Incredibly Warm Autumn Creates Unheard Of November Vermont Gardens

Once again, we're waking up to incredibly warm autumn weather here in Vermont, just as we consistently have all season.

The end is nigh, at least temporarily, as we are in for a week of seasonable November weather. That means highs in the 30s and 40s lows in the 20s Tuesday through next Sunday, with maybe some snow Thursday night and Friday.

That kind of weather is perfectly normal in a Vermont November, but it will feel abnormal because of the warmth we had.

We've come off the hottest October on record, by far, and one of the hottest Septembers. The first week of November was well above normal. Totally unprecedented for these parts.

Which makes putting my gardens to bed weird, since things were still going in early November. This in a location so far into northern Vermont that I can literally see Canada from my house.

Until last year, I never picked an edible tomato from a Vermont garden in October. This year, I picked on in early November. No frost protection, no nothing.

I ate salad greens from the garden yesterday. My zinnias are hanging in there. And a patch of hyacinth near the shed, which usually blooms in early spring, is attempting to blossom.

Meanwhile, it's supposed to be stick season. All the leaves should be off the trees in Vermont by now. Most of them are, but there are still flashes of color as we begin the second week of November.

Lots of people have asked me if this warm autumn will have any influence on what kind of winter we will have. The answer is probably not.

Despite the variety of long range forecasts you hear, it's really impossible to tell precisely what kind of winter we'll have. Will the other shoe drop? After all, no good weather in Vermont goes unpunished, so that would bring us intense cold and snow.

On the other hand, winters are not the same as they used to be, thanks in large part to global warming. Will this be another mild winter? Could be.