Weather 2012

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

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!

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

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

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?

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....

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...

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...

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!

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!

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!

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

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...

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!

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

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...

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..

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