We have been getting ups and downs in 12 hour periods. Big swings are going on all month.

ie. Two days ago it was 49°F (9.5°C) at 8:00AM and by night it dropped to -10°F (-23.5°C). The next day it shot back up, melted the snow and by noon it went back to -4°F (-20°C). Today we're sitting at 18°F (-8°C) but are looking at melting again tomorrow.

The roads keep freezing when it goes back to cold.

The ski slopes are not making snow because its costly to make and it will melt in a day after they make it.

 

Thanks for the responses. Central Montana is having a variable winter. A few days in the low teens or single digits above, the same below zero at night. Then a few days of 30 above give or take five. I've shoveled three to five inches of snow a few times only to see it mostly melt off and then snow again.

As for normal weather, it doesn't seem that we have normal weather here. Every winter (and summer) is a little different. Twenty-five years or so ago I went for a long ride on December 25th in 55 degree weather. The next year December was well below zero IIRC. Or maybe it was the other way around, cold first then warm. Last summer was cool and wet - we didn't start watering the lawn until sometime in July and even then didn't have to water often. About five years ago in July my boys and I rode from Havre to Glacier Park to Polson then down the Swan Valley, through Lincoln and into Great Falls over two days. Daytime temps never dropped below 100, reaching a high of 106 on top of Rogers Pass. I rode over Rogers Pass a year before that during August in rain/sleet and temperatures in the mid to low thirties.

Here, as in Australia, if one doesn't like the weather, wait a few hours. It will change.

 

It was 65 when I woke up on Monday, by the time we went to bed it was in the lower 20's and it got all the way down to 9 in the middle of the night. Yesterday was a high of 25 or so, and it was back into the teens last night. Today, we finally got a break, and it was up in the 40's or so. It's supposed to be in the 60's this weekend!

That's Eastern NC.

 

Here in the UK winter seems to be coming later and later. At one time November December was the depths of Winter, but now the cold doesn't seem to arrive until Jan/Feb/March. Some shrubs in my area still have blossoms, we had our first frost of the 'Winter' 2 days ago.

Seasons seem to be less defined, though this maybe a local phenomenon.

 

Can`t really complain. -15c, no wind, no clouds. It`s been so cold the past week even the canal has frozen over enough to walk across to photo the ye olde river going along the canal, the old mill and it`s rapids. There`s enough current to mostly keep the water flowing the whole winter, when it`s even colder it`s fun to go there as there is so much fog in the air your beard instantly freezes.

Think it`s starting to be time to wax the snowboard and get the kite backpack down from the shelf...

 

South Australia - just had a week of 40 degree (Celsius) plus heat topping out at 45.1. Have had heat waves (all over 100F) of 1 week to 10 days since I was a kid and that's 53 years ago.


Cheers, SB

 

Now THAT is beautiful Mattson. Thanks for sharing!!

Cheers, SB

 

Here in NW Montana, it's been so nice, I've seen people out riding their motorcycles. I don't know how smart that is, because there's still gravel on a lot of the roads from the last snow storm we had. It's been in the low to mid 40'(f) here for the past week.

 

Mattson: beautiful pictures. I find myself torn, it would be nice to have snow and cold so photo opportunities like that would present. On the other hand a few more days of forty above and I can get the bike to bare pavement and ride. The alley and street we're on are a sheet of ice so slick you almost can't stand up on it, let alone ride on it.

Montana Matt: riders are on the road here also. The highways are bare, but as in the Flathead you have to watch for gravel.

 

You won't catch me out riding until winter is over and we had a good rain or two to wash that gravel off the road. I'm not interested in tempting fate....