Please tell me that means winter is coming early...like tonight.

So how big was the "band"? Isn't that it, the size of the banding that tells how harsh the winter is to be? I'm new to this, so I could be totally wrong!!!

The story goes that the wider the black bands are, the colder it gets. This one had no bands at all, just black.
(Never mind that most years I find bands from light to dark brown and black and different widths at the same time and place,LOL).
Right now I would appreciate a blast of cold air too.

You can say that again, 72% humidity with a predicted 110-115 degree heat index today!!! So it's to be the coldest winter in a long while? All black, that's one big band.

Early Spring....Early Winter!

Come on, cold weather; I can hardly wait!

Hold it. Don't wish winter on us yet. Would much rather have 100 degrees than 25 below. That will be here too soon.

I'm with you on that Gandle. Steve S.

I'd prefer near midway twixt +100 and -25.... 50 sounds real good right now!

AccuWeather's just released initial winter forecast for my part of KY:
Wintry Battle Zone. As usual, we are on the edge of it.

I hear it's another El Nino year...doesn't it seem like that rolls around every other year? Anyway, they said in Oklahoma there would be no Christmas blizzards this year, it will be warm and dry.

Lisa

I will not complain about this weather. I will, however, swear up a blue streak about the number and ferocity of these &$#* @!^+ ~%@# mosquitoes that the rains and heat have encouraged.

My garden couldn't be more productive. It's a pity I can hardly stand to be near it at most hours of the day.

Ooops, I think that might be La Nina.... still, the forecast said hot and dry. I hope they are wrong.

Here in the twilight zone we accept whatever is going to happen, right now the signals are crossed; it's mild and on the cool side, so one would predict a late winter - but there are some juncoes around this early, what does that mean? The meadow-larks are still here, and I have not heard the tanagers "we are leaving" song. Seems so many subtle signs are around at the same time - so who knows? I'm getting an extra cord of sirewood, just in case.

well don't bring it in until you are through with your walker. LOL How is going Lilo?

Slow going, Marda - at least for me, who still needs to practice patience a lot -- I sure do have the opportunity.
Firewood is not delivered yet and shall not be delivered for a while.
Two more weeks on the walker, then progress should be pretty rapid - at east I hope so. Use of the walker sure build up the arm-muscles - that's positive.

All I know is that this is one of the most humid and hot Summers I have ever experienced. Winter cannot arrive fast enough for me!

I'll drink to that! And I'm really not a drinker! :>)

As much as I dread the humidity and extreme heat of the
summer, I hate cold weather a lot more.

Ah, Janis, one can almost always get warm, and what a great excuse to snuggle under a blanket and take a nap.

I don't mind the cold weather, just the snow. Had a bad winter this year here in PA. Our summer has been to hot and humid for me this year. We had wind stroms here in Jan. and we lost 3 pine trees. Then it snowed that we couldn't get to
them till march. Our snow blower broke down so we have to
replace that by winter, had to replace a wash machine that was ten years old, and just 2 weeks ago our tv went out after giveing us 18 years of good service, so had to replace that. What next, I surely hope nothing more.

jazmynsmom

I swear by Skin So Soft... used it all through my gardening years, all level of weeds, all degrees of temps, all forms of
bugs, mosquitoes, gnats, spiders, ticks, chiggars, whatever...
it really really worked!

I'm not complaining about the heat this summer either. Last two or three years were the coldest summers this part of the state has had for decades. My DD debates me this, but I read the farm reports from corn harvests. I also know that for two years there were no ripe tomatoes unless they were picked and brought inside. This summer reminds me of the hot summers of my early childhood when I'd lay on the linoleum of the kitchen floor and my mother would fall over me when she was cooking. I knew, just like the dogs did, it was cooler there if you didn't lay too long in one spot. LOL. We still haven't had many hot nights. Mostly high sixties. I even love hot nights, when I'd take a glass of iced tea and sit out under the stars.

But, the humidity has been pretty rank, despite the fact we need rain. It hasn't been nearly as bad as the summer of my seventeenth year when I was working between my Freshman and sophomore years at a lodge in the wilds of the Ozarks. It was so constantly wet in the air toadstools were growing in my bathroom. I carefully cleaned around it because I thought it was cool. That's what seventeen year olds do.