The intense cold experienced in the Mediterranean over the winter was unprecedented in modern times. Its immediate cause was the polar jet stream shifting much further east than normal for the time of year and funneling cold south. NASA links the jet stream changes to the recent El Niño event in the Pacific, which also brought the rain to break the California drought. Much like previous writers, the history in this area, taken from the local village school log book, suggests that in the late 1800's and early 1900's winters were different, with the school having to close for days at a time because of snow. There has not been snow like that here in living memory. We are in the true Mediterranean climate of Köppen Csa ( http://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/present.htm), which roughly equates to USDA 10A. Ignoring the divisive cause of climate change, what no one knows is at a macro scale whether these are just blips, or the new normal. I will be taking more elaborate steps this next winter just in case.... Norman Woollons Southern Adriatic where we are now in early summer -- This week's "*Life in a Dol house*" Blog: *https://goo.gl/D0P8Iu/ <https://goo.gl/D0P8Iu/>* The natural year in Dol: : *https://goo.gl/8TxpSs/ <https://goo.gl/8TxpSs/>* The weather today in* Dol *: *https://goo.gl/3aRJ2c/ <https://goo.gl/3aRJ2c/>* On 6 May 2017 at 22:39, penstemon <penstemon@q.com> wrote: > > 1936 usda zones, US: > https://dropbox.com/s/0djelof7d9x3sxw/… > 2017-05-05-21-49-15.png?dl=0 > > That’s pretty interesting. It reminds me of world maps of the fifteenth > century where cartographers would just draw spouting whales or write > “unexplored”, when they were guessing. > Western Colorado has always been *much* warmer than eastern Colorado (the > town of Fruita was appropriately named), as has been Nevada, Utah, Idaho, > eastern Oregon and Washington, Kansas, etc. > > Bob Nold > Denver, Colorado, USA > (the 20 cm of snow which fell last weekend has melted) > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@mailman1.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ > ᐧ _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@mailman1.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/