Not mild, not harsh, somewhere in the middle in my limited experience.

Definitely mild here in Culpeper, VA. Very few subzero night temps; or even single digit temps. No blizzards. Maybe 1-2 minor ice storms.

I have horses & if I had to chop ice out of water buckets/troughs 2 weeks total for the entire winter season that was a lot.

Compared to last year, this past winter was a breeze. I wish they could all be like that.

G'Day!
- i'd say very mild. Horses found at least limited grazing most of the winter; used far less hay than some winters.
- Happy gardening,
-vlad

I think I remember reading in the Washington Post that it was a very abnormal winter, on account of being just about average in all respects :-).

I read that in the post too, but I thought it was colder than average. We never went down below ten degrees but then I can't remember really ever doing that too much anyway. But still, ten degrees is plenty cold! Plus we seemed to have a lot of "below average" days in February and March. I was surprised they didn't say it was a colder than average winter. Maybe my blood is getting too thin.

March definitely had below average temps in this area; Dec, Jan & Feb about average. Alittle deceiving since first half of Jan was very mild, the second half quite cold.

I think wind-chill was the real villain here. Burned roses quite badly. thanks steve

I find it amazing that people don't remember that we
1) have winter here and
2) it's seldom a big deal.

They either remember it to be THE COLDEST Winter in History -- despite actual temperatures and despite what those obviously ignorant weather people have to say about it, or they think it never snowed, never got cold and they never even put on a jacket. [LOL]

Yes, we had winter and no, it was pretty much nothing. In my 20 year experience (no, I'm not born and raised here), observing it from a Michagander's viewpoint? We usually get our coldest temperatures in February, and the snow will have been in January to February. Everything else was just taunting those who actually like snow. Sick-os.

Most of my Gaillardias, a couple of Fuschia, and most of everything that actually should, came back well. But Fuschia!? Go figure.

Christine

Although we had a few nights in the single digits, and several more in the low teens, we didn't have any really extended periods below freezing so it balanced out.

It certainly wasn't exceptionally cold or snowy compared to the 2003-2004 winter, which was the coldest winter we'd had after several years of unusually mild ones.

I think it was mild yet hard on some plants because we had a few severe swings in temperatures. My winter damage was worse this year on several plants than in previous years.

Sometimes it is not the cold, but the swings in temperatures that do things in.

I agree with the Washington Post - it has been bizarrely normal weather since about November. There's a town in the book _Good Omens_ that is obviously special because it always has normal weather for the time of year! I'm in my 30th year here, and this past six months have been oddly like that.

Since the unseasonably warm weather in October that brought some cherry blossoms to bloom out of season, we've had a string of coldish November and December, sharply cold January and February with not too much snow, then sunny March, and wet April! Go figger! :D

In terms of growing flowering plants, it's been almost charmed - the weather stayed cold long enough to keep the buds from opening on the Cherry blossoms and flowering plants too soon, and then maximized almost all the blooms by gradually getting warmer. Also, except for this weekend and last, we've had sunshine on the weekends!

I read something that suggested that we're moving back to the weather patterns of the 50s and 60s in the DC area. A local change.

What were the weather patterns of the 50's and 60's like?