This weather pattern scares me!!!

  Inspired by this thread  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/282180/its-summer-is-it

The temperatures are really weird here in the upper midwest this year.  The weather keeps going up and down and is usually cooler than normal, because we keep getting these strong cold fronts coming from the north.  This is totally unheard of since  normally for us, July is really hot and humid.  And it makes me wonder if we are actually still in some kind of really strange weather pattern left over from last winter!!!!?????  I talked to an older person who said that back in the 1930's and even  earlier the winters were really brutal like the one we just had but the summers were very hot.  But that isn't the case this year  and it worries me because there is absolutely no way   I want to go through a repeat of last winter.

I'm VERY afraid this winter is going to hand last winter's butt to us. I really don't want to see -50C windchill temperatures while I'm waiting for the bus. That wind is such a biter! I keep crossing my fingers that mild summer means mild winter. I just keep telling myself that. Last winter, my parents got me a long down coat and it's warm and huge, but that doesn't make CRAZY cold temperatures much more bearable.

@Lorie D. i was curious about our upcoming winter forecast too. so several days ago i did an internet search for "winter 2014-15 forecast" and came up with this forecast by matt holliday of firsthand weather -- http://iceagenow.info/2014/07/2014-15-winter-forecast/

based on that forecast map, my area is supposed to have "well below average temps and average to above average snowfall". sigh................

I can't imagine the winters some of you go through.  That's brutal. 

I remember strange weather patterns back in the 80's.  Snow in the winter in ATL, then severe droughts in the summers.

I'm still sleeping with my electric blanket on at night!!! I tend to hate to cover up because I hate the weight of the blankets so I end up uncovered in the morning and I'm freaking freezing!

We will have an El Nino winter to look forward to this year. Which means that the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states will have lower temps and higher than normal precip.  I am not amused. (Belize, guys. The day after I retire. I swear.)

Our summer has been.....interesting, for lack of a better word. Yes, we've had some really hot days, but overall, not so bad. The humidity, OTOH, has been miserable around here, even on cooler days, which is weird in itself. Our view across the road from our house includes a mountain way to the south of us; across the river. Well, there are days on end, where the humidity is so bad we don't see "our" mountain. It's like it doesn't exist. 

We've probably only had one or two full weeks so far this summer where we haven't had any rain at all. Usually by August, our yard is brown and so is everything else, but this year, I'm still mowing at least once a week. Usually by August, we're worried about the garden and trying to figure out if we should water and we're thinking about our well and all that good stuff. This year? We talked about watering the garden last week for the first or second time this summer. And about the time we were ready to water, the rain came back. I'm not really complaining about having the rain; I'm grateful for the precip.

No electric blanket for us, but I took it off the bed later this year than I normally do. And a couple weeks after I took it off, I put it back on because our nights were quite chilly. I did take it off again after a week or so. But even now, we've had some chilly nights (and by chilly, I mean down in the 50s, which was chilly for late July).

I wish I could have walked this summer, because it would have been a nice summer for walking over lunch and for doing some longer walks on the weekends. It's been kind of a strange summer for us. 

Our family weather forecaster is our black smoke Maine Coon, Tophel (rhymes with waffle). When he grows a big mane, we have COLD winter, which is what happened last year. He doesn't grow a mane every year, but when he does it's always a cold one.

This year he has been growing it since the beginning of July - which is very early! We aren't prepared here for long bouts of freezing weather, this old house is not insulated well. 
Tophel's fur knows.

Just the other day I finally found out what is causing this strange weather.  The local meterologist said there is something out of place in the Pacific ocean that is causing the two strong storms to affect Hawaii.  And that same thing is affecting the weather here in the midwest and probably in other places too.  BTW, we're finally getting weather that is close to normal for us, but it took until the end of July for it to happen.

I don't mind the cooler summer, I don't do well with a lot of heat and humidity.  I am afraid we're going to have another winter like last year.  I don't mind spells of frigid cold and snow, it's to be expected in Ohio, but last winter it was constant.