Warmest winter on record

[Des]

In my part of the world (South Coast, New South Wales, Australia) we just experienced the hottest winter on record. We had 35 days straight with temperatures over 20º and an average winter temperature of 19.4º, this is unheard of. Forecaster are predicting a very hot summer, exreme fire conditions and more bad news for the farmers. Luckily I live on the coasr where we usually get nice cool sea breezes 

Des.

[Nigel Jackson]

Hi Des

And here in the middle of rural France in the northern hemisphere we've just come through a July/early August heatwave with daytime temperatures routinely well above 30 and often around 35 or higher. We await winter with interest. A couple of years ago it plunged to -18, and the lowest on record at the local airport is -27. Did I forget to say that it rains a lot in Spring? But we love it here.

If it does turn out that you have to face further extreme fire conditions, do keep safe; we'll all be thinking of you and your family.

Best wishes
Nigel

[Ernie]

Des, we can only dream of winters like that...out in western Canada it's usually
about 40-50c degrees colder.  Hopefully, you will have a pleasant spring (just around
the corner).

Cheers,
Ernie

[lcarroll]

Des, we can only dream of winters like that...out in western Canada it's usually
about 40-50c degrees colder.  Hopefully, you will have a pleasant spring (just around
the corner).

Cheers,
Ernie

Guys like Ernie, Lindsay, and I like to represent ourselves as "tough" to live in the Great White North; sometimes (and more often as time goes on!) I myself think "Dumb" might be more accurate!.......speaking for myself of course. There are numerous advantages of course.....I've never seen a mosquito or blackfly in January, one saves a lot of $ on Barbeque food and fuel, and there's no grass to cut! Last, and best of all, modelling time is abundant, it's too bloody cold to do much else!
Cheers,
Lance

[LindsayT]

I really do hate cutting grass, so shoveling snow is definitely a fair trade. In my part of the world we just got out of one of the coolest summers we've had in a while that followed on an eight month winter. You read that right. Snow from early October to late May.

I could never take the kind of heat that Des has coming up for his summer if this winter was any indication of what's to come.

Lindsay

[Chris Johnson]

You western Canadians are a hardy breed, what with only two seasons: Winter and Bad Sledding. Here on the north shore of Lake Ontario we rarely seem to get below -25° in recent winters but frankly, I prefer the cold and snow to the constant temperature changes we get here. One day it can be -25° and the next day it's +2°. Snow melts, roads get sloppy, and then everything freezes up again and we repeat the process, over and over again. On the other hand, when you fellows are shovelling snow in October right through until May, I'm still raking leaves at the end of November and mowing grass in early April.

Cheers,

Chris

[David]

Des, we can only dream of winters like that...out in western Canada it's usually
about 40-50c degrees colder.  Hopefully, you will have a pleasant spring (just around
the corner).

Cheers,
Ernie

Guys like Ernie, Lindsay, and I like to represent ourselves as "tough" to live in the Great White North; sometimes (and more often as time goes on!) I myself think "Dumb" might be more accurate!.......speaking for myself of course. There are numerous advantages of course.....I've never seen a mosquito or blackfly in January, one saves a lot of $ on Barbeque food and fuel, and there's no grass to cut! Last, and best of all, modelling time is abundant, it's too bloody cold to do much else!
Cheers,
Lance

Hi Lance,

I know what you mean!  I am in Canberra, which is very cold by Australian standards, but nothing like the "40-50c degrees colder" quoted by Ernie!  I remember one night which was -7 degrees Celcius, and I think the record here in Canberra is closer to, perhaps just over -10 degrees Celcius.  One day when I was at High School the temperature during the day did not get above 0 degrees Celcius, and the wind chill factor was -4 degrees!  Recently I heard of a record -12 degrees or so in Tasmania, which is interesting since it has been a relatively warm winter here too, if my bone chillometer is correct!    I've only got three dogs but most winter nights are more than three dog nights!    Even during this relatively warm winter I fall asleep with the heater on most nights.  As you said Lance I used to find the winters invigorating but now I just find them to be a real pain! 

Regards,

David.

[IvotB]

Over the last days our national news reports about ever increasing fires in New South Wales. I hope none of you living down under are in danger. I have the impression that quite a few members here live there.

We just had a beautiful summer since a very long time, but after an extremely long winter and we skipped spring

regards,
Ivo

[Des]

Thanks Ivo for your concerns but I am well away from the fires, at the moment.

Des.

[mike in calif]

Something is afoot lads! We are in an Indian Summer with night-time temps at 50F, and day-time temps at75-80F. As we proceed, we'll be at20- 25F at night and 60F during the day.

[Ernie]

We have had our first smattering of snow today ...way too early for my liking!
At least it won't last for a while anyway, but you can see what's coming.
  My heart goes out to our friends in NSW with the terrible fires.  Hopefully everyone
will stay safe.

Cheers,
Ernie