Fall weather and winter outlook - La Nina

JW tearing up on the Ravine Trail on a mild October day.

First off I'd like to say thank you to everyone that reads this blog, I always appreciate any comments or suggestions. Its not always apparent if you guys enjoy the content or not. So if you do, maybe make a crack or wiseass remark every once in a while eh? Thanks for looking!

What a fall we've been having in W. Montana, you couldn't ask for much better weather. The temps have been pretty mild and even on the warm side for most of September and October. This week saw nighttime temps dipping into the 20's but daytime temps still in the 60's. The leaves are beginning to peak in the valley and upper elevations, I think most leaves have dropped. Contrast that last year when had a the super cold snap the first week of October, with many trees leaves getting a "flash freeze" only to remain on the tree all winter. Our garden this year was decent, definitely not as many tomatoes as we've had like 2 summers ago. But the peppers (green, yellow and jalapeno's) did great. Garlic was weak but we had huge onions.

And now on to some hopefully good news, only time will tell but the 2010-2011 winter forecast sure seems to be shaping up for a deep winter in Montana.

AccuWeather.com - Meteo Madness | Henry's Winter Forecast for Dec. 1, 2010 to March 31, 2011



And from Lou Dawson's blog on La Nina:

"The meteorologist magician who made our Denali trip a total success, Joel Gratz, comes up with interesting answers. In a Boulder Daily Camera newspaper article, he says during La Niña the PNW and perhaps northern U.S. interior areas such as Montana will get pounded. Indeed, he points out, during the 98/99 Niña season was when Mount Baker got the most snow ever recorded in a single season in the United States. I remember that winter, and the stories of how they had to dig out the chairlift towers before they could start the ski lifts."

******ANTI-JINX*******