Summer 2010: Warmest summer nights in Georgia history.

[nortonguy]

I still expect it to be very cold this winter... It might even snow in GA betweem January and February.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by neil0311

I'll just say that you cannot establish trends for climate in a year or even 20 years. We can debate the real trends being seen or the causes for those trends, but one fact that cannot be debated is that shifts in climate have taken place for billions of years, and they usually take tens of thousands of years. Whether or not the climate is changing, that doesn't mean it's not a completely natural and normal process, and short term shifts happen, as do peaks and valleys in specific readings. Georgia has not always had the climate it has now and will probably not have this climate in a few thousand years.

Just a quick recap:

One thing to mention, up north during the winter, arctic high pressure is the rule. Arctic highs are bitterly cold and very dry. That doesn't mean that the northern US is a "desert" just because in the winter the arctic air is very dry.

Pretty much every place in America east of the Mississippi has a humid continental or humid subtropical climate. Precipitation in some form tends to occur from time to time throughout the year; there aren't really any dry or wet seasons to speak of.

That arctic air does indeed come into play much of the winter, but it is often immediately preceded by some pretty heavy precipitation. And it tends to last only for a few days at that. Remember the old adage: If you don't like the weather, just wait ten minutes and it will change.

Originally Posted by nortonguy

I still expect it to be very cold this winter... It might even snow in GA betweem January and February.

I hope not. But don't forget that global climate change affects different areas of the globe disproportionately. Look back at my discussion about the Arctic oscillation: While we were even colder than usual, as was western Europe, northern Africa was warmer than usual, and Greenland was by their standards unseasonably warm.