Data Time

ONE VERY HOT YEAR

Maybe More To Come

not el niño's fault

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.. NOAA has been uncharacteristically quick with the previous year's summary this time.  
.. Rightly so, it seems, since el niño was being watched with such ardor.
.. Last year was the second warmest year on record for the United States of America. It was the warmest year on record for the planet as a whole.

.. For the last several years the neighborhood weather gossip and conversation has centered, (primarily,) on the gentility of our winters. Not many national cold record days. Not too many plumber's winters. Not too deep has been the snow. Heating bills have approached the reasonable level. More wood left over in April and May. And so it goes.
.. Our Fall weather has been extended and this has reduced the quick cold snaps that yield frozen sugar in the leaves of trees - hence more muted fall colors.

.. Summers have yielded lower stream and river levels with water temperatures spiking earlier than the fishers would like. More of the neighbors are migrating to Hebgen Reservoir earlier and more often than in the recent past.
.. The outlook for the coming calendar year seems to be more of the same. Change is slow. Recent arrivals to our village still complain about the snow and the cold. They should have been here 20 years ago. Oh well.
..The Hebgen Tailwater is finally attracting visitors from foreign countries such as Idaho, Utah, and even California. It must be some sort of winter pilgrimage. Who knows. The midges have appeared sporadically but in good numbers when they fly. The Griffith's Gnat is back in favor this year with the neighbors. Small dark streamers and large nymphs continue to score as well.

.. Down canyon on the Gallatin River there is less anchor ice for this time of year than usual. There are some midges near the lower exposed gravel bars and adjacent to the eddy's at tributary confluences. Most of the best catching has occurred with slow drifted ugly flies and streamers. Rubber legs of various sorts and stonefly foolers of any ilk seem to be in the greatest numbers.
.. Those fishers with the patience to stalk the good hides will score with classic upstream presentations and a nymph or drowned mosquito in the film. Watch the shadows and fish the edges - good on ya'.
.. Just over the hill at Reynolds Pass on the Madison River the stalk and walk neighbors have been catching the far out of the big fish in the runs and riffles.
.. It's hard to say what works all the time. Be prepared with a good assortment of big _n_little nymphs, bright-n_dark rubber legs, and many midge patterns for the boulder eddy's where the foam and giant fish are to be found.
.. We're headed to the lowlands.

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