Weather 2013

I could need some of that snow to cover my plants in the arctic temperatures we have now! But without the wind of course :-\

Must be having some fierce winds there in Newfoundland. 

All that snow, yet the tops e of roofs and cars are bare!

A quick hello from the Pacific Northwest -- clear blue skies, glorious sunshine, and 22˚F (-6˚C) this morning.  High temperatures will barely climb above freezing today and lows will be below freezing for the rest of the week.  Freezing fog coats leaves with ice crystals.  Quite picturesque but the cold damage might be serious.

Claire, that's exactly the weather we have here too! The mets have predicted the same weather for at least a week more :-\

I am not very concerned of the cold yet. Last year was bad with very mild January, February and March and then severe frost in April when the plants were in full growth:(
It is better with cold weather now to prevent a too early start. I had to bring some pots with seedlings starting to sprout indoors yesterday. Among them were 3 pots of Helleborus seedlings.

Been cold here in Reno about ten degrees below normal for us with little to no snow cover in the valleys. The cold air invertions have settled in so it didn't break the freezing mark in the last four days. It'll test the marginally hardy species. (about a dozen Aizoaceae I planted last summer) Should slowly warm up by the weekend.

Tim, We are sending another arctic tempest your way. It should arrive by the end of the month. Cheers!

Tim, it looks cozy  ;D  Although the temp here is about the same, we have just 1cm of "snow" and expecting rain in a few days.
Michael, I don't want your arctic tempest >:(

Oops! -12 F morning of 1-24-13. Pffff -there goes Convolvulus cneorum (Southern Spain native). The photo indicates the weather here; frigid, sunny hot, snow cover -sparse, humidity as near zero as it can get. The plant is at the south foot of an enclosed porch foundation, certainly one of the mildest places on my property, so there may be some life near the base of the plant. The other plant is Muehelenbeckia axillaris (New Zealand native). It goes underground for the winter and the dead top growth insulates it as well. It's never failed to return in spring for many years. There's an Agave (Southwestern USA native), which still looks OK and assorted cacti here too. Weather here currently cruel to all living things.

After a couple weeks with cold dry weather (the coldest in my garden was -12C/10F) the milder weather is back. A little snow last night but it will soon transform to rain. What I am afraid of is the soil freezing deep and damaging the tender roots and bulbs when there is no snow cover and prolonged cold weather.

Bundraba, my Convolvolus cneorum died two winters ago. It doesn't like our wet winters either :-\

The other night it was a difference of almost 50C between the coldest parts of Norway and the warmest. while we had +7C the coldest parts in north was down to -42.
Tonight we'll get a rainstorm and flooding are expected and very high tide.

Cooling off today; back to winter. Yesterday went from freezing; 32F to over 55F in a matter of hours: Air was hot, ground was cold. We don't get such a stripping of snow cover often. 4 inches of fresh snow plus pretty much all of the old snow is gone. Last night it rained. No significant snow expected in near term. Looking like cruel winter here for broadleafed evergreens. One group I don't worry about in this weather are steppe dwellers from the western USA. They get it at least as far as the weather here is concerned. I took some more pix this morning of Eritrichiums etc.

Cohan, Very interesting about your Pyrolas. I thought those liked to hide in woods, at least shaded deeply if not under some snow. I know of the Ledum and have three iterations growing here. Don Avery of Cady's Falls Nursery (Vermont) once said to me something to the effect of "I can't figure it out" with the Ledums; they seem tender in some nasty winters and quite solid in others! So far I've suffered with the same frustration regarding Ledums. Linnaea borealis will remain evergreen under snow, but, despite its broad northerly distribution burns badly if exposed. Mitchella repens and Gaultheria procumbens seem very resistant to freeze-drying though and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi seems tough, so there are a few that can handle it. Of these Mitchella is seemingly the only one that remains bright green. Nice things like Rhododendron; Phyllodoce; Erica; and I suspect Calluna (if it ever will grow here, maybe I can see for real!) are not happy about dry cold and sun as you suggest from findings in your own climate.

Some Pyrolas are alpine plants here growing in the belt of shrubs above the subalpine forests. They tolerate a lot of freezing although they usually are snowcovered from December. This goes for Linnea too. Ledum is growing in the coldest inland parts of Norway. I have never seen it in winter but assume they usually are snowcovered at least most winters. Phyllodoce is an alpine plant and stays green throughout the winter but grows under stable snow. Calluna and Arctostaphylos do best on windswept hills and ridges with little or no snow in winter although the tips of the branches of the heather get burnt.
Mitchelia and Gaulteria are foreign ;)

I have heard you are hit by a tremendous snow storm in eastern USA. How do you cope?

We are in the midst of the storm here in southwestern Nova Scotia, though it hasn't been as terrible as anticipated (so far). This winter is going to be quite hard on some plants. We usually get a reasonable amount of snow that keeps the ground covered for the whole season, but this winter has been odd! Snow, then the warmth comes for a few days and all traces of the white stuff is gone, then the temperature plunges for a week or so, then the pattern repeats.We have gained and lost all snow cover several times this winter The other morning it was -20 C at 6:00 AM when I woke. One week ago we were skating on our pond, and the next day temperatures rose to +13 C for a day and a half. Most of the ice melted (it was at over 6" thick). Yesterday was the first time I was able to walk out on the ponds again.

We thought about starting a wager on which plants will survive this winter, and which will not. I somehow doubt that Euphorbia 'Tasmanian Tiger' will come back in the spring, and I have my doubts about Acanthus mollis as well. This is going to be a real test for a few other plants as well (Digitalis obscura, Kniphofia triangularis, to name a few). Hopefully the five Lysichiton camtschatcensis that were planted pondside will tough it out and show us what they can do here!

Hoy wrote:

I have heard you are hit by a tremendous snow storm in eastern USA. How do you cope?

Well Trond, this was quite the storm.  I was at a conference 2800 miles away in Las Vegas, Nevada, scheduled to fly back the same night as the predicted blizzard.  Mid-week, I decided to cut the conference short by one day and managed to book the very last seat available on Delta. So glad I did that, over 5000 flights were canceled due to the storm, I would've been struck in Detroit sleeping on an airport floor for the weekend if I had not changed travel arrangements.

Its hard to tell how much snow we received due to the 50-60 mph winds (up to 75 mph along the coast), it roared and buffeted the house all night long. It looks like we easily reached the predicted 2' (60 cm) of white stuff.  There is a State-wide travel ban in place, with threat of a stated $500 fine and up to a year in jail if caught traveling without emergency reasons; seems way over-the-top excessive, probably put out there as compliance by fear factor.

I know what I'll be doing all afternoon  ;)

Mark, should I send you my snowshoes? :D

With that kind of wind, Mark, you might be able to cut snow blocks for igloo building. 8)

Regarding strict fines on a driving ban, we only heard of it many hours after it had been established.  Had I been without power (400,000 MA residents were without power the morning after the storm started), or en route getting back home from one means or another unaware of such a restriction, without access to such announcements, or a hundred other legitimate reasons, such drivers would be totally unaware of such an edict.  A year in prison for driving in such a case, without considering the circumstances of why a person might be driving, seems ridiculously extreme to the max.  There would be a lesser consequence if one was a drug pusher. Geesh.

All I could think of... what if after some 20 something hours of airport travel and delays, finally managing to get back to Boston, then getting into my car in the long-term parking economy-lot, then starting my 50.2 mile drive from Boston to get home, but to be stopped and possibly imprisoned for 1 year for merely trying to drive home, unaware of any such draconian no-driving edict. One cannot use phone communications in a plane, and constant radio announcements are not forthcoming in mere seconds or minutes even if one were to turn on the car radio and attempt to listen to news vs. music, if I were attempting to drive back from the airport, how would I know of such a ban (never heard of one in the past). There are so many possible circumstances, given the short amount of time, with so many people without power or access to news, that a majority of the population would be unaware of such a restriction. Fortunately, I saw a number of articles the day of the storm stating police were not arresting people in the few cars out there. The State-wide ban was lifted at 4:00 pm.

Mark, good to hear you are sound and safe!
Such a ban would be impossible here, then nobody could go anywhere during the winter :-\

At the moment I am at the mountain cabin. 2 ft snow, -15 - -20C (5 - -4F) no wind at all (very rare) but not much sun either. Nice crosscountry ski tour today.

Rick, you know, it is much better to dig into the snow than building an igloo if you have to overnight outside during winter ;)  I've slept in the snow several times in my youth.

Lori, I take your point but we have our share as well! And sometimes we want to visit our inland neighbours  ;D
Pictues from the county where I live earlier this winter:

http://www.yr.no/nyheter/1.10843619

Or take a trip to the mountains ;) Although this is not far from the coast.

http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/rogaland/jaeren/1.10841263

cohan wrote:

I think somewhat warmer and wetter places seem to have much more turbulent and troublesome winters: ice storms, huge wet snow dumps etc

I think you're right, Cohan.  I'm not liking this zone 5 weather we've been getting the past few years.
  We never used to have ice storms or humid spells in winter.

It swings here too! It started in November and since then the temperature has oscillated in a regular manner but with much colder weather than normally here. The mean temperature for this winter is far lower than normal.
This is from the closest weather station for the last two months:

Well, we have barely had daytime temperatures above the freezing mark this winter :-\ The next week is supposed to be sunny and cold - as the last week and the week before that. . . . This will probably last all April too! Some people like it though - the skaters :-X