Natural Firestarter Fatwood Kindlin

A strengthening La Nina has the potential to create weather extremes across the U.S. this winter, government forecasters said Thursday. The South can expect a warmer and drier winter than on average, while the Pacific Northwest should see colder and wetter months from December through February.

“La Nina is in place and will strengthen and persist through the winter months, giving us a better understanding of what to expect between December and February,” Mike Halpert, deputy director of the U.S. Climate Prediction Center, said in a statement.

There is a potential for drought developing in the Southeast, he added, specifically citing Florida.

La Nina, which means “little girl” in Spanish, is associated with cooler-than-normal water temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, unlike its sibling El Nino, which has the opposite effect.

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Below is a great article in the Minnesota Sun listing five facts of having a fireplace in your home.

1. You can conserve energy, live a greener lifestyle and combat volatile heating costs with a high efficiency fireplace or stove.

Do you use every room in your house every day? If not, try zone heating the areas where you spend the most time with an efficient fireplace or stove. It will cut down on the amount of fuel consumed by your furnace and can reduce home heating bills by 20 to 40 percent, according to the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association. Simply turn down the central thermostat and let the fireplace heat where you live. This works whether your fireplace is fueled by natural gas, liquid propane, wood, pellets or other materials.

Renewable fuels like cord wood, pellets and other plant-derived materials are excellent sources of heat. The key is burning them in a high efficiency fireplace or stove, which makes the process much easier than it was for our grandparents. For example, a load of quality wood in a standard Quadra-Fire EPA-certified wood stove can produce heat for up to 15 hours, and in pellet stoves a single 40-pound bag of pellets can produce heat for up to 24 hours. In both cases, the amount of emissions and ash generated by these units has been dramatically reduced. There is also a U.S. tax credit in 2010 of up to $1,500 for the purchase of qualifying wood and pellet stoves.

2. A fireplace can be installed in your existing home without the hassles of adding a traditional chimney.

Don’t have a fireplace? In most homes, a beautiful and efficient gas fireplace can be added for as little as $3,500, including installation. Made possible by direct vent gas technology, the fireplace is vented to the outdoors via a single pipe that runs through the side of the house to the outdoors, drawing air needed for the fire and expelling its byproducts. Direct vent gas technology has brought warmth and ambience to millions of homes.

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