Bob Dylan once wrote "you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows" to which we will add "you don't need Gothamist to tell you that it is getting cold outside." While you don't need Gothamist to tell you it is getting cold, we will.

It is getting cold outside. And there are snowflakes mixed with the rain here in the northern suburbs.

As of 11 a.m. the temperature is down to 43 degrees, or 16 degrees colder than when we walked across town this morning. Don't expect it to warm up today. If you believe AccuWeather's extended forecasts, were in for at least two weeks of colder than normal weather. Unfortunately, there is no snow to accompany the cold.

Would you say this weather is wacky? Curious about how often the phrase "wacky weather" is used, Gothamist searched major U.S. newspapers in Lexis-Nexis. On average there are 19.4 mentions of "wacky weather" in the last eleven years. The champion wacky weather year was 1998, and El Nino year, when there were 38 mentions. Two years later we could only find wacky weather used 12 times. 2004 was slightly above average with the phrase occurring 23 times. Our prediction for 2005? We think it will be an average wacky weather year.