which eventually led to a non-existent spring which turned into a non-existent summer. The facts bear this out - officially we had below-normal temperatures every consecutive month from December to August, which in itself was a record. I have no idea how (or why) the trees and shrubs and perennials did their thing this year, because the sun and heat were no-shows during the critical months of the growing season. Then along came the hottest September in recorded history here, with the added bonus of this being the only year on record where September was the hottest month of the year. Did this portend a good omen? Hell no, October went back to brutal cold and rain, with a premature dose of snow just to toss a little salt into the wound that we call 2009. Fall? Sorry, we never had one - the below-freezing temperatures turned the leaves from lush green to crispy brown without as much as a hint of red or yellow. Makes me glad I planted all those maples for their fall color, no? And now the "real" winter is coming... Andy Says... The weather is one of the easiest things in the world to complain about, and we all know how I love to complain, but this year I think I am well justified. Locally, there seems to have been at least a one month shift in weather pattern (particularly the warm ones), and I have heard similar stories from others as well. Every time I turn on the news, there seems to be another incident of mass flooding, droughts or out-of control forest fires. I'm just waiting to see Wolf Blitzer's interview with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to round things off. Some say this is Global Warming, but the term Global Weirding seems much more apropos. Let's just say for the moment that I don't mind wearing a bathing suit one day and a winter parka the next; after all, I can adapt and complain about either, but what about the wildlife? The migrating geese are so confused they have started flying in the shape of a question mark when they are not bumping into each other. Also, along the Florida coast boatloads of penguins have begun to arrive, buying up timeshares to get away from the crazy weather (and enjoy Mackerel Margaritas on the beach). So I say to Mother Nature, "Hey, what's up?" Whatever we did to make her angry, it's time to buy her some really, really nice flowers and admit that we were wrong and she was right. Maybe then she will dial back the wrath a little bit so the geese can stop wearing helmets. It's worth a shot. What Do YOU Say?
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