2023 Heat and drought death tolls

[Russ1]

I had a number off casualties but not from heat, at least I don't think so. Last summer was hot in the 90's, it's been hotter, and very dry but I 'm out watering so I don't think it was that.
On the other hand last winter was very warm and wet with almost no snow. Once I swept it away with a broom and the next time pushed it very easily with a shovel.
So following a very warm Jan we were hit with extreme cold for 2 days in the beginning of Feb. Not expecting any issues Trees/plants I have had in my cold greenhouse for 25 years were DOA this spring. Five 25+ year old Kingsville Boxwoods, !/2 dozen or so Azaleas (not all Satsuki) and strangely 2 Junipers (1 Chinese and 1 Hollywood) the junipers were outside in 2 and 5 gal pots. All I can think of is all the rain last winter played a part in the death of the Junipers since they were in nursery soil.. and possibly too much water last summer compensating for lack of rain. Yet others right next to them made it thru.
And strangely a couple small Mame Kingsvilles in the greenhouse survived. Also all my small Azalea cuttings and Kingsville Boxwoods in the coldframe also survived. The coldframe is about 2 feet deep so it does have an advantage. And strangely some Podocarpus cuttings survived in the cold frame as well, I didn't expect that.

 

[milehigh_7]

The thing is I couldn't handle those temperatures. I hate it when it gets over 85 here.

We are fond of saying that humans are not intended to live where I live. That said there are many crazy AZ folk that actually love it and are not happy till it's over 100F.

 

[dbonsaiw]

I am in southern NY. We haven't had what I call a "cold winter" in a few years. The last 2 or 3 winters was 50-60 on Christmas day which is nuts, not normal at all. Last winter, we had 6 days or so below 30 and we had one dusting of snow and one other storm that dropped 4 inches that was gone in 2 days or less. We barely had ice form on the creeks and ponds. We used to get several storms dropping 6 inches or more a winter.

I found this chart showing snowfall since 1947 in LI- https://www.bnl.gov/weather/4cast/monthlysnowfall.htm.

 

[Paradox]

I found this chart showing snowfall since 1947 in LI- https://www.bnl.gov/weather/4cast/monthlysnowfall.htm.

Yea. You see last year? Barely anything.
Doesn't show how warm and late our falls gave been the last few years. 50 and 60 degrees on Christmas is warm for here.

Its good data but....it's just one spot and one measurement. 2015 was a freak anomaly. I remember that winter, it reminded me of my childhood Maine with all the snow. I remember 1996 getting 2 feet of snow in mid April and being snowed into my road for 2 days before they could plow it.

Long Island is a weird place when it comes to weather. BNL is about 20 minutes west of me and it's in the middle of the island. I am on the south shore.

Even in that short of a distance a storm can do different things. They can get 6 inches or more of snow while at my house it's warmer so just rain. It's not uncommon for the north shore to get snow while the south shore gets nothing or west they get a foot of snow while east gets a few inches. A lot of those 4 or 6 inches of snow from one storm melts in one or two days. It's not staying cold all winter.

I drive home via the LIE, down Manorville road to Sunrise Hwy then south again to Montauk hwy. I've seen where it was snowing on the LIE and Sunrise but just a couple of miles south on Montauk Hwy it was rain. Weather is just weird here.