Who Knew?

Morning light breaks through the snow-clad branches yesterday

More snow today (with ice).  The trees and shrubs in my Hamptons Garden already look like they've been thickly frosted with vanilla buttercream.  A beautiful sight, but enough snow already.

We're only halfway through the winter and we've had record cold weather and significant snowfall. Was all this forecasted last fall? As a gardener, I'm usually tuned into the forecasts, especially unusual hot and cold spells. But I don't remember anyone cautioning us against polar vortexes until recently.

I looked back at The Weather Channel's winter forecast that they published on Oct. 21, 2013.  It reported, "A winter of extreme cold or extreme warmth is not expected during the months from December to February...For the Northeast, the best chance for extended cold temperatures is expected to be late in the winter".  Was this just an optimistic guess?

The tried-and-true Old Farmer's Almanac was a much better predictor.  They published last September, "a decline in solar activity combined with ocean-atmosphere patterns in the Pacific and Atlantic will result in below-normal temperatures and above-normal snowfall during most of the winter across much of the United States".  This almanac has been correct more than not. They did predict the warmer than normal winter we had a few seasons ago.

I guess there's not much I could have done differently knowing the severe winter forecast.  Maybe I would have bought an additional snow shovel and a few more pairs of long johns, but for the most part, ignorance was bliss.