Overall, the winter chill is a good thing for typical garden conifers. Photosynthesis ceases at temps below 50F. Plants that evolve where dormancy is mandated by climate evolve to require it.

I think it's going to be a good thing for quite a few of my plants - some of the deciduous flowering trees, need it too. Thx.

Winter chill sounds like what happened this morning when I saw 2 degrees on the thermostat!

Yikes! I'm cold when it hits 35.

Its all relative! If the sun is out and no wind, 2 degrees is no problem for many of us in the tundra.

'tundra'

LOL! not even close. I used to think that until a few years ago. We took a bus ride out of Fairbanks to the Arctic circle. Now that was tundra. Stopped along the way. Tried to dig my hand into the moss covered ground. 8" down the dirt was so cold (even frosty) it would hurt your hand. This was in July. Saw 100 year old Black spruce trees that were only 8-12 feet tall and 2-3" dia.

nah, not tundra here, but it's easy to imagine that when we get our hard 'winter chill'. :)

That's very cool, thank you very much.

Yes, very cool. But also, in reading about winter chill I just learned something new, that any hours below freezing don't count towards chilling hours.

I know, that was the surprising part to me, too. I think that below freezing the plant is completely 'shut down' as opposed to just resting. But that might not be correct scientifically. I have a good article about it from the Orange County Master Gardeners - the historical data isn't correct for us but the definitions are all good. It's a PDF; If I have time I'll bust it and cut and paste it in.

The University of California says that the Utah Model is the most accurate, even though it's the most complicated.