Brutal cold has invaded the upper-Midwest. A record low at International Falls is not an easy thing to break. No problem today (01/21/11), as temps have fallen into the minus 40s F (or C, if you prefer). The cold air pushes eastward and reinforces during the next several days over New England. This is due to winter.
erik sloneker says:
January 21, 2011 at 5:25 am
You might be off a bit on your decades. In my area of the Midwest, the practice of fall plowing, exposing black dirt throughout the winter was well established by the 1960s. Then by the 90s, conservation concerns and technology developments enabled farmers to largely cease this practice. Then in the fall of 2009, I was amazed to see fall plowing emerge again as a widespread practice. I asked my relatives in farming — who knew I would be dismayed by erosion-inducing technique — what was going on. The answer surprised me: “The spring and summers are getting cooler, and the risk of a fall frost is increasing. We are plowing to expose black dirt to help the soil soak in the sun’s rays. That way the soil will be warmer, and we can plant earlier in the spring.”
Piers called it thusly:
” More USA deluges of very heavy thundersnow and very cold blasts South & East of the Great Lakes and notably in NE /E USA (see link Extreme Events Word Exc Europe via http://www.weatheraction.com/member.asp for more detail as issued Jan 7th) around 25th Jan and again around 28th-30th Jan. ”
Note the Jan. 7th forecast date.
And a few days to go before the worst of it. (!?!)
Midwest Mark says: Look here, I don’t understand why it has been so cold lately. I drive an SUV and I’ve traded out all my mercury light bulbs for the old-fashioned incandescent varieties. Why isn’t the world warming??
Because you have not taken The Next Step in the ULTIMATE answer to the Bulb Ban:
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2011/01/23/ultimate-bulb-ban-fix/
(a link that may not be active until mid tomorrow as I’ve got it on a timer….)