It feels like Minnesota here in Cleveland. We were in the 30s, so enjoy this Soundgarden gem. If you know the lyrics, you’ll know why we posted this.

Here’s our digest of fun and interesting stuff from the web for this short, post-New Year’s week. Have a great weekend!

• Year-end check-up for your company.
• Related: Resolutions of Marilyn Monroe, Woody Guthrie.
• It’s official: 2012 was the warmest year on record since 1895.
• Bring focus to your landscape design.
• Frost flowers.
• Fail more and fail better.
• Above: Marketing isn’t magic.

Here’s our digest of cool stuff that will make you smarter. Enjoy your reading, and we’ll see you Monday.

• A great guide to designing outdoor rooms. (via @belgard)
• The latest research on equipment theft in America.
• The man behind Pinterest.
• ASLA has released a beautiful interactive guide to D.C. parks.
• What West Nile is doing to people in Texas.
• Science has confirmed: Summer was hot.
• Above: 60 years of American economic history in one graph.

It’s no surprise to anyone who works outside that the weather has been weird, and it’s getting weirder.

Nationwide, average temperatures have been getting warmer for years. We’ve got about two weeks’ worth of warmer days now than we did in the 1900s, with the west coast getting warmer than the east coast.

But why is this happening? Robert Krulwich, NPR science correspondent, in a review of “Global Weirdness,” a new book that examines worldwide climate change, explains why this is good for some and bad for others:

But what if we check out a smaller region, say the Sonoma/Napa wine country in California? There the data say, “The growing season has lengthened by a full 66 days, from 254 to 320, since 1950 — much to the delight of winemakers in the region.”

So this warming trend is welcome — if you grow grapes. But if you are a winter wheat farmer, and you need cool winter temperatures for your wheat to grow — then this is not a happy development.

Now comes the big question: Why is this happening? The Climate Central folks don’t jump to any quick conclusions. “Natural variations in climate account for some of these changes,” they say.

But here’s a clue: daytime has always been warmer than nighttime, (obviously, because the sun is up). But that difference is narrowing. The first frosts usually come at night, and sub-freezing nights are rarer now. Why would the nights be getting warmer?

You can read the full story here to find out.

What software do you use to route your trucks?

How much do you charge customers for turf maintenance?

Which marketing works best?

At the L&L Linkedin group, 3,300 landscape contractors, lawn care operators and other green industry professionals ask questions of their  colleagues and learn their best practices.

Check it out today!

Here’s our weekly collection of fun and educational stuff from the web. Enjoy, and have a great weekend!

• It’s official – warmest spring on record.
• 5 great summer water movies.
• Canada’s pesticide ban means Toronto’s parks ‘going to seed.’
• New research on small business from Bank of America.
• Why you should drink more coffee.
• Above: Manufacturers focus on faster mowers for pros and homeowners alike. (via @OPEInstitute)

Contractors from across the country have been dealing with one of the weirdest winters in recent memory. And while it can be nice to not have to don your parka when you head to work, the lack of appreciable snowfall in many markets could have a tremendous impact.

AccuWeather.com reported that, as of last week, only 22 percent of the nation was covered by snow. That’s the smallest area of the U.S. covered since 2004.

The Intermountain West, especially the Sierra of California and the mountains of Nevada and Utah, shows a substantial snow drought this year when compared to normal and past years. The northern Plains and the upper Great Lakes are other areas that have little snowcover compared to past years.

Contractors are seeing red, as their plows sit idle, and a lack of the white stuff could mean lower reservoirs come spring, especially in the west.

But the weird weather could be an opportunity. Lawn America, a Tulsa lawn care company, has used lack of precipitation as a news peg to contact customers about the best ways to maintain their turf in a dry winter.

At Davey’s blog, they suggest ways to help customers protect their trees and shrubs from the wildly fluctuating temperatures we’ve seen, especially in the Midwest, in the past few weeks.

And, our sister pub Snow Magazine, whose readers could be the hardest hit by a lack of snow and ice, ran this column about how to be productive while you wait for the next blizzard.

As we head into the weekend, the forecast for looks more like, well, winter. The Midwest should get colder temperatures and more snow. Bad for drivers, but good for contractors.