"Before mid-November"

Sayeth the sage analysts:

A North Korean nuclear test is now a just matter of time, a growing number of analysts say, as an increasingly desperate Pyongyang tries to ease the external pressures that are crippling the economy and might even be threatening Kim Jong-il’s leadership.

So, the big question is "when?"

Daniel Pinkston of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Monterey, California, said, if it was this year, a test would almost certainly have to take place before mid-November to avoid heavy snow falls.

Won't this certainly add some complexity to the U.S. congressional elections?

Note: though the image above is of a mushroom cloud, the Reasonable Nuts expect that a North Korean attempt would be done underground... except that they might just be batty enough to do so aboveground.