| Most Calhouners recall in the "old days" that Winter came with a fury, with snow rarely disappearing during the season.
In recent years, Christmas Day has seen temperatures near 70 degrees.
An analysis of U.S. weather data shows that winter is coming later and leaving earlier, especially since 1980.
The average first freeze over the last 10 years, from 2007 to 2016, is a week later than the average from 1971 to 1980, before the shrinking winter trend emerged.
That's according to an analysis by The Associated Press of data from 700 weather stations across the U.S. going back to 1895 compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
So far this season only 40 percent of the Lower 48 states have had a freeze, compared to nearly two-thirds in a normal year. Last season winter was more than three weeks shorter than normal.
The changes, linked to climate change, mean more fruits and veggies, but also more allergies and pests.
Climate change deniers variously call it a hoax, at the least a cyclical event unrelated to human creation with the emission of fossil fuel gasses. | 
