Weather 2012

We have had 5-8^oC the last days and nights with rain. Gloomy weather.

What about all that young growth, Cohan? Is it seedlings appearing in former grassland or is it resprouting from old roots? That kind of young saplings are excellent elk and deer food here.

All of the above, Trond, This is very typical growth here on farmland-- these wetlands are naturally forested with willow, alder,birch, and spruce and tamarack (larch)- but only some birch and the tamarack and black spruce get to any size-- willow and most of the alders will only get trunks to a few inches across at most, and when our willows get that size, they mostly fall over; However, these wetlands are prime grazing for cattle, so they are frequently cleared by bulldozer when the woody plants start to grow back, and in more heavily grazed areas, the cattle keep the woodies down, or  semi/annual burning can be used. Many places they are left for many years between clearings- this area has not been cleared in decades, except one strip down the centre where a pipleline was installed (oil and gas installations are everywhere here).
The plant communities can change quite a bit over time as it becomes more overgrown with woody plants- those that need more sun are squeezed out, or remain as mostly/non-flowering plants until its cleared again! There are several species I used to see in this area as a kid that are not there anymore, or don't flower, and then some shade plants that have spread more...
Also, all tamaracks were killed by a disease, I think in the 1930's, so they have grown back since then, some are getting a bit of size, and large areas of young trees....
There are lots of deer in these areas, and even more so , moose.. no elk around here (except on farms), though there would have been in the not recent past. Yesterday I 'saw' two moose in this area, they came from the woods not far behind my house, and ran farther back- as I was walking along the road to start my walk. I say 'saw' because I never got a clear look at them, just saw movement and could tell by the size (huge), bits of shape (humped back), colour (black) and movement (fast and loping, not like a deer- bounding) that it was moose... I wasn't even sure about a second animal till I confirmed the second dark spot in the photos...lol

Trond, when you refer to "elk", I think you mean what we call moose (Alces alces as in Cohan's photo), no?

P.S.  It's sort of funny that it might be necessary to use latin binomials to accurately describe not only plants but also very familiar mammals.  ;)

Cohan, those are Black spruce (Picea mariana) in those photos?  They are very different from the narrow steeples that the species forms here in Minnesota.

Good catch Lori, I was forgetting about that- I just think of moose as being North American and expect elk/wapiti/ red deer for Europe (the name Red Deer- a city east of me- suggests that the North American Elk/Wapiti/Red Deer once roamed these parts, or settlers thought they did!

Rick, we have P mariana and glauca-  there could be both in the photo, since that shows the edge of the wet area.. more of the glauca are outside the really wet places, so I tend to assume they are all 'Black Spruce' P mariana in the wet places, where all the trees are much narrower and 'scragglier' than the P glauca outside the wetlands, but the P glauca surely do seed in at least around the edges and high spots within the 'sloughs'(as we locally call all wet places of any kind...lol); some of the trees do have the typical mariana profile.

'sloughs' of course cohan! Even when I lived in Ontario I persisted in calling their ponds 'sloughs', along with calling hydro bills the power bills. I guess I didn't live there long enough...
About +3 C today, but windy as the dickens.  Must still be bringing in the warmer weather for tomorrow.  But we still have scarcely any snow, and as I've said, I sure wouldn't mind some. 

Its a little surprising we still have a fair bit of snow, considering how many above freezing days we've had (note: we do have a larger drop overnight than people in some other climates would expect, so the snow/ground get very cold overnight, even on warm days)... most of our paths and much of the driveway still have a snow covering too--- which just gets more and more polished with every warm day!
Faith- I didn't have to talk about 'sloughs' as much (pronounced 'slew' for those who don't know) living in the city, but once I left home I did have to train myself to use words like 'forest' or 'woods' instead of 'bush'..lol -- I still feel a bit pretentious using those 'literary' words for our plain old trees ;)
The other one I have to watch is 'ditch' which is what we call the areas beside country roads, almost always lower than the road, and usually lower than the land on the other side, between the road and whatever comes beyond that (fields, farmyards, pasture, forest) but I presume might mean other things in other places ; the word is used for other sorts of excavations here, but always used for the roadside- as in 'He went into the ditch'(drove off the road); 'It rained so much the ditches had running water in them' etc-- and its the place I do the bulk of my backroad botanising, since everything else is private property!!

Lori wrote:

Trond, when you refer to "elk", I think you mean what we call moose (Alces alces as in Cohan's photo), no?

P.S.  It's sort of funny that it might be necessary to use latin binomials to accurately describe not only plants but also very familiar mammals.  ;)

Yes, Alces alces is called 'elk' in Europe, I frankly don't know by whom as it is called 'elg' in Norwegian and it doesn't live in Great Britain any more ;D (It is considered for reintroduction though together with lynx, bears and wolves!)

The American elk/wapiti (Cervus canadensis) is called 'hjort' in Norwegian and we have the European equivalent (Cervus elaphus) around here. Seems these are considered as separate species but moose/european elk is considered the same.

Both P mariana and glauca are commonly planted around here but the commonest is sitchensis which grows to huge dimensions :o

Ditch as besides roads is called 'grøft' in Norw. A ditch (Norw: dike) is a Small dug canal and also those dams they build in Holland.

Is 'forest' and 'woods' used of different kinds of vegetation or are they synonyms?

The thought of moose, lynx and bears being re-introduced into the UK would be immensely exciting but there are just a few too many people! There have been strong representations to introduce wolves back into Scotland but I think this would be too much for the peace of mind of farmers and gamekeepers. It is only relatively recently that many birds of prey have been increasing in numbers again. Our most exciting 'wild' mammal is wild boar which are breeding in undisturbed woodland again, but are very shy.

I have always regarded forests as very large tracts of trees. In Britain we have pretty much lost these and mostly have woodland even though certain areas are still called forest (eg: Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood fame or the New Forest in the south).

Our weather by the way is ridiculously mild by comparison to Cohan; we have hardly yet had a frost and rarely drop as low as -10°C! Snow tends to cause chaos, but is quite wonderful to see.

cohan wrote:

Faith- I didn't have to talk about 'sloughs' as much (pronounced 'slew' for those who don't know)

Slough is pronounced "slew" as in "few"?
We say "sloo" as in "boo".
Or do you mean "slew" as in 'dew"?

Rick, more like "slew" as in "dew"
Much the same as you do by the way you write it eg. boo, dew
The word slough is absolutely "top drawer" isn't it? haha I really enjoy hearing or reading about local or regional words for things.

Yes, boo and dew are pronounced the same.  I should have made that clear.

I am quite the word freak, myself.  Grammar, colloquialisms, foreign languages, word derivations, cultural influences - I eat it all up!

"Bushes" have more of a wild connotation for me, although "bush" is never used in this region to mean anything more than a woody plant (as opposed to a land area), unless you're talking about Africa or Australia.  

In fact I was quite miffed when the program director of a nearby city's Horticulture Day changed the name of my talk from "Pruning Trees and Shrubs" to "Pruning Bushes and Trees" without my knowledge.  The next year she did it again with another talk and I had to change the focus of my presentation to fit her new title.  When I was approached the third year, I specified that she could not change the title of my presentation without my approval.  (Who would think that such a request would be necessary?)  She never responded.  Good riddance!  Some people are just so narrow minded as to think that their word definitions are the only ones possible.  

RickR wrote:

Yes, boo and dew are pronounced the same.  I should have made that clear.

I am quite the word freak, myself.  Grammar, colloquialisms, foreign languages, word derivations, cultural influences - I eat it all up!

"Bushes" have more of a wild connotation for me, although "bush" is never used in this region to mean anything more than a woody plant (as opposed to a land area), unless you're talking about Africa or Australia.  

In fact I was quite miffed when the program director of a nearby city's Horticulture Day changed the name of my talk from "Pruning Trees and Shrubs" to "Pruning Bushes and Trees" without my knowledge.  The next year she did it again with another talk and I had to change the focus of my presentation to fit her new title.  When I was approached the third year, I specified that she could not change the title of my presentation without my approval.  (Who would think that such a request would be necessary?)  She never responded.  Good riddance!  Some people are just so narrow minded as to think that their word definitions are the only ones possible.  

The last item first: I would say it is rude and very strange to change a title like that without consulting with the presenter first!

We use 'bush' as a loanword in Norwegian when referring to the scrubland in other parts of the world but also as a word for wilderness.

Your way of pronouncing the same letters in different ways (dew - few) and different letters in the same way (boo-dew) is astonishing ;)

The word bush is quite interesting, isn't it? I'm afraid that more than likely a lot of the ways it's used around this area aren't proper grammatically, but still interesting...( Cohen, I haven't gone in the ditch for a long time, knock on wood! )

" Oh, he's up north or up in the bush " ( usually working in the oilfield ) meaning forest, muskeg, bush? not highly populated.  (Of course highly populated in this neck of the woods can mean 10-20 people per section of land.)  Could also mean west, or northwest getting closer to the Rocky Mountains and forest. As you mentioned Hoy, the wilderness....

" He's out brushing. " Can mean cutting/taking out bushes, small/large  trees in preparation for
  breaking the land .  I remember helping with this, horrible job!

" Scrub brush" often patches of  small nondescript bushes/shrubs. May also be known occasionally as buck brush.  Mostly weedy type small shrubs etc. 

So now, I have really made a mess of things! bush and brush.
Forest to me means a "real" forest, meaning evergreens.  I often think of the Whitecourt Forest.  And Cohen, getting over in your area as well, forest. I guess around here there are a few spots that verge on being forest area but it's more likely called bush, treed area, woodland.  When I think of forest I thing BIG...

Weather here today is lovely, too lovely for this time of year.  Scares me! Just a light breeze, no snow, and about 4 -5 deg. C.  I'm thinking that when the snow comes we'll  be shocked. 

Woods and forest are about the same to me- and both are 'foreign' words around here-- expected in fairytales ,think: 'Enchanted Forest'
or in more technical speech- eg. a discussion of 'Boreal Forest'.. woods doesn't mean much different to me, though it is  a more genteel term, most likely used for a tract of forest near civilisation, maybe tamer than forest, and probably more for poetry!
Here, its all bush, whether its deciduous or mixed forest (note the use of 'forest' since that's a more technical description...lol) and regardless of the size of the area- though if you can see out from all sides while standing in the middle, it probably wouldn't be called going into the bush...lol

Brush- as in 'clearing brush' or 'brush piles' or 'burning brush' (after its made into a 'brush pile' is also commonly used here-- leans a bit towards meaning undergrowth- which here means roses, many kinds of ribes, shepherdia, symphoricarpos, various prunus and saplings.. and in wet areas, see my comments above- would refer to willows, alders, betula etc... although once talking about clearing brush, it could really mean any unwanted woodies of any size, and brush piles can include mature trees too.. its almost more a description of the unwantedness of the woodies, in the locations they are in, rather than any particular kind of plants...

Absolutely beautiful here today, as well-- sunny, seasonally very warm- I was sweating on a gentle walk in the 'bush'! We were forecast to be 7C as it was yesterday, but it got to at least 10C...

Yes, slough rhymes with boo- or do;
due and dew could be do, but I lean more often to rhyming them with few...lol
I think its ridiculous to have re-named your talks, Rick-- she must have felt 'shrub' was too highbrow for the group....  :rolleyes:

A few  pics from today's walk.... you get an idea of how much the snow cover varies with different parts of the landscape; these aren't just random variations- these are patterns, and reflect typical (no doubt some annual differences due to wind)  zones of lighter and heavier snow cover, which has a significant impact on the plants-- mostly re: moisture levels.. Ruffed Grouse in the first image.. common and frequently seen here..

The 7th day of the new year and still no frost in sight. But no sun either. . . .

Today I spotted the first crocuses with flowers but they are shut due to the rain.

Btw slough, boo and do would be written 'slu', 'bu' and 'du' in Norwegian (actually we have words written exactly like that but they mean: cunning, shed and you) ; and due and few would be written 'dju' and 'fju' respectively (such words don't exist in Norw). Much easier  ;D

Today I have also cut down two trees - a birch and a pine. Lot of work tidying up afterwards as they had many large branches.

No one could ever claim English spelling is easy or straightforward-- but it is rich in history!..lol
Its been crazy mild here-- something like 10C today, and still tomorrow- though its supposed to rain tomorrow (its been forecast several times, and fortunately has never materialised-- still too much snow/ice for rain to be welcome!) and possibly snow later, and then temps drop considerably for at least a couple of days....

Still no freezing but the road was covered by 10-15cm of sleet this morning. However, in my garden it had fallen just 2cm. Anyway, when I had finished my work for today it was all gone. The first rhododendron has showed its first flowers but the lack of sun keep them shut.

Yesterday (Sunday) was nearly 12C here, and today at least 10C (still lots of snow though!)
some shots from Sunday, showing how variable the snow cover is- the image with a clear line between the wooded and open area is very telling...
Then a shot of one of my (under construction) rock garden areas, and where most overwintering pots are sunk.. still mostly covered, though some parts are showing through.. then our gravel road, a mix of patches of packed icey snow and loose grave; the melting should be mostly over for now, though not much snow in the forecast yet.. today it was supposed to rain, luckily we dodged that, and temps drop after tonight...

Cohan, we have about the same as you here, not surprisingly, although not the snow. Today is windy as the dickens again, and temps dropping, as they look to be all through the area and down to Calgary, etc.  My sister in Calgary says there was black ice this morning, some drifting, just plain nasty driving.  Winter is on the way???
My seventeen year old son asked me yesterday, " you don't suppose we might just be able to skip winter this year????" Not likely....

Still no winter here. I am not sure whether I prefere rain or bare frost (can I say bare frost?) with sunny days and cold nights - neither is good for my plants though.

I think these pictures really say it all.

Last February 1st

Anemone coronaria blooming in the garden now.

This is my favorite Anemone.  I'm zone five, but this zone 6 hardy anemone has survived the last few Winters.  If this keeps up I'm going to have to plant Mediterranean species.

James

Faith- winter is definitely not skipping this year...lol-- temps are already much lower, and after a couple more mild days, looks like next week will drop farther still, though still not to temps we'd consider extreme for this time of year (daytimes in low -teensC or -20'sC at worst - so far in the forecast- to be really cold for January, it would have to hit at least -30C daytime!
We got a dusting of snow overnight- enough to freshen up our dirty snow paths...lol-- but the roads were clear, it all blew straight across in the strong winds...
James, quite a contrast! Personally, I'd hesitate to plant for the extremes of 'warming' (I'm sure many of us can get away with a zone or two bump in some things)There is sure to be a cold winter or even a few cold weeks thrown into the mix at some point to take out all those tender plants! Seems to be a lot of ups and downs in the general climate mayhem...

Snow comes and goes in St. John's this year...we had a freak 30 cm snowfall in November but a week later it was all gone.  Three days ago we were still snow-free but today we got 12 cm.  Just in time, as tomorrow is dropping to -12 C with a windchill of -26 C!  Glad for the snowcover now!  Suppose to rain the weekend so we may be snow-free again!  BAD frost heaving in the open areas of the garden this winter, but the crevice garden shows no heaving.

Still no freezing temperatures although we had some sleet and hail yesterday. Today we had nice weather and absolutely no wind. The fjord was calm as a mirror and although the sun still is weak it almost felt as spring had come. I was out felling some trees but got in in time to picture the sunset (which is early in the afternoon about 4PM). Here are the results: (The bird feeding place in the foreground)

Nice sunset!
It always amazes me that some of you Northern Europeans can be farther north than us, yet so much warmer! We would think we were doing very well if we could say no freezing temps yet-- in September! If your warm ocean currents are ever knocked out by melting ice caps,as some suggest, you guys will be trouble!
Sunset is already almost 5pm now...
Winter is back today- windy and snowing, 10cm forecast, then flurries Sunday and Monday, periods of snow Tues....going to -18C tonight, -33C wed morning....

cohan wrote:

Nice sunset!
It always amazes me that some of you Northern Europeans can be farther north than us, yet so much warmer! We would think we were doing very well if we could say no freezing temps yet-- in September! If your warm ocean currents are ever knocked out by melting ice caps,as some suggest, you guys will be trouble!
Sunset is already almost 5pm now...
Winter is back today- windy and snowing, 10cm forecast, then flurries Sunday and Monday, periods of snow Tues....going to -18C tonight, -33C wed morning....

Cohan, you must remember that I live at the west coast! Although this winter has been very mild in all Norway so far it is full winter and snow in the inland and farther north. But now the forecast for the week says snow on Thursday and very cold (-5^oC !) in the weekend ???
And your place is inland and at a high altitude! I think the climate at the west coast of USA and Canada is more similar to my climate although you have to go as far north as 60^o.

We don't think of ourselves as high altitude -the mountains are still far,  we are under 1000m... ;D
Of course coasts are very different, but at 60 degrees North, even the west coast of NA is colder than you! -5C- so cold... ;) (I know cold is very relative to what you are used to in general, and for the year and season..) Tomorrow its not supposed to get above -18C, with windchill of -29C, and then it gets colder...lol And I expect to go out to saw some wood tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, Wednesday, which may be even colder (and more snow on the ground by then)..

We have a thin skimcoat of snow, about 2", and it is -18 C this morning (0 F).  At least it is sunny.  Although, probably not quite as frigid as Cohan's locale, with your predicted high temp of -18, our high today is supposed to get up to 18 F (- 8 C)

In the end we didn't get much snow- just a couple of cm; luckily we also did not have much wind as forecast- doesn't take much wind at these temperatures to produce severe windchill! We were out doing wood today, and it was cold of course, but I wore my real winter coat for the first time since November, and I was sweating pushing the wheelbarrow. Only cold bits were my cheeks at times (hard to cover the face wearing glasses and not have them fog up- especially breathing heavily working!) and my hands only while I was doing a little snow sweeping at the end...
One advantage of lower temps is that boots, pants bottoms, gloves etc remain completely dry even after handling snowy wood for a couple of hours...

The forecast says winter comes on Thursday :-\  First rain, then snow and then clear sky and bitterly cold (-6^oC  ;) )

But it's true, Cohan, it is much better to work when the snow is dry and it is so cold that it doesn't melt on your clothes.

Hopefully that sequence of weather does not leave you with too much ice, Trond!
Wet pantlegs and gloves aside, I did not complain much when we had above normal temperatures for most of December and half of January  ;D

I thought that we would have a warm winter in Seattle, but it seems like that is not the case. It's been snowing for a couple of days and is supposed to get worse... This picture is from yesterday and there is lots more snow on the way...

We're getting some real winter... -30 deg C now, with an expected high of -28 deg C.

Lori wrote:

We're getting some real winter... -30 deg C now, with an expected high of -28 deg C.

And we are possibly getting some real winter in the weekend +5^oC now expecting -5^oC Saturday!

No real winter here yet. 

So far, it has only been to 0F (-18C) once this season!

Not much for winter here yet either....lots of freezing rain today though and now the temp. is going up from 35f at 4PM to 39 now at 9:30!! We need some of that Seattle snow to mulch over the flower beds!! :-[

Nights below -30C/-22F; this morning was supposed to be down to -37C/-34F; days below -20C;we've just been lucky in the western strip of the province to be out of the severe windchill zone that most of the province  has had-- we had windchills in the -30'sC while other places were in the -40's and -50'sC; today at a high of -24, no wind here.... a couple views from the drive to work Monday and Tuesday.. not as poor visibility as it looks, it's exaggerated by the telephoto lens.. we had very light snow for a couple days- only a cm or two after a couple of days- otherwise drifting and blowing on the roads would have been worse...
The first 3 shots are Monday, last three Tues, when it was bit less clear; the last shot is a spot that normally has a mountain view..

Full albums if you are a sucker for punishment ;)
https://picasaweb.google.com/111492944361897930115/January162012DriveToWork
https://picasaweb.google.com/111492944361897930115/January172012DriveToWork

I can only imagine such cold!  We have dropped as low as -13 C this winter..which is still quite mild.  As I type this, we have no snow but expecting 20 cm tomorrow.  Long range is for rain and 7 C next week so with any luck, this next snowfall will melt again.

We got 1 inch of sleet today! Still a degree or two above zero so it does melt but the forecast says more rain and thunder! The predicted winterly weather is postponed to next week on Tuesday and lasting for 12 hours ;)

2" of nice fluffy stuff for us in Vermont! It's still only 19f tho'!! We could use another foot of snow to help insulate the ground & plants! :(

We ended up with 25 cm of snow...looks like winter may be here for the next couple of months at least. Too little too late in regards to insulation...our frost is probably deeper now thatn its been for years.  Will remain to be seen if the Crocosmia survives this winter.

Todd wrote:

I can only imagine such cold!  We have dropped as low as -13 C this winter..which is still quite mild.  As I type this, we have no snow but expecting 20 cm tomorrow.  Long range is for rain and 7 C next week so with any luck, this next snowfall will melt again.

Todd- yes, zone 5 is unimaginably mild for us...lol-- though really so far we have had only a couple of nights in November near -30, and this week of cold- nothing really- and we'll be above freezing and sunny in a couple of days! Having spent 10 years in zone 5/6 Toronto, I have to say though, that its not so much that winter is nicer there (sounds like this year there would be pretty easy to take!)- definitely more slush, ice and damp cold than we ever see here, and there could be some quite vicious cold windy weather in Jan/Feb with fairly heavy snowfalls, but rather its the fact that the winter is much shorter than here that is most notable, and the fact that spring, (long hot) summer and fall are actually all seasons of substance there! Here its 6 months of winter and 6 months of not quite as cold, with a tiny nearly frost free chunk in the middle of that...lol

Today is our 'cold' day for the week- high of -5C (that's right on for normal, and the coldest day we've had in several; overnight normal low is -18C, none of those in the last some days) tomorrow +7C, then above freezing the whole week (daytime)! Some January!....

We probably get much more excited about snow when it comes, and much less ready to deal with it! This the first day we have had this winter when it has even stayed down close to freezing, with fine sleety snow. I must admit to enjoying it when the snow does come - the landscape just lights up and life slows down a little.

Have been away picking seeds for a day or two . It snowed overnight http://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/195741/midsummer-snow-south . Still harvested the next day but having fun getting it all dry now . Mandy doesn't look all that happy with how much I brought back

Not much snow here just bone cold. However the sun shines from a clear blue sky. A pity the days are still very short.

Jandals, are you sure it is seed in all those trash saks?

700 trash sacks of seed heads. Harvested from introduced weeds

That's a lot of weed seeds! Those are destined for burning?

Actually,Cohan, it's a curious sort of win-win situation in the environmental awareness stakes . I remove the seeds of bad weeds in NZ  ( Sedum acre in this case ) and they end up on green roofs in Europe . Everybody is happy .

I used to collect seeds of our finest alpines but relatively few people grow them so now I collect seeds from weeds . I guess they are easier to grow

Hah! That is ironic! Re-patriating them...lol.. if only we could get them to take back the dandelions, clover and the damned buttercups...lol

Jandals wrote:

Actually,Cohan, it's a curious sort of win-win situation in the environmental awareness stakes . I remove the seeds of bad weeds in NZ  ( Sedum acre in this case ) and they end up on green roofs in Europe . Everybody is happy .

I used to collect seeds of our finest alpines but relatively few people grow them so now I collect seeds from weeds . I guess they are easier to grow

I would rather have seeds of your alpines! Sedum acre is fine but I have it ;)

Winter snows have arrived in south-east England and really brightened the garden up! But not too likely that they will last very long.

Nice views- always fun to see palm trees in snow- guess there's been a lot of that across southern Europe and North Africa!
Still no fresh snow here, and none forecast, but what we have shouldn't melt much this week, with daytimes from -5C to +3C and nights -6C to -18C.. still nothing we'd call winter weather!

No snow and comparitively mild again this week. Walking around the yard this weekend, I see the white of closed Galanthus buds, and one white purple-striped bud on Colchicum kesselringii, unheard of this early.

Dramatic winter scenes there Tim, fortunately we're not seeing such scenes here this winter so far.

Tim, it is almost like here! How do your palms cope with this weather?

Mark, I could see the white buds of snowbells weeks ago but now they are all covered by a blanked of hard crusted snow! Does that kind of snow have a specific name? Here it is called "skare" (pronounced something like sk as sk in skate + ar as ar in NARGS + e as e in bell! (Cohan, lesson no 5 ;) ;D )

Trond, in northern North America we try to mostly pretend we don't live in a northern place- we don't have a full set of words for kinds of snow (you need to use a phrase/adjectives to describe it), we don't build our towns/cities to make winters more pleasant (eg- no sun at streetlevel in Toronto in the winter- unlike some European northern cities I have heard of have laws to control where tall buildings will cast shadows).. etc etc..
There is an effort the last years in places like Edmonton to try to make a lot more winter festivals etc, so maybe we will learn yet!
Maybe I need to learn Norwegian after all-- or Inuk!- just in order to have words to describe snow- I can recognise many kinds of snow conditions, even judge general temperature by looking at the snow on the road- but there are not specific words for it  ;D

Our St. Paul Winter Carnival started in 1886 and continues every Jan-Feb to this day.  I remember as a kid sliding through an ice castle and down a hill near the Mississippi River. It was a pre-made run, of course. ;D  Gee, that would've been 40 years ago...

We even have a Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Paul_Winter_Carnival

Some postcard pics of more recent years' endeavors:
Photographer unknown.

Cold enough for ice castles this year, Rick? Festivals are great for sure, to help people get through winter, though I'd like to see more attention to making the cities pleasant to live and  get around in in winter (earlier comments about shading etc).. of course now it doesn't affect me much, since I'm not in any sizable city anymore, only a small city for shopping once or twice per 2 weeks..lol

No ice castle this year.  No snow sculpting either.  Ice sculpting still going on, I think.  Everything is quite low key, this warm practically snowless season.  Festivities still endure, though. 

cohan wrote:

I'd like to see more attention to making the cities pleasant to live and  get around in in winter (earlier comments about shading etc)..

Funny you should mention that, Cohan.  Minneapolis  supposedly has the longest skyway system in the world (over seven miles).  Just last week there was an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune quoting the mayor saying something to the effect that the skyways are taking away from the city street life (duh!) and businesses that benefit from it (street life), and wonders about the overall value of the skyway .  I have to say, our skyway system is not at all easy to navigate.  It's almost never simple and straight forward: making turns and corners in the buildings, down long hallways, going through this or that unmarked door.  It's always been an acute test of my memory how to get back to where I started.

Edmonton had supposedly won some awards for its 'Pedway' system when I lived there long ago- the system- both above and below ground- was useful, but really didn't go all that far in those days, not that there was anywhere far to go.... definitely those central shopping areas had rather 'dead' exteriors...
The system connecting dowtown buildings in Toronto was also quite labyrinthine- but apart from a couple of the largest downtown shopping centres which were well connected ( I could easily travel several blocks indoors and regularly did; at one time I also worked beside another connected area, and that was very handy too!) it was outside my needs-- I just occasionally wandered in there for the sheer exoticism of seeing where the corporate/banking world ate lunch and did light shopping ( a hidden world!) - so I had no need to find my way back anywhere, as long as I could eventually find a street exit again  ;D

I think city planners do need to think long and hard about who they are serving with various systems, and what other effects they may have... for people who work (or live, if there are connected residences?) in the interconnected buildings (or even near them!) I think its wonderful in very cold or hot weather- to be able to access goods and services without dealing with weather, and I'm sure any call to remove the connections would be vociferously opposed!

I suppose because we don't get a long extended winter with snow (except once in a blue moon), we don't have winter festivals - sounds like good fun! Keen gardeners make up for it by collecting snowdrops and visiting as many gardens as they can in a few weeks through February!!

Trond - the Chusan Palm has been in the garden for some 25 years or more and never been damaged by winter cold or snow, but we rarely drop below -10°C. In Nature I think it can tolerate temperatures down to -20°C maybe for short periods, but it is always long extended freezing which causes so much damage. I also grow the European Chamaerops but this was quite badly damaged by the early cold we had last winter; Butia capitata from temperate South America has so far (touch wood) come through relatively unscathed - this can make a very bold and dramatic specimen. I imagine the Chusan palm would be hardy in milder parts of Scandinavia?

It isn't much of neither skyways nor pedways here! I think they are rare even in the big cities like Oslo. However, when I visited Moscow I walked in something like that - interconnecting buildings with streets roofed over and both inside and "outside" gangways in several floors - just opposite Kremlin across the Red Square.

Tim, I have tried several palms from seed but all the seedlings died in the very cold winter 2 years ago. However, I know there are some people growing palms outside here at the west coast. I have a Chusan Palm in a pot and will try it outside in a year or two. I also have a banana plant (Musa basjoo) in pot and plan to try also that one outside. However, the problem her would be lack of warmth in summer and not cold in winter.

I have several times bought seeds (not just palms) from http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/index2.shtml and always had good germination

Trond - that is a tremendous website and seed source; very dangerous for me because I can't resist growing so many plants from seed! Interestingly last winter a couple of established cycads I had in pots (Cycas revoluta and a Macrozamia) looked to be killed in the unheated greenhouse, but come spring threw out a strong new set of leaves! I am not sure if many palms damaged in this way would do the same. Not to be recommended though when the plants have taken ten or more years to grow on from seed!

Trond- much grander than any walkways I've been  on in Edmonton or Toronto  ;D a few 'glassed' ones over streets, but more often underground connections which are just like subway connection tunnels- or even much smaller than that... at the grandest, they are just like any other part of a shopping mall...

Well, I guess spring is really coming- but my indicator is not flowers pushing up out of the soil-- rather, the snow is wetter and heavier now!
Our forecast yesterday was for flurries, but we got another 10-15cm...
First is from a couple of metres past the front door...

My friend shovelling ( we did parts of it in the evening, all of it later, and again today)

Philadelphus, apples, house lights (left) and van..

Part of the driveway, and another part..

Looks like you... and we... have more snow to look forward to!  A "heavy snowfall warning" is forecast for Calgary and also for the Rocky Mt. House area (and possibly for other areas), but as you say, at least it might be "spring" (i.e. wet) snow!   ;D ;D

Lori, seeing your comment in the other thread made me check that forecast-- I'd also put 'heavy snowfall' in brackets- so far for Rocky it says 2-4cm tonight, 5-10cm tomorrow and 2 cm tomorrow night (and flurries tues and wed) so max 16cm so far-- not that heavy- though more than I'd prefer when it will mean a couple more hours of shovelling on work days  :( Red Deer shows a bit less, and we are between, so we'll see....

No snow in the forecast here and no freezing either ;) Although I like the snow when it is winter at least at our cabin, I dislike snow and cold nights when the spring has arrived!

Hoy wrote:

No snow in the forecast here and no freezing either ;) Although I like the snow when it is winter at least at our cabin, I dislike snow and cold nights when the spring has arrived!

We have a strong likelihood of snow even in May, and the last couple of years, the last snowbanks in shade last through most of May, so to start being bothered by it so early would be a great waste of energy...lol
We've had another 15cm or so since last night, and still coming...

Still snowing.... we managed to travel around 120 km (to town, east, then home, then to work, west, and back; pics to come, but not tonight) today in spite of snowy roads (highways not too bad, but our gravel road is very deep.. unless the plow passes in the morning, doubt we will go to work tomorrow! (okay, today, technically...) More snow than forecast originally- which was max of 16cm over the two days? I think it must be more like 30, maybe more, on top of the snow from Sat- we may have had over 40/45 cm by now.. still not as much as some folks see, but finally worthy of those snowfall warnings (still in effect)  ;D

Snow piles in the yard are at least as high as last year's extremes- a few must be up to around 6 feet, many 3-4 ft and a couple of metres wide, and looks like we may have piles of snow in the shade melting well into May again... we shovelled several times yesterday and several times again today, and will have to again tomorrow...

You get some exercise then, Cohan!
I swept the yard yesterday and remowed the sand from last winters "glaciation". (Do you call the sand you use to make ice and snow less slippery anything particular?)

Too much exercise  ;D -- shovelling 2 or 3 times  a day for 4 days..lol  today we had to shovel my mother's roof also...
hopefully no more snow for a while.. still some paths to be done etc.. I always remember Jane's snow in Colorado- nothing like that, but our paths are starting to feel like tunnels, and our highest piles near the parking spot are near 7 feet/a couple metres high..
After today with a high of -6C and windy, the rest of the week is above freezing, with a couple days of 10C-- some things will be getting wet, though  where its pure snow it will not melt so fast...

When I was younger I actually liked shovelling snow :o
Nowadays I'm glad for every day without snow - except when it gets too frigid for my dear plants. Today it is 10 days since last frosty night, and we've had only 5 cold (-3.5C as the coldest) nights the last month. I shouldn't speak too loud about it however, lest I'll get a lesson ??? But the forecast says  +3 - +7C the next 10 days and some sun ;D

Our days aren't so different- we have from +2 to +10C over the next week, with sun most of the time, but a night above freezing is something I would not expect- we have one surprising -1 night forecast, the rest are -6 or -9C... last night was -16C.. I remember -30 in March, growing up, and it was probably Fahrenheit!

We had an unusually mild and virtually snowless January - Februrary, thought it was going to be a completely snowless winter, but finallt got a total of 14" snow on March 1-2.  Three mornings ago, it was 12 F (-11 C), and now we're back to exceptionally mild weather, a sunny 62 F today (17 C).    69 F (21 C).

While most of my yard is still covered with snow, a few spots of ground are bare and a dozen or so first blooms on Crocus chrysanthus hybrids are in bloom. Much to my surprise, lots of bees busy visiting the flowers.  In fact, a bit sad, there were more bees than open flowers, they were revisiting the same flowers over and over, as there aren't any other blooms to visit.

Some particularly wide petaled selections, there, Mark. 

Very inviting, indeed!

Great to see those Mark!~ our high forecast for today was 5C/41F but that was for mainly cloudy, and its sunny, so I expect its warmer than that.. sun is strong now, so any exposed soil or dark protrusions are causing fast melting-- wont take down the 4-7foot mounds with any speed, but paths will start clearing etc... probably weeks of daily meltwater  nightly freezing into skating rinks over the driveway and paths ahead!

McDonough wrote:

We had an unusually mild and virtually snowless January - Februrary, thought it was going to be a completely snowless winter, but finallt got a total of 14" snow on March 1-2.  Three mornings ago, it was 12 F (-11 C), and now we're back to exceptionally mild weather, a sunny 62 F today (17 C).    69 F (21 C).

While most of my yard is still covered with snow, a few spots of ground are bare and a dozen or so first blooms on Crocus chrysanthus hybrids are in bloom. Much to my surprise, lots of bees busy visiting the flowers.  In fact, a bit sad, there were more bees than open flowers, they were revisiting the same flowers over and over, as there aren't any other blooms to visit.

21C?? That's about as hot as it ever become here!

I quited as a beekeeper some years ago and after that honeybees are rare in my garden. I remember that they used to have their first flight of the year at this time. Many had their last flight too as they didn't manage to get back to the hive in time for the night and froze to death during the night.

Beautiful morning here, and was absolutely wonderful yesterday. Now there's a winter storm warning up on Environment Canada - I was going to say hard to believe, but no, it's not of course! It's only April 4, and it's Alberta...I guess I'll take in my seedlings that I have out sunning themselves on the porch steps. 

Same storm warning here, though it might be more rain by the time it gets to Faith, farther east, though we could both have a mix of snow and rain.. probably mostly snow here, nearer the foothills.. supposed to start this afternoon, possibly 15cm or more of snow.. have to get out and bring up some firewood  ;D
Its only early April- we can have the occasional heavy snow through May...

We got about 15 cm of snow out of that last storm, and while it melted very soon against houses, on the roads and sunny places that were already bare, other places (like most of our driveway that is shaded) it only started going yesterday!

Now, from tomorrow we have several days of rain, freezing rain, possible snow forecast.....

Yes, Cohan, a few days of crappy weather it looks like.  It's about 17 C here now, but not for long.  Environment Canada has changed the forecast drastically since this morning!

Our forecast hasn't changed so much- except now the possible snow could come already by thurs night, then snow or rain fri and sat! I was still moving snow in the yard today, away from some paths and near beds-- I have one semi/woodland perennial bed that I realised after building is in the path of the downhill trickle of melt water in spring, that goes on for ages (fed by deep piles of snow along the driveway, part of which is in shade, so slow to melt), so I try to clear beside it so the water can run away without collecting in the bed- I dug a bit of a channel along one side of it last year, may need to expand that more, yet, and make sure I have moisture lovers in that bed!

I will be interesting to see what that rain will do on top of all the snow we still have!

cohan wrote:

I will be interesting to see what that rain will do on top of all the snow we still have!

Make a lot of water? Do you have a lifeboat?

That's what I said to my mom this morning- better get the boats ready! Of course we have no boats here, far away from any real body of water...
Supposed to be 10-15mm rain, then change to snow, 5-10cm overnight and snow fri and sat, another 10 cm plus... then next tues/wed rain/snow again....

The mosquitoes will be happy  ;D

I think the only place in Canada with more yo-yo weather than Newfoundland is Alberta.  We have been surprisingly mild this past week...every day 10-15 C and staying up to 5 C at night.  You can watch the plants grow!  Meanwhile, Nova Scotia and the Maritimes have been cold all week with 20 cm snow in Moncton.  There is no accounting for weather in Canada!

We had some days 10-15 before this storm, though no nights to 5C- I think maybe +2C is as high as we have been..
We got probably 10-15cm of snow last night/this morning- hard to be sure when it was melting all along.. Its stopped for now, possible rain/snow this aft, and then flurries tonight/tomorrow... plenty wet and sloppy out there..
+11 forecast for Mon, and possible precip again Tues and Thurs..
here's the drive home yesterday, when it had been snowing a couple of hours...
https://picasaweb.google.com/111492944361897930115/April122012SpringDriv...

Rain and sun, rain and sun here but not very high or low temps. I can not notice any growth of the plants - it is standstill :-\
A couple of hours ago we had a thunderstorm with hail and the lightning struck near by without damaging anything as far as I know.

Yesterday and today were both record highs...hit 21 C yesterday and 20 C today.  Tomorrow is forecasting 3 C!  Too much of a shock to the system.  We actually need some rain...it has been a dry April.

No rain needed here-- there has been rain or snow (mostly snow) daily  it seems for the last couple of weeks, cloudy and generally chilly, and we still have plenty of snow from winter- I went for a walk in the bus today, and while many areas are bare, in other places there is still knee deep snow.

Supposed to go up from tomorrow on- highs 11 to 18C, nights +1 to -6 with several days of sun- should be a lot of melting, which means wetter yet for a while!

Today I am at my summerhouse - have to do some work here - and the rowans, birches and bird cherries have leafed out! Also the fruit trees are in flower here. It is a bit strange as usually it's earlier at home than here. But an hour's drive inland it snowed thickly and was difficult to drive.

We have some warmer days coming (9-16C) but some of those days cloudy, still, we should get some serious melting...

Not much talk about weather lately!
I'm sitting inside now, should have been outside weeding but a tremendous thunderstorm is approaching.

Fortunately I wasn't hit by the worst but it is still raining, thundering and a black sky.
The nearest city  (Haugesund 13miles away) is seriously hit by the worst rain in ages.

http://www.h-avis.no/nyheter/30-kjellere-i-haugesund-oversvomt-1.7464744

Wow! There has been local flooding- roads and streets etc- in Edmonton several times this year, and tornadoes, near tornadoes in several places in the province, but luckily no problems right around here- still quite wet- I had to put boards over the mud to work on the rock gardens several times...

Lis, I share similar conditions here and can sympathize.  Lawns are brown and crispy, about 1-1/2 months without rain, then two weeks ago we had three nights in a week where thunderstorms provided some rain relief, but the last two weeks back to the same grind, hot hot hot and dry.  It was 96 F (36 C) today in central Massachusetts where we were visiting for the day, arrived back home to thunderstorms and some rain, then violent thunderstorms and downpours for a half hour or so, but a lightning bolt hit a transformer on the street and we have no power, so went up to Nashua New Hampshire to a Barnes & Nobles for wireless internet access and to rechange telephones and laptop.

Its too hot to work outside, everything is collapsing and looks so sad in spite my inadequate attempts at watering in the waning light of sunset after I get home from work (town watering ban only allows watering every other day currently), my woodland garden is now receiving full sun after a gargantuan ancient sugar maple tree fell in a storm a month ago and thus plants are crisping quickly,
http://nargs.org/smf/index.php?topic=807.msg18349#msg18349
already I'm so looking forward to autumn and cooler weather.  I haven't yet posted photos after the tree cleanup and removal occurred, much more devastation from the inevitable trampling from workers cutting up such a massive tree lying directly atop my garden, I'm hoping that roots of many plants that are no longer in evidence above ground will persevere and resprout next year. 

Sorry to hear it's still so dry and hot- we hear it on the news all the time too, bad news for gardeners and farmers alike :(
We've had a number of days that were hot to work outside-  for a few hours!(still cool overnight and in the morning, and as soon as the sun goes behind the woods at the west end of the property ) but  its very humid in here among the trees, so I do sweat working outside in mid-afternoon, but nothing like the temperatures in so many other places- we haven't been higher than mid 20'sC, and next several days of 26-28C will be our hottest in a couple of weeks ( we even had a few days that didn't get above 16C or so)..
Only issue for farmers here is enough dry days now to get hay off, other crops are mostly not ready for harvest yet, so they will be appreciating some warmth to get things ripening..

Lis- the storms all move east from here, but I guess they just don't have the oomph to make it all the way to Ontario! We just had a thunderstorm and a modest rain, its moved off now, probably more severe storms Red Deer and other points east...our power keeps flickering.. My mom keeps thinking we haven't had much rain, because we haven't had any really long rains- we've just had so many of them! At least I didn't need the boards over the mud to work outside today, though grass was wet when I was mowing...tomorrow remains to be seen..

Hope you all get some rain, though its looking like it wont be till fall..

Cohan, I don't need rain!!

I'm sorry to hear about your losses, Lis, hopefully some roots survive. And your trees of course!

It's strange - here we haven't had anything like proper summer weather and most people would welcome sun and warm temperatures. Although I can't complain, I too would like at least a week with temps above 20C (68F)!

Lis - I truly can sympathize with your garden feelings..  we too have had really horrible drought and, even though I water very early daily, the water just seems to disappear down into the sandy soil and everything appears droopy before long.  However, there are a few survivors and here is one of them - pics aren't that great for which I apologize.  I think it is Campanula pyramidalis and it is growing out of the crack between my front steps and the sidewalk - 4 tall columns of pretty blue stars and more springing up under a magnolia which didn't do a lot this year.  So all is not lost.  Fran

Oh, Oh - forgot to resize the pics so will send them along separately.

Frances Howey
London Ontario Canada
Zone 5b

Here is Campanula pyramidalis  - I think.  Fran

And another shot.  Fran

Trond, I should have said "I hope all of you who need rain, get some!" I don't imagine Lori is asking for any either- we haven't really had rain to the point of being a problem, and we have had some warm days between! I've started working on my third new planting area of the year, and its in the low end of the yard- that was pretty mucky yesterday, heading back out now...
I have started to have your problem, though- slugs! They were always around, but I rarely saw damage, but I just realised they were bothering more plants, including some in the rock garden- some of the damage was hidden for a while, I think, since it blended in with hail damage.. I had to put out some treats for them a couple of days ago, which I hope I have not been misled in thinking is not too toxic to anything but slugs?- some iron based pellets.. in future I'd rather just use DE in sensitive areas, but wanted to make a fast diffference so those plants can recover in the short time before cold weather starts...

Fran- glad you have at least some plants hanging in there!

Well, here they have promised us the warmest weekend and hottest week this summer! (Hot, that is about 24C where I live ;D).

Idaho has been hot with many days over 100F this summer. It did rain this morning, something most welcome but only made it humid. i notice that the plants in the  garden are mostly unaffected by the heat, even such seemingly sensitive species as Eritrichium nanum are seemingly unstressed. i have also noticed that even a slight drop in temperature for a few days and plant growth goes in to overdrive. The grasshoppers have come out with the heat and have been grazing on many of the alpines but i have held off on extreme measures since it seems that the grazing stops shortly after the first or second offense. perhaps the plants respond with their own countermeasures.

We continue with the up and down from day to day and even day to night- Last night was something like 7C, tuesday forecast for 15C as a high, and 28C again by the weekend; chance of showers or rain forecast for 4 out of 7 days... out now again for some more garden building and/or planting...

Coffee by the lake in Sylvan Lake Alberta, yesterday, while we waited for mom at the doctor... actually I only sat there long enough for the photo- yesterday was around -6C plus windchill, light snow over a couple of days and a little drifting.. Supposed to be above 0 by Monday, and 8 by Tues if they stick to that..

Looks dramatic but cold there Cohan, I'm sure the coffee helped.  We've had three frosts here so far, to 29-30 F (-1 C), but daytime temperatures have been warm, up to 60 F (16 C).  Today it's gorgeous, 62 F sunny and with little wind.  I have two days "vacation" as I ended my previous job (a job I disliked very much) and on Monday I start a new (and hopefully better) job.  

But it coincides with the anniversary of the surprise pre-Halloween snowstorm of October 2011, where we got 14" of heavy snow with most trees still in full foliage, causing disastrous tree damage, and extensive power outages for up to a week; after 3 days of freezing in the house by candlelight, we finally stayed in a hotel for a couple more days until electricity was restored. And look what's predicted to hit us on the anniversary date, Hurricane Sandy!  Little ol' Massachusetts is just below the letter "N" in the phrase "Early Next Week" in the image below.

Looks very wintriy, Cohan! I can have the coffee but not the snow - yet ;D

Mark, hope this storm doesn't do such damage as the one last year! We usually get the low pressure systems a week later than you have them over there :-\ But they are much weaker here.
We had the first hailstorm of the fall today but nothing damaged and all the hail and snow melted at once here at the coast. Now the sky is clear and the temperature is 0C but the forecast says more rain and milder tomorrow and next week.

Trond- although it's not that cold out with a coat on- not hard to stay warm just below freezing- still at the beginning of the season it feels worse, and on a cloudy, windy day- I didn't stay out there long...lol Its very pretty and white here- it really does look like mid-winter with a few inches to nearly a foot of snow on the ground in various spots- and has just kept snowing (lightly) over the last few days.. And they took away our above 0 temps for Monday and Tues- now -1 to -4C and snow and clouds continuing right through! We still have plusses forecast, but only 5/6 Wed/Thurs instead of the 7/8 they had for Mon/Thurs.. looking more like this snow may last longterm!

Mark- congrats- hopefully- on the new job, and hope you don't get too much out of Sandy!

This past September was the warmest on record for us in Newfoundland.  October is generally above normal too but yesterday and today were only 6 C and 70 km wind (gusts to 85 km last night)...who needs a hurricane!  This is just a typcial fall storm around my parts.  Meanwhile, no frost yet...dahlia and Impatiens still going strong.  I had to dig up tuberous begonia that were looking great because I don't want to postpone planting my spring bulbs....long range is days 8-10 C and nights 5 C so no frost up to November...that is also a record for us!

That's balmy alright, Todd! We were warm much of September, but that's warm daytime- we had regular frosts starting long ago-- which is a good thing here: if we don't have regular night frosts to tell the plants to get ready for winter, they can be caught out by sudden cold, as happened in 2009..

Thought I'd post an update before we surely will lose power, Hurricane Sandy will be one for the record books, this thing is massive! Its raining but the super heavy rain hasn't reached us yet, although 50-60 mph gusts are here.

Keep safe all you East Coasters. No doubt we shall get the tail, and much diluted end, of it next week.

Good luck from Norway, Mark!

Hope you don't loose another tree, Mark! And I hope you all affected will be safe during the bad weather. This hurricane is top news here too. The weather here is calm and clear now after some rain this morning but more rain is expected tomorrow evening :-\  - Nothing like what you are due to have though :o

McDonough wrote:

Thought I'd post an update before we surely will lose power, Hurricane Sandy will be one for the record books, this thing is massive! Its raining but the super heavy rain hasn't reached us yet, although 50-60 mph gusts are here.

[attachthumb=1]

Vermont is right in the path but the forcasters aren't expecting as severe a storm as 'Irene' was last year. But we will get high winds! Not much happening yet, but tonight will be bad.

Sandy was half of the national news cast here tonight, too! Of course it's still a pretty significant storm for eastern Canada, too, one death already in Toronto, from windblown debris, and they mentioned 4 metre waves on lake Ontario; at least 70,000 people in Quebec and Ontario without power already, far more in the U.S.... I only recall one hurricane remnant from my 10 years in Toronto, but it wasn't that distinguishable from any other wet windy day..
Hope all are well and power outages are not too long lasting ..
Our forecast is for still below 0C temps next 2 days, then up to 10C by the weekend..

Just got the power back and fortunately only minimal damage.  My son was not so lucky.  A neighbor's tree crashed through his roof with one huge branch coming through the guest room (fortunately unoccupied at the time).  He has live power lines 4' above his front lawn.  We know so many people who have had terrible damage but are all safe.

Good to hear you and yours are safe, Anne, I know that's not true for everyone..

Unusually warm weather today, 61 F and sunny (16 C), supposed to be 70 F (21 C) tomorrow.

And we've been mostly below average since winter descended on October 20 and we have had snow since then, even though we had some melting a couple of days; now around a foot (variably) on the ground.. We got to somewhere below -20C the other night, but now are supposed to warm up again, possibly as high as 5C daytime this week, average now is 0C..

Somebody do think we need help ;D

! My internet connection is not nearly good enough right now to try to see videos-- is this a serious effort?

The last few days we were several degrees above freezing, but now we have a week forecast with highs from -4  to -14, today through Thursday the coldest.. Snow forecast for 3 of 7 days, but doesn't look like it should be much (knock on wood!)

cohan wrote:

! My internet connection is not nearly good enough right now to try to see videos-- is this a serious effort?

No, it is a parody and ironic work of students ;) (if I remember right)

Trond - I really enjoyed the video and was gullible enough to think it was for real.  However, even as a parody, it is well done and I have deep admiration for the people who made it - and aren't they a good looking lot?  Fran

Frances Howey
London, Ontario, Canada
Zone 5b

Hoy wrote:

cohan wrote:

! My internet connection is not nearly good enough right now to try to see videos-- is this a serious effort?

No, it is a parody and ironic work of students ;) (if I remember right)

That's good- I thought maybe with your recent rain the country was washing away  ;)

Fran, it has has ricocheted past days here!

Rumors say that somebody had seen the sun for 10 minutes yesterday! And today I saw it for myself as I had the sun in my back and an impressive rainbow in front when I drew home. However, we had gale force wind last night with heavy rain and a thunderstorm is due tonight. Still 8-11C though. The forecast says colder weather with some sun next week. I don't believe it before I see it :-\

or Weather 2013. (whether or not we like it)
Predict -6F (-21C) Wed night in NE Massachusetts, USA.  This takes me below what I feel is the effective USA zone 6a.  Some snow tonight.  Our coldest weather may come Feb. 7-14; so this winter may be quite a ride.  Will be spreading some salt marsh hay and putting out bait for voles, perhaps after digging out in the AM.  Will try to cover Allium "Summer Drummer", approaching 2 ft in height, with Styrofoam.  Will cover Cyclamen hederifolium and purpurescens/repandum, which are all wonderfully leafed out, so inappropriately for a long, dim, frigid winter.  Neighbor in adjacent town reported Cyclamen growing in her lawn, so with gardening, there's always a place for hope (I hope).

Charles Swanson Massachusetts USA z 6a (lows possibly from -13F to 3F more or less)

I think officially the UK has had the wettest year on record (and probably our records go back as long as anywhere). Where we are in Kent our average rainfall is about 25 inches per year - this year we have reached over 35 inches! It is all relative of course and there are many people in areas of higher rainfall in the west, and near rivers, who have had a really bad time. For many of the later flowering woodland species it has been a real benefit. However, to put this in perspective I think the lowest rainfall ever recorded in the UK was in Kent, back in the 1920's, at around 10 inches or less, and we generally fluctuate between around 20 inches (very rare) and 30 inches (more common). This will all seem very mild for those gardeners in continental climates, or further north in Scandinavia, where the weather is so much more dramatic, but we are a nation of definite weather watchers!!

We got about 5 inches of snow yesterday, and the snow cover is finally 'right' for my garden. I like about 8-10 inches on the ground before the temps drop into the single digits, which is what we're expecting this next week. I planted quite a few marginally hardy things last year, and it will be interesting to see how they do over a winter. Last year was such an anomaly that there is really no comparison. So far this year is much more normal. I hope it continues.
My special plant this year is Pyrrosia sheareri, a fern collected by Steve Doonan on Taiwan, and obtained from Far Reaches Nursery in Port Townsend, WA last March. Far Reaches is a very special nursery and one you should visit on the net.

Still considering ourselves lucky here compared to so  many places with troublesome weather! Our winter (at least as measured by snow on the ground) started very early, but while we've had a lot of below average temps since late Oct, on the other hand we still haven't had much in terms of extreme cold, which we could have easily by now.. Also no really heavy snowfalls even though it's been white more than 2 months..
knock on wood!

You're easily satisfied, Peter.  I'd like 2' of snow here (only have 8"), because 2' is enough to make the deer flounder so they stay out of the garden, which is steep.

Was hoping to head back into the mountains to pick a few seeds after the New year but saw the forecast . Might stay home for a bit and see what happens

http://www.metservice.com/national/warnings/severe-weather-warnings

We had about 1 1/2 foot of snow but all is gone now. After one month with freezing temps down to -12C the temp jumped up to +5-7C. The weather has been like Steve's forecast for NZ with heavy rain and strong wind. A lot of roads have been closed. Luckily our house are sheltered both from wind from south and flooding.
The next week is not that bad though, like this: http://www.yr.no/sted/Norge/Rogaland/Karm%C3%B8y/F%C3%B8rresfjorden/lang...