We have been 17-20 degrees above normal for weeks now. It is currently 67 degrees at 7:15am, with a high in the mid 80's again today.

Generally, our first freeze comes anywhere between today and the 17th. Not this year. We won't see but two days in the next ten with lows in the 40's and highs in the 60's. The rest will be all in the 70's or even 80's.

I ain't all that old, but this is fucking bizarre. Yesterday was a record at 84.

I've been saying for a couple of years that the oil crisis and climate crisis are both far worse than the teevee let on. It's just a sense. But I do believe the quickening pace of things will soon become evident to folks in a way that is quite simply undeniable.

Oh well, a fine day for me to be working outside again...I ain't bitching, at least not for this month.

Suppose to be in the mid-60's today.

Upstate NY mid-November.

About 15-20 degrees above normal for the last month.

Temperatures are pretty seasonal these next few days, highs in the low 70's-60's, nights in the 40's. Lack of rain is awful, we're about 18" below average for the year, only had about 4" these past 3 months.

It was actually November nippy the past two days, but there are still some green leaves on a few maples. Really bizzare yet beautiful fall. My one huge maple turned in late October and lost its leaves in a week, my other huge maple finally turned this past week completely and still has its leaves. Very late fall for upstate NY regardless of its sporadic nature. I'm glad its finally getting cold, but I heat with oil...

Here in Western Cascadia, Vine Maple turns red 90 days before the onset of the rains, and the snowberries tell us of the severity of the forthcoming winter -- the more berries, the deeper the cold. This year the Vine Maple started turning two weeks before the Solstice, and the snowberry crop was the biggest I've ever seen. The monsoon thus began the second week of September, which quickly became the wettest September ever recorded, rain to 4000-5000 feet of elevation, and above that some record-setting snows. Since then we've already had three major storms -- two tropical (the so-called "Pineapple Express," hurricane-force and straight from Hawaii) and one Arctic. No snow yet here at sea level, but plenty higher up, and The Mountain -- the 14,000-foot active volcano Mt. Rainier -- has biggest snow cap I've seen in years. Today (18 November) at sea level is 42 degrees F with rain and wind: snow above about 2500 feet.

We are at the end of the 10th straight year of startling and dramatic weather-related effects on the fruit trees world wide. Each year the trees come out of dormancy earlier, making them more vulnerable to subsequent freezing when they are in water bud stage or bloom. This has been steadily and progressively becoming more pronounced. This year it worked to the benefit of the growers I work with in the northern Midwest, since their trees were so far along when the April storm hit that they were past the vulnerable stage. Growers further South, especially peach growers, were hard hit and many suffered complete loss.

I know this doesn't answer the question "how's the weather at your place?" but against the backdrop of the dramatic climate change going on I don't find localized weather at any given time or place that interesting anymore.

We are at the end of the 10th straight year of startling and dramatic weather-related effects on the fruit trees world wide. Each year the trees come out of dormancy earlier, making them more vulnerable to subsequent freezing when they are in water bud stage or bloom. This has been steadily and progressively becoming more pronounced. This year it worked to the benefit of the growers I work with in the northern Midwest, since their trees were so far along when the April storm hit that they were past the vulnerable stage. Growers further South, especially peach growers, were hard hit and many suffered complete loss.

I know this doesn't answer the question "how's the weather at your place?" but against the backdrop of the dramatic climate change going on I don't find localized weather at any given time or place that interesting anymore.

Not just the fruit trees. The Easter frost this year, coupled with drought, has seriously reduced the mast crop. Southern Red Oak, our dominant hardwood, failed entirely. Tough times ahead for Bambi and Thumper.

The shit keeps piling up, insects, frosts, drought, and I expect an ice storm next month. The only thing we can count on is unperdictability.

Peach growers in this area severly wacked, 90% losses, statewide a little better, about 75%. More orchards become real estate....

Peach growers in this area severly wacked, 90% losses, statewide a little better, about 75%. More orchards become real estate....

Peaches are a minor crop in northern Michigan. The winters are just too hard and peaches are much less cold-hardy than the other fruits. I was amazed last spring when buyers were calling in April from Georgia asking us if we would have peaches. That was a sign of desperation (and denial) - as though we were calling them looking for apples or cherries. They started calling, and called people farther and farther north until they finally found some. This highlights the absurdity of people who say "so what if it gets warmer? We can just move crops to new locations." Sure I guess we could - when and if the weather stabilizes, and after a couple of decades of dislocation. What about the meantime? What is really insane is that as the farms are failing the developers are gobbling up the bargains and permanently putting the land out of production.