On Feb. 1, the day before Groundhog Day, when Mother Nature supposedly decides whether winter will continue or weaken, it was 61 degrees at lunchtime and people were opening their windows.
The weather forecasts were calling for warm days all through the week, which, coming after a very mild November and December and only one significant snowstorm during January, was making people wonder if the El Nino weather pattern had conquered the winter of 2015-16 for good. If only the Superbowl this Sunday could be played so decisively.
“We were talking about how it should save us money,” said the town’s purchasing director, Jerry Gay, who was processing the heating oil drops for January and comparing them to the ones for the same buildings last year.
The warm weather was also well noticed at the public works garage, where road crews and salt had been called out for only one major storm all season.
It was too early to talk there about savings, though, said Peter Hill, the public works director.
“Talk to me in April,” Hill said, jokingly, referring to the unpredictability of the weather.
The El Nino weather cycle comes around once every five years or so. It could mean the mild winter ends with a nasty storm.
It could also mean the death of certain forms of wildlife, said Sarah Breznen, education coordinator at the Woodcock Nature Center in nearby Wilton.
Turtles and toads are among the creatures that wake from their slumber too early from the premature thaw only to die when temperatures drop again. The lack of a frozen winter means there will be an abundance of mosquitoes and pesky bugs this spring, and the ticks are already on the march, she said.
She was told of a report on the police radio about coyotes and raccoons on the loose, but said that behavior is normal and not an indication of a better or worse winter.
“Coyotes and raccoons always have conflict with the human habitat,” she said.
The warm days were expected to continue through the weekend, according to the Connecticut Weather Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury. There, student meteorologist Zachary Duhaime said cold would return with a potential snowstorm for Super Bowl Sunday.
It will remain pretty cold into early March, then become mild again, but still, he said, it was too early to say with confidence that the winter would not prove to be mild overall.
“It’s a tough call,” he said.
The mild weather has been great for saving on heating costs, but hardware stores are hurting for all the unsold shovels and door lock de-icer.
“We’re selling less ice melter, selling less of all kinds of stuff, sand, snow shovels, roof rakes, sleds, everything that pertains to winter,” said Sarah Scott, manager of Ridgefield Hardware.
The mild weather hasn’t meant anything different at the Ridgefield Golf Course, though, because it hasn’t been open anyway. “We closed Dec. 22, and always target April 1 to reopen, plus or minus,” said Frank Sergiovanni, director of the golf course.
The grass actually prefers the snow cover.
“A good snowpack is actually the best thing for the winter months,” Sergiovanni said.
The most significant change the mild weather has brought is an earlier start to the maple sugaring season. That normally takes place in February and March, when nights are cold and days are warm, but instead it’s happening now.
Maple syrup farmers have their pegs in and they’ve been boiling off the sap since January.
“Conditions are great for maple syrup,” said Joseph Keller, founder of the Garden of Ideas.
“If it stays this way we’ll probably see some early spring bulbs blooming, but historically winters like this are driven by a strong El Nino, and we get hit hard at the back end of March with heavy snow,” Keller said.
Public Works Director Peter Hill was not taking bets.
“It’s too early to tell,” Hill said.
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