Once again, global warming is upon us...

As I stated recently in a previous post, I chose my favorite cartoon, the original pre-1950s Woody Woodpecker as my Facebook profile avatar for the weekend. That being so, allow me to shamelessly use him to lead off on this particular blog post, highlighting what many of us in the American Northeast consider to be a BRUTAL onset of early Winter weather. For the past several days, the temperatures here have been more common to late January than early December. Perhaps we feel this way because we were so fortunate to have such temperate Fall weather throughout most of November that we've become a bit spoiled. Now it feels like old man Winter is literally pounding down my front door! After the last weather system passed through a couple of days ago, daytime temperatures have dropped into the low to mid 30s and nights have been down in the low 20s. Accentuating this temperature change, the winds have been at a constant 10 to 20mph with gusts up to and exceeding 30mph, putting the wind chill at chilly +5 to +15 deg. Fahrenheit. BRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!! And making matters worse, the folks at Accuweather.com are making early predictions for a possible weekend snowstorm...

Big Upcoming Snowstorm for the East?
By Meghan Evans, Meteorologist
Dec 5, 2010; 2:35 PM ET



A storm that will take shape by the middle of December will cross the country and could end up developing into a major snowstorm for portions of the mid-Atlantic and New England.

There are different storm track scenarios at this point that mean the difference between mostly rain or a potential blizzard along the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington, D.C., to Boston.

So far, Chief Long Range Forecaster Joe Bastardi has been correct with the Winter Forecast for the Northeast with his prediction that late November to December would be cold and stormy for many...

*snip*

I love a white Christmas as much as the next person, but mentally, I'm just not ready for this. I guess with life getting more difficult all around, it doesn't feel like it has in previous years. There's something missing and it isn't just the lack of funds that were available only a year ago. It's something I can't explain, but suffice it to say, it's giving me cause to be more mindful of the things I do and to err on the side of caution as I move forward.