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jal_ut
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Re: Winter

23 degrees, clear skies, calm, 6 inches of snow on the ground. It is so bright it hurts your eyes to look out. So I take the wild birds some seed and come play on the computer.

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rainbowgardener
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65 degrees, clear and beautiful. Out pruning fruit trees and weeding and mulching foundation plantings...

Vanisle_BC
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6am just above freezing; ~1C; snow, sleet & cold rain. Snowplows out on the road. Garden has been soggy for weeks. We head into town today to collect our very old 2nd car from the brake shop. Actually 1st car is pretty old too. Well what the heck, so are we :).

Last night MW&I decided to start a 'tired' club. Held the inaugural meeting in the bedroom with a one-item agenda: Sleep. Only 2 attendees but It was a good meeting.

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digitS'
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DW was complaining to someone about cold weather.

I said that I'm a little surprised that she is complaining. It is remarkably warm for early January. I am a little worried about how warm our weather is.

Snow fell yesterday but turned into light rain, overnight. The temperature at our 2,000 feet elevation was above freezing by morning. There is some ice because of freezing rain but melting continues. Higher than this, I think that this might be rather severe freezing rain. It looks like we are mostly okay right here because temperatures are supposed to stay above freezing and ... our soil hasn't frozen. Difficult for me to realize that but only the soil surface has frozen and then thawed. Some of the most serious forest fires in this region are getting quite a bit of snow but let's hope that summer doesn't doesn't go right back into difficult drought conditions.

The nearest Snotel station tells us that there is right at average snow depth and water equivalent. Good Good Good.

Steve

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jal_ut
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20 degrees, overcast, calm here this Tuesday morning. No fresh snow, but still six inches on the ground. I take the wild birds some seed and come play on the computer.

pow wow
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42F in Calgary today. A clear view of the Rocky Mountains.
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webmaster
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Nice view!
Last I looked last night it was -6 degrees. We got about three inches of fluffy snow. Shoveling it was easy!

pow wow
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Last of the warmish temps for a bit in Calgary. Come Monday the daytime high will be -11F.

pow wow
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It was -18F when I headed down to the river to feed birds this morning. I had to take a picture of my beautiful eye lashes when I got there. lol
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HoneyBerry
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Most of my posts are non-gardening foo-foo. Oh well, so here's one more.
We have sure been having some crazy weather here in the northwest. Snowstorm after snowstorm after snowstorm after snowstorm. I have lived here my entire life and have never seen anything like this. So much snow and such cold temperatures in February! I can't believe it. It has been 2 weeks of hell. It finally started to rain just about an hour ago and the snow is now turning to slush. There will be flooding next.

Vanisle_BC
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[quote="HoneyBerry"]We have sure been having some crazy weather here in the northwest.
Your northwest is our southwest but is seems like crazy weather is everywhere. Where I am there's not been a lot of snow (till today) but daytime temps have hovered above/below freezing for (?) 2 weeks with lows down to minus 9C. That would be about 15 deg. of frost Fahrenheit, I think. And the forecast is just more of the same, with snow added. Just when I was getting used to the climate-change mild winters!

imafan26
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You all would laugh at us.
Yesterday when I went to work everyone was dressed in heavy jackets. One guy had a camouflage jacket and hood. I had two shirts on and I was freezing. Hell, we all were freezing. Winter clothes in Hawaii are long sleeves and heavy jackets.

The wind has been pretty fierce in the last week with gust in the 50-60 mph range. A large branch broke from my neighbors' tree 4 days ago and a second branch broke a couple of days later. One of the branches fell on my side onto the orchids. I still have to go and cut it up and cut the remainder of the branch off the tree. The traveller tree fell in the front of the next yard. I think my shingles are still intact. I can't see anything missing but I did not look that closely yet.

Surf is up the other day the north shore surf was 60 ft. Those waves are awesome to watch but only idiots would try to ride them.

Today it was still cold and I am still layered up. All my windows are shut but the wind can still come through jealousies. It is not as bad today as it was yesterday. It has been raining off and on for the past couple of days. It is raining now.

I am having a nice bowl of hot soup for dinner.

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digitS'
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A record 7.2" of snow fell yesterday at nearby Spokane airport.

The snow didn't stop at 12am! I'd say that there has been about 8" in the last 12 hours and it continues. edit: I wrote this about 5am :wink: .

If the storm lingers on this side of the Rockies, and the Weather Service says it might, we will likely have more records around the area for today. February. I may have to stop fretting about not seeing winter weather and so little snow this year.

Steve
Last edited by digitS' on Tue Feb 12, 2019 8:40 am, edited 1 time in total.

HoneyBerry
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I was thinking that winter was over and that spring was on the way. I have (had) buds on some of my flowering shrubs. Now they are leaning and have broken branches from the weight of the snow and ice.
I had to look up Alberni BC to see where it is. Straight across the tip of Washington. It gets colder up there. I am further south, closer to Olympia. I guess there were 2 converging systems, a cold storm from the north and a warmer storm from the west. This February weather has me feeling run down. I can't wait for Spring.
A 60 foot wave! That is huge, like a tsunami. Reminds me of that famous Japanese painting 'The Wave' (The Great Wave off Kanagawa' is the official name.)

Vanisle_BC
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[/attachment]
HoneyBerry wrote:I was thinking that winter was over
Haha yes. Yesterday I wrote "no snow (until today)." It had just started.
Car window yesterday before snow
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Here's what things looked like early this morning and it's now piling it down thick & fast again:
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HoneyBerry
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:eek:

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digitS'
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There was only a skift of snow this morning on the 18" already here. The arterials were nearly bare but it was freezing and the snow wasn't melting. There was an early morning appointment so we left early. Four lanes, the traffic light ahead changes to red.

The guy in a 4 wheel drive beside us hit a tree rather than plow into the car waiting at the light!

She sat there staring into her rear view mirror afterwards, probably hoping that he couldn’t get back on the road.

Be advised: he did.

Steve

Vanisle_BC
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This is not funny. Fifteen-sixteen inches of snow and now the forecast says mixed rain & snow for 3 days. In earlier times I'd be shovelling the roof to reduce the load but I'm a tad too wobbly to risk it now (I.e. wife won't let me :roll: .) On top of it all the overnight temps will still be in the freezing range which will make for a big mess at ground level and among the trees & shrubs.

Never mind; my half-submerged experimental sweet potatoes in the living room are putting out roots.
SnowChairs.jpg

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applestar
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Someone sent me this — it seemed appropriate for this thread :lol:


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digitS'
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Single digitS' predicted for our weekend. I'm thinking that might be okay.

At least 4 more inches of snow has fallen here. Watching California's Russian River flooding on teevee makes me wonder what would happen here with all this late-season snow. We have both mountain communities and low-lying areas that could be in trouble.

I'm trying to imagine Ice Age floods ..!

Steve :shock:

pow wow
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Partridges were in my backyard yesterday morning. Should have spring temps next week.
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digitS'
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What do you suppose those are, Pow Wow?

They aren't White-tailed Ptarmigan because they should be "winter white."

When I lived in a forest clearing I'd see Ruffed Grouse but only by ones and twos and usually in trees or the snow berries.

I'm seeing quite a few Gray Partridges on these winter days but I have to be out, driving through large grain fields. I wouldn't expect them in a backyard.

I'm disappointed not to have the California Quail in my yard this winter. They are common here but not so far north as your neighborhood. They had to make quite a commitment to pass through backyards from where I'd usually see them about 500 yards away to arrive in a several acre nearby playground. My yard was their route during the winter for several years.

Steve

pow wow
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Hello digitS',
Those are the little gray partridges that visit my yard. They live on the edge of my hill, once the eggs hatch the parents walk them across the road to my yard for seed. Quite cute, but they are very skittish. They disappeared for a couple of years and I'm very pleased they are making a come back. Dozens of ducks suddenly died on the edge of the city a couple weeks ago.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.5036289

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digitS'
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Pow Wow, we are having an unusual amount of late winter snowfall and snow cover. More falling today and with the colder than normal temperatures. There were a few chilly, sunny days.

But, the Robins are back! There are usually a half-dozen or so to be found somewhere in about 10 square miles during the winter days but I mean BACK! It was probably that these Robins were just in lower elevations of the Columbia Basin (I'm guessing!) until about 2 weeks ago. Then, a lot of wind and rain moved through that area so they came north and to higher elevations. What they might be finding to eat - Good Heavens! It's kind of scary ...

The Gray Partridge I see are often beside areas of drifting snow. No, they aren't in the drift but nearby. If you think about it, the snow is coming from somewhere so there is probably some clear ground, like, on the other side of the hill. However, that area may be uncomfortable during windy hours even if food may be exposed for the birds. So, they move about to both find food and to stay out of the wind. And, they do that "follow the leader," burrowing thing :wink: .

Steve

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digitS'
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Snowing again.

The afternoons are predicted to be so warm that the 3" to 5" predicted doesn't seem like it can be around long. Maybe, it will melt some of the 15" or so, already here. I hope it doesn't go too quickly but it is certainly time for some bare ground.

Nothing wants to eat the safflower seed I put out. DD gave it to me claiming that the squirrels will leave it alone but I'd hoped to sustain those "non-migrating" European doves, some Juncos (?), maybe a Nuthatch ... nuthin.

What do Robins eat in winter besides Mountain Ash berries.??

Steve
where's that JAL?

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tomf
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We had two months of above normal temperatures and then a month of bellow normal, and got some snow. I plowed our road once this winter, not all winters this is needed. It is now going to be normal or warm, 60's and may hit 70.

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tomf
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Our yard in the snow.
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