Has anyone heard about an early winter this year???

[raptorschild]

I've heard it could come early and come hard. (perverts restrain yourselves)

Just wondering if anyone else heard the winter could be early and harsh.

[BrianMaguire]

Originally Posted by raptorschild

I've heard it could come early and come hard. (perverts restrain yourselves)

Just wondering if anyone else heard the winter could be early and harsh.

I can only count on one hand with some fingers to spare the number of times I have seen snow come this early to the lower elevations in the Cascades. I am psyched, I love hunting in the snow. I did not archery hunt this year, Sept was too packed so its Cascade deer and elk for me and the snow is very welcomed. This is a La Nina year, and apprently its a strong one that is still building. La Nina years mean cooler and wetter than normal.

[Ni!]

We definitely got into a cool fall pattern a few weeks early this year. That doesn't necessarily mean we'll end up colder than normal, but it could.

I wouldn't count on a weatherman to give us a prediction though. Just have to wait and see.

[traks44]

The bees are in the ground over here in the blue's.

[Blackbeardown]

George Taylor, State Climatologist, predicts a good snow year statewide.

[sliverpicker]

Originally Posted by Blackbeardown

George Taylor, State Climatologist, predicts a good snow year statewide.

Does George still have his job? He said global warming was an urban myth last year and the short fella in Salem got his shorts in a wad. Thought maybe he was unemployed by now!

It was snowing this morning again at work. 3500' level between Butte Cr and the Molalla River.

[duckboy]

Yep, seems about 4 -6 weeks early here.

I'd better get loaded up with some more firewood. Cripes, figures,, last year I had wood to spare, this year I will be huddling next to a very small fire.

[Oregon-Jet]

Farmers' Almanac out with its 2008 forecast
Predictions: Cold winter in East, mild in West; warmer than normal summer

Joel Page / AP
Farmers' Almanac editor Peter Geiger and managing editor Sandi Duncan pose with a copy of the almanac in Lewiston, Maine.


Updated: 7:10 a.m. PT Aug 28, 2007
LEWISTON, Maine - Keep your boots, long johns and snow shovels handy this winter if you live in the East, the Farmers’ Almanac’s forecast suggests. Residents of the West, however, can look forward to a milder winter this time around.

“Mother Nature is going to be sort of two-faced,” almanac editor Peter Geiger said.

The almanac’s 2008 edition, which goes on sale Tuesday, foresees plenty of snow across the Northeast, temperatures averaging as much as 3 degrees below normal along most of the Atlantic Coast, and four major frosts as far south as Florida. The Great Lakes region will also take a pounding.



The outlook is tamer for the Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains, the desert Southwest and the Pacific Coast, but Geiger said snow in Colorado will be more than adequate for skiing.

Other predictions include a cool, wet spring in many places, active tornado and hurricane seasons and a warmer-than-normal summer in much of the country.

The forecasts are prepared two years in advance by the almanac’s reclusive prognosticator, who goes by the pseudonym Caleb Weatherbee and uses a secret formula based on sunspots, the position of the planets and the tidal action of the moon. Weatherbee has already completed his 2009 forecast, Geiger said.

The 191-year-old almanac’s winter forecast is at odds with the federal government’s outlook, which is based largely on statistical trends. For the coming winter, those trends point to above normal temperatures in the East and the Southwest, with drier than average weather along the southern tier of states and up the East Coast into Virginia.

Last year’s almanac forecast of a colder than normal winter was off the mark at first. Geiger blamed an unforeseen El Nino that made for quiet conditions in the East before a series of heavy snowstorms struck in February and March.


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Even so, the almanac claims an overall 80 to 85 percent accuracy rate, and says readers have long relied on its forecasts in planning family reunions, company picnics and weddings.

“We’ve been called a bride’s best friend,” Geiger said.

The almanac, not to be confused with the New Hampshire-based Old Farmer’s Almanac founded 26 years earlier, claims a circulation of about 5 million

[Hunt'nFish]

Heck they can't predict the weekends weather let alone how the WHOLE winter will be.


I just wish the ODFW folks would stop moving the hunting seasons forward.
used to be we'd be hunting 1 season elk 1st or 2nd week of November, now it starts Oct 24th????
Heck that's darn near a full month earlier than it used to be.
I liked a little snow for elk season.
Hunt'nFish

[crittergitter]

I have been hearing rumors of an interesting winter this year, for a month or so now. I don't know for sure but I do know that the rains have started earlier this year than the last few I can remember. And it has been feeling cooler than normal for this time of year. Plus look at the Cascades right now, you have snow falling below pass levels in alot of areas, and that doesn't usually start for another couple of weeks most years.

[scottishsetter]

I heard just the opposite; that it will be mild early THEN in Jan and Feb. it will get weird.

[BrotherWolf]

Bring It On Mother Nature Bring it On !!!!!

[nehalemguy]

Milder=wetter.

E

[Headhunter]

I predict it will be raining ducks from the sky Soon...like starting Saturday!!!!

[Coastalfisherman]

If the fat on the deer have anything to do with it, it will be a tough winter. The buck I killed a couple of days ago had more fat than I have ever seen for a coastal deer.

[toas243]

Hey it`s ******** winter ,it has been snowing all day here in Cameron Montana ,we had it white and it`s still coming down as I type ,good thing I packed my Snow camo :Christmas::Christmas::Christmas:

[Washington Hunter]

It's a La Nina year according to this article and it means it will be wetter than normal, but not necessarily colder...

La Nina expected to make months ahead wet, cold
More snow and windstorms likely
Heather Woodward
The Olympian

SEATTLE — Expect a wetter than normal fall and winter, and maybe more snow and wind storms, forecasters said Thursday at a National Weather Service workshop.
However, temperatures across the region this winter aren't yet clear.
"There are equal chances that we'll have warmer or cooler temperatures than normal," said Kirby Cook, science operations officer with the Seattle-Tacoma National Weather Service office.
This year's fall and winter are expected to feel the influence of La Nina, Cook said. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, La Nina is defined as "cooler than normal sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific ocean that impact global weather patterns."
In the Northwest, La Nina generally produces colder temperatures and wetter weather in the late fall and early winter.
More snow and more windstorms are likely in La Nina years, Cook said.
"There is a strong correlation with snowpack in the mountains and snow in low-lying areas," he said.
Last fall and winter saw record rainfall in some Western Washington regions, a severe wind storm and several episodes of snow and ice.
By closely tracking weather patterns and using historical data, forecasters from a variety of agencies are getting ever-better at predicting when severe weather will occur, several workshop speakers said.
For example, the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Seattle used early weather data to plan several days before the heavy November 2006 rains.
Among other things, agency staff members put sand bags in place at various sites and determined how they wanted to operate their dams — both attempts to prevent or minimize flooding.
"We were way out ahead of the curve on this," said Larry Schick, a meteorologist with the U.S. Corps of Engineers in Seattle. "This one worked great."
Meanwhile, the state is doing more to get information out to the public about how to prepare for severe weather, partly by translating preparedness information into six languages, said Rosanne Garrand, public education specialist with the Washington State Emergency Management Division.

[billc_sbio]

Well, last night I heard many, many flocks of Cacklers coming in near my house.

This afternoon I was out on Sauvie Island, helping some friends at their duck club. We had Cacklers all over out there too.:smile:

This is easily 2-3 weeks EARLIER than I typically see them around here.

[Ziess]

Originally Posted by Headhunter

I predict it will be raining ducks from the sky Soon...like starting Saturday!!!!

Ain't that the truth!!!!

[baltz526]

weather in the cascades is about 3 weeks ahead of normal. more snow on the mountain we had 3" on the ground at 4000' already and the snow up high is building every day. the 138 pass had 2" on the roadside last night but it was melted off below 5000'