Nasty, nasty. Ice is bad stuff. We're sodden and chilly here, but the temperature has mostly stayed above freezing. I hope your weather improves soon!

Sammy, I know what you mean. Same weather here. That was quite some dip in the temps yesterday, wasn't it!

Talk about crazy patterns up and down, by Tues-Wed. the temps will be back above freezing. Unfortunately, no snow cover to help protect our roses. They get to face the freeze-thaws-freezes with no defenses. Gotta admire how tough some roses are!

Kate

Well, we got it here in Illinois also. It was 55 degrees on Sunday with a high wind advisory in the afternoon and by 6pm it had dropped to 30 degrees and started raining. Overnite it turned to ice. My DH had to be in Chicago for business today so he left early Sunday afternoon to avoid the ice, and my daughter made it home early in the afternoon from college for the winter break.

It was 10 degrees this a.m. and the deck is ice-covered. I keep telling myself only 3.5 months until April....
-terri

It makes me feel better to know that I am not alone, but TerryJean, I am so glad that your husband and daughter are safe. I grew up near Indianapolis, and what we have here is nothing compared to what they have. Our problem is that the community does not make the huge investment in snow and ice removal equipment that they do in Indiana.

I certainly agree that this is a time to think about the spring.

SAmmy

I was running errands yesterday and was tempted to turn on the A/C in the car. Watching the temps drop yesterday evening, we went down over 30 degrees in less than an hour. Some icing now at a frigid 23 at noontime. I have some roses that were trying to bloom, silly things, and the birds are all fluffed up at the feeders..a sure sign it's cold out there.

I think some of you (and your roses) may have some of the worst swings in temperature in a 24 hour period ever.
That may be why my zone 6b isn't a rough as some of yours.

I can't imagine how a plant can go through those temperature swings without busting cell walls.

May your firewood stay dry and the winds not blow too strong.

No one has mentioned Climate Change! It is one of the major effects of CC, changeable weather. How often do predictions of weather turn out to be wrong. Not a bit but almost the opposite.

This is not normal weather changes but something new.

It is past time for every one to accept CC as a happening so we can get behind efforts to do something about it!

I was feeling sorry for myself until I read about your weather changes. The weather here was dry and very mild with no hard frost for too long. The roses began to think it was spring and it all felt very strange. I guess I'm glad that it all turned around and we now have snow on the ground.

I feel your pain! We too are having ridiculous temperature swings - 2 degrees F one day and then up to 42 the next. Rain all day yesterday(at least I got all the ice shoveled up)and now today, way below freezing again. A lot of our snow melted but there are a few inches left over my mounded roses. Apparently "They" say this winter will be chock full of ups and downs so I guess we better get used to it.
And Terry, I also mumble to myself "there are only 3 months until April" over and over, and try to picture how beautiful the roses will be in June. It seems to help:)
Judith

It hit us on Sunday. Snowed off and on all day and stuck to everything. We're getting another front passing through tomorrow that is supposed to dump more snow than we saw on Sunday. Highs in the low 20s. This is early for us. Our real winter weather usually doesn't hit until Jan/Feb. Our problem is ice. Tomorrow's front is supposed to bring rain followed by snow. Looks like I may be working from home tomorrow.

I've got new roses planted this fall that I'm worried about. We aren't in the habit of covering roses here since our winters don't normally get cold enough long enough for it to be a problem.