The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday that analysts say the cycle began last year with the near collapse of two Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC-E) hedge funds. Most recently, mortgage giants Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) had to be propped up by the Federal Reserve.

"We've gotten to that classic point in a financial crisis where it's gone on for long enough we know there are losses. We just don't know where they are," said Joseph Mason, a financial economist at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Some analysts say the economic winter could end as unexpectedly as it began.

"Most panics are like summer storms," said David Moss, an economic historian at Harvard University. "They come up abruptly, are erratically intense, then suddenly dissipate."

But few economists say the storm will subside quickly, the newspaper reported.

"This thing simply hasn't run its course," said veteran banking consultant Bert Ely of Alexandria, Va. "We have a multiple-chapter housing saga that could go on well into the next decade."