Is There Strange Weather In Your Area?

I live in NW Washington State, Skagit Valley, and lately the weather has been weird.
Let me explain: this winter, we got SNOW. We do not normally get snow. Sometimes we get flurries, sometimes we even get a tiny bit to stick to the ground. But this year, we literally had a storm where we got 6+ inches, more in some parts of the Puget Sound, and it stuck for a while (something like a week in a half to two weeks before it all melted, and all the stores had to plow their parking lots and stuff - I've never seen that!). It was an extremely cold winter and my mother, who has lived here her whole life, has never seen anything like it.
But that could be a fluke winter, right? Well, it seems we're having a fluke summer too. There's a thunderstorm happening right now. We get thunderstorms every once in a while, but not too often, and the rest of the weather has been unusually hot - it's supposed to get into the mid90's next week. We're having midwest weather in a place that normally gets no snow and mild sun.

I have a few theories, but what I really want to accomplish with this thread is to find out if the strange weather flukes are happening in your area or not too. Have your winters been unusually warm or cold and have your summers been unusually warm or cold? It could just be that NW Washington is having a fluke year - but honestly, I think something's up, and I want to find out!

reply to post by difsjf


Well # i live In BC Canada and This year we had a # load of snow more then ever, and we have had extremely hot weather lately record breaking in some areas, and today for about 3 hours we had a lightning and thunder storm.. so # eh something is up.. THE WORLDS ENDING lol

Yes, in the Greater Vancouver BC area there is fierce lightening right now, very uncommon.

Why did you not use the [ SEARCH ] button, top-right of screen ??

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Blue skies.

North Carolina: Normally, very wet summers with lightening storms.

The past 2-weeks though everything is being scorched by the sun. I'm not talking about just dried up, the heat is so intense sapping the water up out of the ground and plants are turning brown. We have had storm clouds nearly the whole two weeks and barely even a drop of rain.

I currently live in Ulukhaktok, Northwest Territories (also called Holman) and normally we get very cold, dry winters and rather warm, very dry summers (partly due to the 24 hour sun this time of the year). Last summer was very warm and very dry (it's like a desert here basically), but this year has been very odd. We have temperatures ranging from -5c to about +5c. Last year, we were getting days of +20c or so with very little cloud-cover. When I came here 2 years ago, I stepped off the plane into +27c or so. We've had 2 thunderstorms this year, which are quite rare here. We had about 3 days of snow flurries here about 2 weeks ago. Most of the summer has been dense fog and LOTS of rain. Heck, even the sea ice is still hanging around when it's normally gone by the end of June.

Weird weather indeed!

We're having the hardest lightening ever, the sky is alive, there's a major heat/cold clash happening right now

It is usually hot in Texas but this summer the heat seems so intense. It has been 100 degrees for many days, and at 10pm it is still in the 90's.

We have weird weather way down here in S. Ala. It gets so hot and the humidity is always high. It is hard for me to breath the air when its like that. It feels like there isn't any air there. We have severe storms almost every storm that comes. The wind always reminds me of hurricane winds, the way it blows in a circular motion. The lightning is pure scary! Everything seems much lower now. I mean the storm clouds and lightning...it is closer to the ground than it use to be. It's like we have lost some sky space . I am dreading when hurricane season gets here. It doesn't look good.

to be honest,

i noticed that the weather had changed many years ago. I think it was probably about the mid-90's.

Originally im from Scotland. Before the mid 1990,s we would always get a good 7 or 8 weeks of Sunny,warm weather in the Summer. Now we get a couple of days here and their and its much cooler. It even gets dark earlier at night now too.

It used to be light until around 10.30pm in the summer. I know this because i used to be out fishing all the time during summer. Nowadays, it can even get dark aroun 7pm during mid summer!!!!

The winters have changed too. We used to get a long cold spell with guaranteed snow every year. these days its just wind and rain. hardly any snow.

Chicago-
This summer has been the second coldest summer in the history of weather record keeping in this city. Usually we get mid 90's to over 100 degree scorchers at least a week or 2 every month of the summer.

This year so far its been no warmer than 85 degrees, lots of rain, storms, clouds, and the nights have been sometimes in the 50's.

Indeed the strangest summer I have seen here of my whole life

reply to post by dominicus


And here in Indiana, it's the coldest on record, for quite some time now.

Even was a NOAA report regarding our record cold spell

I've lived in this same town (other than a year in virginia) for the past 38 years, and I can tell you, this past couple of years has been VERY FREAKING weird for us. And I am one who is SERIOUSLY into paying attention to our weather.

Yea. It's not right. At all. What that means, who the heck knows lol But it ain't "normal", for whatever that's worth

Much more rain than normal here in Central Kentucky. However it was predicted by the Farmer's Almanac last year. Great year for corn and other vegies. Damnit though, I gotta cut the grass much more often.
Ah, but, yet, it gets hot as hell as usual, but lots of time off with cooler temperatures in between the hot spells. Can't complain overall. More food on the table this coming winter from the great crops from this summer. Haven't had much snow the last few winters, but had much cold weather that lasted longer than I am used to. And that dang ice storm, yuck! Absolutely no help for 2 weeks. Cold. Sent my family to somewhere else while I remained at home to keep the animals fed and sat day and night just feeding the fire with wood to keep a bit of warmth in the house. Luckily I have a wind up radio to listen to. Lots of books read last winter, so that is a plus. Meanwhile, strong winds often here. I am lucky. I will get a new roof soon paid for by the insurance company I opted for a metal roof. The way it has been going, if I got the shingles, I would just file a claim again in about a year.
\
Interesting. When I bought this house in 2003, the owner told me that it used to be calm here, but recently, he said, great winds have been blowing from the southeast. Yeah, the trees that used to be straight up now have a bend to them. I planted a maple tree in the front yard and I just recently cut it down. It had a great lean to it and would probably threaten my house.

A big kudos to my old neighbor who came to my yard and cut up all the branches, etc. at the end of winter when I was sick as hell from a flu shot. I guess that was what it was. Anyway, thank you, Eugene! Eugene is in his 70's and he was cutting a limb and the chainsaw jumped and he cut his thigh. Hell of a man! The best neighbor you could ever want, especially in these times of weird weather actions.

Here in Los Angeles, for this summer season, the weather has been cooler than usual, well up until about the last week. The first several weeks leading into and the first few weeks seemed more like spring weather. The days were cool and breezy the sky WAS clear and blue, there were big white puffy clouds which I think were totally unusual for summer. It's finally heated up - but not too bad. I've definitely been noticing the weirdness. Very, very strange to me. But then, this is to be expected because of the times.

Here in south eastern Wisconsin, our weather has also been weird,
Winters have had alot more snow than usual, but not alot of below
zero weather.
Summer is strange we had hot humid weather in june, july which is
usually our hottest month has been in low 70's instead of high 90's.
we get hardly no rain, grass and everything is brown. They forecast
rain but we don't get any. Dark clouds form but sudenly, poof! they
are gone. The weather is deffinately strange.
Even though its only 70, the sun is so intense, you can't stay out in it long,
after about 10 min. your skin gets this burning feeling, I put some cream
moisturizer on befor I went out, after 10 minutes it started burning, and
itching, it actually dryed up and peeled off, I have never had this happen
in other years, I always loved being out door. Not so much any more!

[edit on 26-7-2009 by truth/seeker]

Originally posted by star in a jar
Yes, in the Greater Vancouver BC area there is fierce lightening right now, very uncommon.

I was at a close friend's house one time, and they had some guests over from Portland, Oregon. We had some heavy hitting storms come through, bad enough that on the drive over we were traversing a road full of tree branches. The power was out, and it was booming, and the guests from the PNW were absolutely terrified. Sure enough, you receive drenching rains more often, whereas on the East Coast we receive the strong Weather Fronts.

I posted about the one factor behind this before, and at least up until just recently our Jet Stream has pretty much been idling around the Middle of the Lower 48 (ie, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey). Normally this time of year, the Jet Stream runs over the Northern States (ie, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper New York State, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine).

We witnessed a late Spring, and it is only about now that we are first truly beginning to witness some Summer weather.


As for this past Winter, the Mid-Atlantic received some of the Coldest weather since the Early 1990's, to Mid-1980's, and even in states used to snow, such as Alaska, they had one of the worst Winters ever. Anchorage had one of their Top 5 Snowiest Winters OF ALL TIME (10+ Feet of Snow), and Fairbanks broke it's Daily Snowfall Record (Roughly 10-12 Inches Total in 24 Hours). Despite this fact however, I found some eco-nut spouting about how there failed to be enough snowfall in Anchorage to ride "Snow Machines" (Snowmobiles), and others who blamed Wolf Attacks on Domestic animals on a lack of Snow (Yes, I guess 10 Feet simply is not enough). When you learn the truth behind the so often touted Propaganda, you realize that if anything, the Weather has re-entered a cooler cycle.

Originally posted by grantbeed
to be honest,

i noticed that the weather had changed many years ago. I think it was probably about the mid-90's.

Originally im from Scotland. Before the mid 1990,s we would always get a good 7 or 8 weeks of Sunny,warm weather in the Summer. Now we get a couple of days here and their and its much cooler. It even gets dark earlier at night now too.

It used to be light until around 10.30pm in the summer. I know this because i used to be out fishing all the time during summer. Nowadays, it can even get dark aroun 7pm during mid summer!!!!

The winters have changed too. We used to get a long cold spell with guaranteed snow every year. these days its just wind and rain. hardly any snow.

Seeing how neither the Earth's rotation, nor its Solar Orbit, has changed since the time which you mention, the only explanation for the earlier Dusk would be degraded weather (ie, Clouds, Fog, etc.).

Also, I was in Germany in the Mid-Later 1990's, and the Sun still Set there well after 10 PM Local Time. Seeing how you are even farther North than Germany, it does sound like a Weather Pattern based phenomenon. The Dawn-to-Dusk times have not changed, only possibly the appearance of such has.

Originally posted by ExPostFacto
North Carolina: Normally, very wet summers with lightening storms.

The past 2-weeks though everything is being scorched by the sun. I'm not talking about just dried up, the heat is so intense sapping the water up out of the ground and plants are turning brown. We have had storm clouds nearly the whole two weeks and barely even a drop of rain.

It does not take an excessive amount of heat however to turn Plants, Crops, and Grass brown, it only takes about one week of no water during the Summer months in order to do so.

I live just North of you, and so far we have had the hottest day all year just yesterday (25JUL09, 90 Degrees Fahrenheit). Normally that would be near our average for this time of year, but until the past week or two, our Highs were barely exceeding 80 Degrees Fahrenheit (Which is more common of UpState New York).

Even at 75-80 Degrees Fahrenheit, it only took us One Week of Solid Sunshine for our Grass to go from Emerald Green, to a slightly Spotted Brown. You really have to get out there and engage that sprinkler, moving it around periodically as well in order to cover the entire yard.

I feel for you, as I have some friends with a Farm in Southern VA near the NC border, and they are constantly being dodged by the rain which they are in such a desperate need of. I remember in Florida, during the month of August many years ago, there existed the exact same scenario. It changes from year to year however, with some Summers being extremely dry, with constant Thunder Shower close-calls, and other years it just pours for weeks on end.

[edit on 7-26-2009 by TheAgentNineteen]

reply to post by difsjf


I live in northwest georgia, last year at this time we were in an extreme drought, yet our garden was thriving! We could barely keep up with the picking and pickling!

This year we have had an abundance of rain, our rivers went back to normal levels and people are boating again. Our garden is nice and green and bushy, but hardly any fruits or vegetables are being produced. Every thing looks as though it needs watering by noon each day, with or without rain.

reply to post by TheAgentNineteen


I wish I would have read your post above before writng my first one on here, I was trying to describe the same thing, everything looks like the sun is pounding it down, even when there isn't any sun, cloudy days you know, and the plants act as though they are burning up.