We will have +1 dgrs F tomorrow night, have a few inches snow on the ground. The Patriots-Bronco game will be in the high teens at Foxboro, so no real advantage weather wise. We really do not know what February will bring.
Bernd

Had a mixture of rain/snow pass through here last night,but the snow has already melted,and it didn't get above 36 today. But just like you all,it is going to get mild again ,and go up into the 50's again next week. Not nearly as much snow as we had last year. This has been a weird winter,to say the least! Phil

We went from a high of 58 on Tues. to a high of 6 yesterday and 8 today and it wouldn't bother me a bit if that was all the single digit temps we got for the winter, but next week we are supposed to be sub zero and single digit highs again. Yeah I know I should expect that in Jan. in MN but I was just getting used to not freezing my face. Last year we had about 60 inches of snow at this time, only about 3 total so far with only slightly more than a dusting on the ground now.

Drought here. No snow in the Sierra mountains, and no rain down here in the valley. Temps normal 40's at night high 50's low 60's day.

-Babka

Went from almost 70 two days ago to a low of l3, an inch of snow and a high of about 33. Back to 61 on Sunday, they tell us.

Sandy

Steve-we need a hosta colored like your weather map and name it the Ojibwe name for the "The winter that never was". If anyone comes across one get hold of me and I will find an appropriate Anishinaabeg word to name it.

My apologies to all Ojibwe when I appear to be abusive of your native language. I am trying to learn it. Feel free to correct me.

Les

Gone are the days of being confined to the cabin, which had its good points I think. Building homes with the barns beneath to share the animal heat was pretty smart, if not pleasingly aromatic. The weather patterns are sure changing.

The Flowering Quince is blooming here in northern Virginia. It was in the high 50s last weekend and in the 30s this weekend. We had rain this week, too-which makes me happy even though I'd rather have snow! In fact, we absolutely need some snow-we teachers hate to waste those built-in snow days!!

ZERO degrees here this morning outside, but hosta seedlings in the basement have around 75. Gardening continues over winter, should create a hosta landscape starting next October in my basement with seedlings. I forgot hostas yesterday though when watching those football playoff games. Bernd

69 degrees here today....way too warm for January. And to think that we were up to our whatsits in snow this time last year. I would rather have the snow to keep everything dormant, even though I am enjoying every minute of the beautiful days.

It's true.. not as much snow cover. We only have 19 inches on the ground now, compared to 30+ inches for most of the winter most years. Still, now that we've got over a foot, I think we'll be ok for the rest of the winter. I can't see it all melting now!

This may go down as the warmest January for the past 12 years. We're supposd to be in the 60's by the weekend. Lots of rain,but very little snow so far. I really don't care,because I don't ski,and I don't own a ski resort,even though there are 2 in the area. Phil

Very freakish. I noticed some of the trees are starting to bud out. Makes me wonder if there could be casualties because of this.

Also makes me wonder if we're going to be having blizzards in April...

Deanna

Don't worry. Be Happy. It's all part of the normal cycle of things. Here's a new article from our local weather guy/garden guru, David Epstein. Have you ever heard of the North Atlantic Oscillations? Maybe Les has.

Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Is Winter Over?

This must not be the warmest January here in Zone 5 NY, the ground is still frozen. In the 70s a neighbor was planting and growing lettuce outside in February. On Monday I took the train to NY City and the Hudson had no ice starting 30 miles south of Albany. Waterfowl were actively fishing, looked like March. I hope this will be a very slow spring, not a week in the 80s in April.
Bernd

Earth's gyrations are normal. I was going to compare it to a spinning top or gyroscope, but most of you have never seen these toys-I must be getting old. When a body is spinning, every-so-often it does a wobble.
With a gyroscope it is over in a second but with a large body mass like the earth where one rotation takes 24 hours a gyration may take 10 years.
We are about 6 years or more (this old person is losing perspective of time)into a large gyration and this year it is compounded by the earth having been further tilted 8 degress off its normal axis by the tectonic events in Japan. It is slowly recovering its original axis but not quite there yet.
So don't make immediate plans to vacate our planet. But it does show how frail our weather patterns are, which I pointed out on another posting. It's hard for me to say which comes first, tectonic plate movement or normal gyrations. I am sure each affects the other, and both affect our weather dramatically as air and ocean thermal currents. Those of you in the Pacific NW including British Columbia and nearby Canadian provinces: image how losing the warm pacific current might change your weather. Brrr!

Les

Les, this guy in the link says it actually was 26 degrees. How come this never came up in the presidential debates, was probably the president's fault....:)

Here is a link that might be useful: axis shift

Methinks you are giving the Japanese earthquake more credit than is due. Check the NASA Website.

-Babka

"The position of Earth's figure axis also changes all the time, by about 3.3 feet over the course of a year, or about six times more than the change that should have been caused by the Japan quake."

Here is a link that might be useful: NASA Japan quake

Deja vu all over again.

tj

Here is a link that might be useful: Tilt?

Ah, good, so only a millionth of a degree, not the 26 degrees one guy came up with in his beautiful graph, was only off by 7 decimals. So I do not have to move all my hostas from shade into full sun, which then would be full shade, and all my conifers into full shade which then would be full sun. You have to have some fun, tomorrow is the Superbowl, and have some beers!
Bernd

I won't pretend to know how the significant "they" figure such things but I've read in several text-books on the earrhs tectonic plate movement that at one point earth had actually flipped over and another where the axis ran through the equator. Now that would change how we grow hostas!

A change of 26 degrees would have gotten all of our attention when the sun came up or set when if it happened. My friend Orion, the great hunter still greets me every evening just about where I expedt him to be when I walk out my front door this month.

I haven't done a recent web browse so I probably am outside the current gossip loop of the fate of the earth. There are a lot of Oija board ideas given daily. Some have merit, some don't and most have minions of fact buried in their authors brains. Very few are fatal. The finest scientists are, after all, human. When we get bored by what we do we have to do something else to justify our opinion of ourselves.

So based on my latest celestial observations, in 6 weeks, since the groundhop managed to find daylight and was scared of seeing his shadow, I PREDIDCT that hostas will break dormancy feet first. If anyone takes this seriously I might suggest a good therapist.

Seriously though, we have been giving examples of very short term positioning of the earth relative to the sun. They happen all the time and play a major part in why todays weather isn't going to be exactly like yesterday. It is the slower developing and recovering wobbles that last decades or more that can cause us concern. Surely the earth will make its corrections, but by the time this one is completed 74 year old LES doesn't expect to be around to worry about it.

So lets all start working out our spring plans, buy humus, turn compost, sharpen shovels and hoes and get more excited each coming day. If spring comes earlier this year, enjoy, be prepared for a long dry summer, and when it turns out cool and wet, do a dance to celebrate the "gitchimanido" of our garden.

One last thought: ken, hostas have been aound how many thousand years? Much before driveways I suspect!

Les

As long as things don't start waking up early and then have the temps drop, I'll be fine.

Isn't it fun to be running around in the garden late at night when you know it is going to freeze all of the newly emerging hostas, covering as much as you can with anything you can get your hands on? It wouldn't be the first time and I doubt it will be the last.

Yeah-like everyone last year was worried about the twisted, wrinkled leaves being symptoms of HVX. It gave us something to talk about, didn't it? But it would hardly be the first time in the life of the species hosta that early leaves were frozen.

(see my new post on "Species Gardens"

Les

Frank,yes it would be bad! I remember back in 2007,when my garden looked psychedelic,with all the different colored pots and boxes I tried to cover the plants with. Some hostas never got covered,and looked bad the rest of the year. So far as I can see,it doesn't show any signs of getting really cold again this year. We are getting lots of rain this winter;in fact it's raining right now. Future forecasts don't show any cold weather coming up right now,but I keep waiting for nature to drop the other shoe! Phil

Temps are dropping to near normal 40's with nights in the 20's this week here, even with a hint of snow. I hope it will slow growth down and back into semi-dormancy. The tulip magnolia buds were starting to swell and I hate that, it nearly always blooms too early and gets hit by a hard freeze. Other trees and shrubs are beginning to show a hint of green too, much too soon. No hostas showing yet, though!

If it doesn't get any colder than that, and we can get through the next 4-5 weeks, we should be home free!

Chicagoland is having one of the mildest winters in record-keeping history. Our snow fall has been minimal....quite unlike last year, but rain has been plentiful. I'm still expecting more snow, and predict the host as will be right on schedule.

Even though the warm days are nice for humans I am not liking them much. My normal last frost date is between the first and second weeks of April. I have a bunch of twolips that are up to 4" tall buried in maple leaves. The daffydills are up too. The croakus are just starting to come up later than the twolips and daffys. It's crazy but then again, so am I. Just hoping the hosta stay asleep since night time temps are in the 20's. All of these 40 and 50 days are bad.

The bulbs will be OK. Here's an update on how the mild winter effects plants.

The leaves of spring bulbs are much tougher than their summertime counterparts. The cellular structure of the leaves is such that they can handle the freeze thaw cycle of late winter and early spring. These types of bulbs include daffodils, tulips, crocus, and the like. The fact that the leaves have already broken ground this time of year won't harm the bulb.

How this mild winter is affecting your plants

Steve

Some of my crocus are blooming! Tulips and hyacinths are 3-4 inches. The ground is not frozen. No real snow since October but plenty of rain. Strange but acceptable.

I won't be surprised if some of the hosta poke through before the end of the month.

Heavy wet slippery snow over rain turned to ice....have to help daughter do some moving today....figures. Haven't needed plows but maybe 2-3x this winter, so nothing to complain about this winter in general. Temps mild so gonna stay heavy and sloppy for anything else that falls. I figure this is a good garden moisture for spring.

Paul in finally the winter wonderland of MN

We're getting snow today also. It's March doing the Lion/Lamb thing. Rain forcast for Saturday, so it's not going to last long. This has been one of the least snowy winters on record here in the East.

Steve

Here in upstate NY we have snow today on leap day, possibly around 5 inches total until tomorrow. I bundled broken branches in the backyard this morning, and then it started to snow. I will shovel that snow, will try to prevent using the snow blower all this winter. The forecast is for the next 10 days daytime temperatures will vary between 31 and 51.
Bernd

Here in central Vermont we haven't had much snow but I live on a noth-facing slope and the ground has been snow covered all winter except under stands of softwood trees. Last week we had 7" and 2" more a couple of days later. Today expecting an additional 6" but may get rain this SaT.

After the rain pushed out and the clouds broke by the afternoon, we had a high of 65 yesterday. I even did a tiny bit of yard clean-up, but not much since after the rain it made the yard a wet, sloppy mess. Even opened the windows for a couple of hours. Back in the forties today, and high temps anywhere between the 30's and 50's for the next ten days.

Karen