I am writing this at the coldest time of winter at Pocatello in SE Idaho, with a chance that temperatures will even dip below zero this weekend, something that has become a rarity, although 20 years ago it was common in the winter. One winter it got down to -38 degrees F.
The Eastern U.S. has essentially had no winter at all, and now a report is out that 2006 was the warmest in the U.S. since they have been keeping records.