Having a "true" winter in your zone
Surely there isn't a definition beyond the actual minimum temp in a given winter but what do you look at to determine how "true" the winter has been in your zone?
More or less looking to gauge how hardy some plants are at least from a temp and snowcover perspective. Plenty other variables involved so just looking for directional comments.
For me average min in zone 5a is -15 to -20. I'm about 15 miles from zone 5b (-10 to -15). Average number of sub zero days is about 12.
For simplicity I'm looking at Dec 1st through Feb so far.
Out of 75 days, 36 day time highs have been at least 10 degrees below the average.
Out of 75 days, 15 day time highs have been at least 20 degrees below the average.
36 days with sub zero temps.
With that said would one simply conclude its been a very harsh Zone 5a winter even though we didn't exceed the minimum average temperature?
I think Oregon is going to have a solid 2014.