Early Winter Coming

In southwestern Canada, it is usually wet here, it used to be common to rain non-stop for weeks. But we have had an unusually dry summer. it may have rained a few weeks ago, but was only for a few hours of light rain. This happened last year, but not this dry. And when it did finally rain, it was torrential downpours , that felt like the roof was gonna cave in.

As far as the Sun, I have noticed this too. .

As far as the past few years, it seems we dont get nice Spring days like we used to. It takes til June to get the nice weather, but it also seems to last longer into the end of september. To me it seems like the seasons, aren't matching up with the months they belong to.

Yep, the leaves are turning early where I am, and we had a very mild (but still way early) frost about a week back. The nights are getting cold, and I may be wrong, but it seems earlier than usual. We've got temperatures dropping down to the 40's overnight, which is quite strange for August in the NE. Usually that wouldn't start until September or October, I think.

If we do get an early winter, that doesn't bode well for next summer. If a lot of moisture dumps early in the winter, and the snowpack doesn't trap it (if the snow is pathetic like last year) then the water runs out of the system long before it ought to, and we're left with drought conditions from late spring all the way through summer. The soil gets saturated early, and the excess just runs off.

I don't know about the sun, it seems hotter to me, has for a while. It's supposed to be in its minimum phase, but it doesn't feel like it. I've always been sensitive to the sun, but when I'm outdoors these days I can very nearly feel the radiation piercing my skin. It's probably psychological, but then again, sometimes our intuitions are smarter than our smarts.

Solar Irradiance hasn't appreciably increased or decreased since records started.



The Dimming sun could be due to the growing demand for Coal in the US(Sulfer Emissions effectively block out the sun, like a volcano, except in this case, it's a constant steady input, YAY!)

I dont think the sun has to be bright to do damage, but there certainly has been a different look to it, dimmer is what i want to call it, but i'm not sure what it is. As i said, i felt a little spooked while i was out yesterday. It wasnt a haze either, it just seemed like the sun wasnt shinning as usual.

Here in the northeast, it's been EXTREMELY humid, all summer long, I think maybe there was just 1 or 2 days that the humidity broke. For the most part it's been ranging from 92 - 100% humidity. Thats the only unusual thing I've noticed....
I hate that fall smell in August, it's depressing for me because the trees start dying...then the snow...oh god..the snow.

Its a lil scary to see that the same odd affects in the weather are being noticed elsewear as well. Our winter last year was late.... and the summer was early.... our monsoon was early.... normally we should be getting totally pumelled starting about right now..... it started two weeks ago.... ive been here in flagstaff for almost 4 years and in az since '99..... im not sure exactly what it means.... but it is defintally interesting.... we got all our snow last year in two snowfalls.... in two weeks, no other snow...

As per the weather men... here in flag everyone knows to never just the weather man.... if it says rain or snow its prolly gonna be partly cloudy or sunny. Every now and again they get it right but hardly ever.

^^^ i know what you mean about last winter. Here in calgary it was basically a not winter. I was wearing shorts on christmas eve (+16C), and the warm weather continued well into january. we got only a few days of really cold weather and mabey a half foot of snow, if that.

Oh and yes the leaves are already turning here, and they have been doing so for the past two weeks. I think its a bombination of elevation, sunlight, the smoke weve been experencing, and the warm dry weather all summer.

I must say, here in Missouri, we have all noticed quite a bit of change. Not just with the weather like the 60 degree January and 100 + summer. The animals are changing. Humming birds and geese are at least 2 weeks early. Ants went crazy but only for 2 days then they dissapeared. However, last year we all noticed an armadillo here and ther, where as this spring, early summer, we saw quite a few on the side of the road. Quite a few bushes never did flower this year, and if they did it was one or two puney flowers. And about the sun, my kids started school two weeks earlier this year. Every year we have had to explain to them that just because the sun is still up doesnt mean you dont have to go to bed. Not this year though, and they started two weeks early. I am also finding myself wanting to bake, and make beans and cornbread which doent happen until September usually.

Just going off the animals though, something is up. I dont know if it is because fall will come a few weeks early. They are acting very strange though. And as odd as it may sound, the ants freaked me out more than anything else. They wernt after water like they usually are, they were after food, and everywhere. Then the next day they were gone. Just like that no more ants.

As for the geese, I am finding them on land eating like crazy rather than in the water. How strange is that? Every year, we would go out to the lake because they would be there in full force around Labor day. Oh, and another thing, I though was odd. They wernt flocking south, they were going north.

N. Texas seems to be the same as usual 3 digit days for weeks now just starting to go below 100f and the drought is a little worse as other years all the lakes are so dry you can't get a boat in them the ramps are completly exposed.
Cattle/horse ranchers are selling most all of thier stock no hay to feed them.
round bale Hay went from $25-$30 ea. 2 years ago to about $120-$160 ea. now.
And we are restricted to cetain watering times.

Incredible! I was just remarking to a friend the other night about how it looked like fall outside - this was about 7:30 or so at night- with the sun appearing dimmer than usual, and here is a thread on ATS about it! But yes, I agree, something does just seem odd, just can't put my finger on it. Even this morning when I left my apartment, around 6am, it was cooler than I think it should be and still quite dark.

Austin hasn't had any appreciable rainfall in over 6 weeks. Alot of the surrounding Hill country has had extreme fire conditions most of the year. Not as bad as the Llano Estacado(Staked Plains) but from all the game I've seen moving into outskirts of the Austin area we're in for a bad winter. Hopefully not as bad as 83-84 but it still looks bad.

I'm in Nova Scotia, and the birds are already starting to flock.
Which is slightly odd, because they tend to flock after the leaves have started to change; and I've yet to see that.
Haven't really noticed the sun though, but I don't often pay attention to it.

Man,i wish winter came early over here in the southwest. Its been hot and dry,just like summer here. But i noticed the opposite of what dgtempe posted. Me and my friends have noticed that the sun seems much brighter this summer than last.Anyway,if winter plans to come early i welcome it over here.

Temperatures are forecasted to be above normal for the fall season.

CPC Graphical forecast: Sep-Oct-Nov 2006

Additional info: Sep-Oct-Nov 2006

Hmm... I thought I might tell you guys around where I am. The grapes have started falling off vines maybe two months earlier than normal. The Blackberrys were ripe around a month early. And the weather man is always wrong, when oddly enough they are generaly right. I will look at the weather in the morning and see that it completly changed that night. I was never a weather man but this is not supposed to happen.

And yes, the light has been a little hazy lately. Like it might be october or something. And then you could almost feel the same early cold weather that the animals feel. It is getting weird.

I'm trying to verbalize exactly how I feel the sun is shining. It is not that its dim, necessarily, moreof that it has that "orange-ish" glow that happens in October. See, I thought this at first may have been a friend and I seeing this, and just subconsciously trying to outrun hurricane season, but I am pleased/not so pleased to see that others are noticing.

Question: It's still super hot. So why is it that everything looks like it should be later in the year? Why is it that we're all getting this, and the temperature isn't changing. That's my biggest wonder over all of this.

Originally posted by dgtempe


I wont want to sound weird (er) but i think there is something wrong. I've been noticing, we have a very dimm sun. I'm glad others have noticed this too. I went to the Hyannis beach today, and it looked weird, to see people playing ball and in the water, yet the sun ....... weird.

I noticed this yesterday when I was outside having a cigarette staring up into the sky looking for UFOs... we are substantially further south, yet still noticeable. maybe it is some earth wobble/tilt combo

I think right now the temp is trying to reach its peak, then it will go straight into a rough winter and stay in it longer than normal. Then we will come out again for a hot summer and repeat this thing again except we will have a longer and longer winter each time.

This is the coldest August in Krasnoyarsk in 100 years
Siberian News Online

Japan May Have Warmer Weather in September-November Period
Bloomberg

Here comes the sun
ITP.net, United Arab Emirates

Seattle Streaks Toward Another Weather Record
KOMO, WA

Severe drought in southwestern China damages crops
BEIJING (AP)

Looks like the only thing consistent in our weather is extremes.

It has seemed kind of interesting in So Cal lately. We've seen some serious lightening and humidity. We've pushed records occasionally but there have also been some strangely mild days. I'm planning to check out the numbers, I'm not sure if it's statistically significant, but it certainly seems different. Then again, I've only been back in the desert for a year; I grew up around here and don't remember it being like this, but I was gone for two years and kind of lost my tollerance for the heat.

I'd kill for a long wet winter though. I love the rain just for the sake of rain, and to make it that much better it washes out the roads from the high desert and creates work for operators like myself. Now if we could just find a way to keep it all from drying out and catching fire during the summer...