New England Weather

The earth's climate has been changing since it was formed millions of years ago and it will continue to change until the Sun engulfs it some time in the far future. The question open for debate is whether or not mankind's actions are having any effect on said climate change.

I used to sell the mathematical modeling software used by NOAA, NCAR, NWS, and other weather/climate modellers back in the 1990's which was before the big money moved into the science. Back then, these modellers were true scientists and always were upfront about the fact that there simply has not been enough empirical evidence collected for a long enough period to do any long term studies or predictions. Especially for something as large and complex as the Earth's overall climate. And, of course, all of the variables that impact our climate and in what proportion they affect climate issues are not even well understood in enough detail to predict the path of a hurricane, to this day. The weather people always show multiple potential paths for this micro piece of climate and often none of them match up to what actually occurs. If you cannot forecast or predict on a small level like that, it is disingenuous to propose that you can accurately model the significantly larger and more complex climate of the entire world.

However, Big Money has moved into the game and many politicians see a path to more taxes and more control over people's lives, so science is out the back door as weather modellers line up to swear that their models are now super-accurate and their predictions are "settled" (e.g., the world is going to end in 12 years) as they line up for big funding awards from the special interests. As always, follow the money.

 

Holy cow, you live in an igloo, right?

I am no authority on nature, but I suspect that some of them squirrel away nuts, etc., for their winter stash and others find a way to forage in the snow. Some die, too.

 

Actually I have two igloos. One north of Vancouver (Whistler) and the other on the other side of the province only 11 miles from a national park. The bastards are taxing me far too much for my blocks of ice....far too much!

 

The nature of their stomachs is designed to digest and eat anything that was a live plant. Twigs, bark, pine needles -- all fair game. Their four chambered stomach allows for digestion of things you wouldn't even normally think of as food. They also tend to pack on excess fat across the bountiful times to hold them over across the winter, as winter fare is often lean in the fats required to be an energy reserve.

Though some species waste this reserve on their fall rutting, giving them a slight disadvantage. These species though are oft to be found where "winter" berries/fruits of all varieties -- holly, cotoneaster, cheshires, mountain ash, even crab apples -- remain on the bush from october to often as late as may, giving a small but adequate supply of fats to supplement the bare essentials provided by inferior foodstocks.

... and of course there's always raiding human trash. Having lived in AK I learned WAY too much about that last part. Wolves and Moose and Bears, oh my! Wolves and Moose and Bears, oh my!

Follow the yellow line in the snow, follow the yellow line in the snow... don't eat the yellow line. We're off to see the whizzer....

 

Weather here has been pretty much normal. High 30's for the lows and low 60's for the highs. No ice, no snow, and only one frosty morning this fall. Lots of fog the last few mornings and evenings. Freeway traffic Monday at 25MPH cuz of the pea soup.

Weather this year was pretty much cool and dry. Hardly any sun or rain at all. Two years ago I was out in the rain digging ditches almost every day and one Summer day it got to 108 degrees, 8 degrees over the record, and some 20 degrees above normal. Not even enough rain for mud puddles to form this year.

Just fine by me. Hate any temperature over 65 degrees. Prefer temps to stay above freezing but better to freeze than to roast since there is only so much that one can take off. Gimme 365 days of drizzle and overcast (40s low, 60s high) and I would be happy.

 

What geography are you located in? Sounds like decent weather given what I am facing right now...

 

You should move to the UK, the drizzle and greyness is getting boring now.

 

We went from 9 degrees (another record-breaking low) yesterday morning to a balmy 30 degrees this morning. Forecast is for mid to upper 40s this weekend.

 

Yeah, but an order of steak and kidney pie and a pint of bitter will bring out the sunshine.

 

We are supposed to warm up a bit tomorrow and then go right back into a deep freeze for the weekend. I take some solace from the fact that this is likely wreaking havoc with the insect population. Hopefully, some of them will even think that it is Spring tomorrow, wake up, hatch or whatever it is they do and then get frozen over the weekend. My niece moved to North Carolina not too long ago and they never really get very cold, so where she lives is overrun with all kinds of bugs, including fire ants.

 

Thanks to this thread I now understand how ungulates make it through the winter. But what about bats? We have swarms of them up here and don't they survive exclusively on insects? So how do they live when the bugs are not available?

 

Well, if winter weather killed all of the insects, we would not have any around after the first winter. I am sure that there are many varieties of hardy insects who survive throughout the winter.

 

Cold doesn't kill all the insects, it just makes them hibernate.

... as do bats, who fatten up as much as possible before winter sets in. They only wake from their torpor if it gets too cold using their energy stores to move about using body heat to warm their roosts (with heat rising, sleeping upside-down from the ceiling helps that), or to go do their bodily functions away from the nests. They actually even prefer it cooler for their roosts as the ideal torpor body temp is around 45F. If you see them flying about in winter, it's usually either to use the loo, (don't s*** where you sleep) or are looking for a new roost as something went bad with the old one. (too cold, too much human activity, predators moved in, etc)

Many animals get through the winter on nothing more than body fat and doing as little as possible. Woodchucks, hedgehogs, ground squirrels (not to be confused with tree squirrels), turtles, snakes, moths, "stink bugs", and of course bats. Just like bears you pack on as much body fat as you can, and then sleep the cold away.

 

Your drizzle is far colder in your Northern latitudes than it is here at 45 degrees North, so I probably would have a slightly different opinion if I lived there.

 

You know, we humans could learn a lot from these animals. I would not mind fattening up on my favorite foods for a few months and then sleeping the winter away!

 

And here ladies and gentlemen is the real reason why our good friend @jrbiz has difficulties with his on again, off again diet. (his head just isn't in the game)

 

Off to the pub in an hour or so, may well be having S&K pie if it's on the menu, although my drink of choice is usually some scrumpy cider.

You surely would, it's actually been dry today with patches of blue sky which is a good thing as a lot of people are struggling with floods here at the moment.

 

The real problem is that I occasionally do fatten up on my favorite foods for weeks or months, but then do not burn it all off with hibernation. So, my take-away is that I need to sleep more.

 

It's been about five years since I was last in the UK and I was shocked then to observe that Steak and Kidney pie was not on the menu at the pubs I went to. They seemed to be calling it Steak and Ale pie?

 

Well, I thought that this thread had mercifully ended its lifespan a long time ago. After all, the calendar has been saying that it has been Spring for weeks. Mother Nature does not seem to be paying attention, however: we woke up this morning to 32F/0C degrees and three inches of snow on the ground! Needless to say, it is a VERY WET snow which would be difficult to shovel; fortunately, it is not sticking to the roads because they have been warmed up the past few weeks and can only be seen on lawns around here.

Despite this "Spring Shock" the winter was actually pretty good. I only had to start up the snowblower 2 or 3 times all winter, so no complaints despite the winter wonderland that I am right now seeing out the window. But, this is just one more example of why this phrase is so operative here:

"Don't like the weather in New England? Hang on for ten minutes...(it will change.)"