Best Winter Ever!

I've been holding off for a while and I hope I don't jinx this ... but this has been the best winter EVER for this region and I am now starting my 4th decade of winters here, so I've got a little personal data to base this declaration on...

First, we'll talk cold.  Usually, at least once a winter, typically in January and February, there will be a stretch of just brutal, brutal cold.  I'm talking the temperatures don't get above 0 degrees (Fahrenheit) at all for days at a time.  There was one winter where essentially the entire month of January the temperature was below zero...day and night.  And with the cold temps, it usually is accompanied by a steady, stiff breeze...really adding some bite to the cold temps.  Wind chills are sometimes 20, 30 below for an entire day.

So far this winter, there has been, I think, a total of 3 days where the temperature has been below zero...and 2 out of those 3 days the temp got above zero by mid afternoon.  In fact, right now, the temperature is in the low 30's (which is very nice for this time of year) and the forecast for the foreseeable future is roughly the same type of weather.  Oh, and it is sunny and calm.  And that's what it has been, essentially all winter this season...

Next, we'll talk snow fall.  Since I've moved into my house, which has been well over 10 years now, I know we have had a fairly significant snow fall.  I know most winters I would have to snowblow my walks and drive ways at least once a week, if not more.  Last year, we had tremendous blizzards over the Christmas and New Year's holiday...both of which dumped a lot of snow and shut the town down.

This year we haven't had anything that even resembles a blizzard and we've had a couple of days with some significant snowfall, but for the most part, we have been mostly snow free.  In fact, the snow that is on the ground right now was dropped about a month ago and with the mild temps of this week, we might be completely snow free before February is done.

February might be just a hair early to call this the best winter ever because there is still the chance that we could get some blizzards or even sink into a cold snap.  March and April are both months where the weather is a virtual grab bag.  But the truth is, no matter how bad winter gets from this point, we've likely passed what has typically been the more brutal parts of winter and it has been great!