Weather Where You Are

[digitS']

5 AM: The temperature is 39°f at the nearest WS station. January 3rd! I'm not sure that there has been a moment of freezing in 2020!

With a few sprinkles of rain overnight, the snow in my yard is nearly gone, yet again. There were a dozen Robins in the Mountain Ash trees about a mile from my house, yesterday. I don't know if they are returning or just haven't been anywhere and flocked together. I saw a few the other day after several months of not seeing Robins.

They showed up in the 2019 winter along in March when there was over a foot of snow on the ground. I can't help but think that this was a serious mistake on their part because the snow was around for weeks after they arrived. There aren't nearly the numbers that I was seeing then but this is January!

This is not how I used to imagine climate change. I thought somewhat warmer conditions on the average. Okay, that seems true over the past decade but these ups & downs with unusual weather in any month is difficult for living things - animals, plants, gardeners.

Yesterday, there were a few record high temperatures further west, in the Columbia Basin. Today, it looks like a record high for here. Then what? Will we, Robins and All, be slammed by a typical winter snowstorm and subzero cold? I hope that not too much of the mountain snowpack is melting and flowing down our rivers right now. For the sake of the Evergreen Forests, Crop Irrigation, Salmon, Robins ... Gardeners.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

it was 47F here yesterday, sunny and a bit breezy. we ran our errands as i saw from the forecast that today was going to be cooler and cloudy. i'd rather be out and about if there's some sunshine.

the snow pack in the colorado river basin is doing ok so far, i'm not sure about further north but i've seen some storms going through so i would expect it is doing ok so far too.

UC Snow Map

Bureau of Reclamation - Managing water and power in the West

www.usbr.gov

http://graphs.water-data.com/ucsnowpack/

in the Grape Lakes we are near record water levels and the winter storms/winds will drive those on the coasts of the lakes to distraction as they try to protect their property from erosion.

i'm sure the large storm we had several days ago will add even more to the lakes. nothing like 4-5 inches of rain over a large area to perk things up. as we were driving the river floodplain was being used as intended.

 

[digitS']

It was a record high in Spokane and this is the nearest snowpack measure to that weather station - Snotel link. That graph is comparable to the one that you linked, @flowerbug . It shows a longer historical average at 30 years. Looks to me as though it's currently above 50% of the average but not much. At least, the winter season is young.

The regional maps show better conditions further into the Rockies and that's good.

In the Cascades, snowpack isn't so great. That surprises me some but it must have to do with warm temperatures allowing melting conditions. My recent trip through the Cascades was along the Columbia River. The mountain passes received a lot of attention through the holidays with so many travelers on the highways. The reports were intimidating and storms continue however, they look as likely to be rain as snow in some of the lower passes.

An example of conditions: currently, it's several hours after sundown. The Interstate 90 conditions over the Cascades are reported as bare with no restrictions. It's 45°f and there is rain forecast.

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

i haven't seen any winter robins here @digitS'... there has been a general dearth of birdies to watch this season as that large garden to the north was cleared of things that would normally remain to be picked through. the blue jays are still around and once in a while i'll see something else, but not too much. the large dead tree in the north hedge is sometimes visited by the woodpeckers. there's much to be said for leaving some things alone for wildlife to use.

 

[digitS']

Currently. Let's see how this may change through the next 2 weeks.

Steve

 

[Prairie Rose]

It has been very warm here, usually 40s to 50s during the day, and mid 20s at night. It's not unusual for us to get a little bit of warmer weather in january, but it has been this way for a couple of weeks now. My forsythia has buds on it, and my peach tree is starting to wake up. The buds on it are starting to swell, but they're not soft and fuzzy and yet. My garlic is starting to poke up through the thick layer of straw I used to mulch it.

Weather forecast is calling for significant rain this weekend. I'm wishing it was snow, lol.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

Snow starts tomorrow morning and gets colder and colder. Maybe 8-12 inches of snow. Temperature single digits and I think a couple below 0. By the end of next week it will start warming back into 30s. I cleaned the rabbit hutch and put fresh straw. Tomorrow I am gong to make it deeper and put plastic up on the doors.

 

[baymule]

The weather newscasters are warning everybody about the storms coming tonight. They have been talking this up since Monday. I have to laugh, they all say to hide in the basement. WTH? A ​

basement?​

In Texas? Do these morons not know what geographical location they are in? Nobody has a basement here, the water table is too high for that. A lot of houses are built off the ground on blocks, depending on the weight of the building to hold it down. And they said if you are in a mobile home, LEAVE! Really? This Doublewide Diva ain't going anywhere and if I did, where? This storm stretches from one end of Texas up to the whole durned country, so just where am I leaving to that ain't hours and hours away? Dummies.

Oh and now they are touting emergency kits, water, batteries, radio, 3 day supply of food and water, change of clothes, work gloves, a week's supply of medication, shelter in place, don't get in your car and try to outrun a tornado and if you are in a mobile home, get in your car and try to outrun a tornado. ​

​

Or get in a ditch or low place, my doesn't THAT sound attractive! We have a gully that exits out property, with towering trees on both sides, we do live Behind The Pine Curtain here, ya' know. So we run out in the pounding rain and 80 MPH winds to the gully, the tornado passes over and we look like a porky-PINE with a ga-zillion pine toothpicks embedded in our hides? Maybe we can just sit in our doublewide and get transported to the Land of Oz. Now where did I put those ruby slippers? ​

 

[Ridgerunner]

Now, now Bay. Calm down. Don't let them get you too excited. You'll need a calm head to survive the next day or so.

That stuff is supposed to come through here too. Do you want to talk water table? Around here it's often above ground, We call it swamp or marsh, depending on whether or not trees grow. This weather will probably be worse north of Lake Pontchartrain, it usually is. At least there the water table is mostly underground.

I'll make my preparations today. I've been needing to change the batteries in my flashlight, probably a good time to do it. We should have some, it takes AAA, I'll probably pull my wife's new car into the garage, it's cleared out enough it will fit if I'm careful. Hail is supposed to be a threat. The car doesn't have a scratch on it yet, as far as I know. We do have our hurricane stash, enough food and water for a few days. That's just a way of life here.

 

[flowerbug]

pretty much the same here @Ridgerunner we're in a very flat area with heavy clay soil. if it rains a lot all at once we'll have some flash flooding around us, but it won't flood us out completely as we're several feet up. the water table in the spring here is only a few inches to a foot down. later in the summer it can be a few feet down.