Well this is Alberta for you, this coming weekend we are suppose to get to a low of -3°C and -9°C at night with periods of S***!!! grrrrrrrrr!

And here I thought I would work in the garden all weekend!

My SIL from Estevan Sask. phoned me yesterday and said it reach 28C! Com'on share some of that warmth with us please ;)

Sharon

I live outside Sherwood Park and we have the same HORRID forecast for the week end.Sunday it was +24 . How can Ma Nature play such a cruel trick on us .

-7°C
-10°C
for Sunday!!! Yes you Ma Nature can be cruel sometimes!

That means I'll be putting the heater on in the greenhouse ;(

Hi All,

Well, our weather forcast is the same here. Plus 13 tomorrow after a beautiful week.
High of minus 2 on Saturday with a low of minus 9 and high of minus 1 on Sunday with periods of snow with a low again of minus 9!

Hi to Marie, yes I'm here in The Pas too. We'll have to compare notes sometime. I'm redoing the perennial garden this year with alot of daylilies being added.

Talk to you all again soon.

Rob

Ok, who jinx us and said the swear word SNOW!

I just got back into the house after plugging in the greenhouse heater and I also put some sheets over the seedlings just incase the heater doesn't help.

I also recovered my Buck roses with straw too! There goes my weekend, minus well do some spring cleaning indoors, geez!!!

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Wainwright AB Weather

It is so frustrating to finally have a weekend off from work and no other commitments than to get outside and do something. arrghh!!! It feels like november right now with all the cold and snow swirling around:(
Deb

Hi all,

I feel bad for you Sharon and Deb and I was feeling bad for myself too as my forecast was pretty much the same.
Now, I'm not saying they know what they're saying, because the forecasters pretty much don't know what's really going to happen the next day.
Unless they see it in front of their eyes. IE: It's raining.
Our forecast here has changed once again. For the better.
I don't know if I can believe it, but now they're forecasting cloudy tomorrow with a high of 13 and low of 6, cloudy Sunday with rain high of 8 low of 6, cloudy Monday with rain/snow high of 4 low of 3, Tuesday clearing with high of 4 and a low of minus 6.

That sure beats what they were forecasting earlier.
I'll believe it when I see it.

Rob

Here in MT it keeps getting worse- luckily im on plains where only 12 inches (30 cm) predicted, and might get above freezing during the day sometime this coming week. I covered my poor peony but home the white stuff shelters everything else that's emerging- and I hope my unheated sunroom doesnt kill the few tomato seedlings that started out there (I brought as many as I could inside)

Yuck... we are in a winter storm watch?! according to the weather network we are but my Shaw homepage doesn't say we are...??? Hopefully the homepage is correct!

It sure does look more like November then April that's for sure!

Sooo fess up... who put the snow shovels away and jinxed us??? LOL

Well it looks like the worst of it is going to miss us but weather can change in a heartbeat so who knows. The forecast certainly looks like some cold weather is coming for the early part of next week.

Yesterday I set plants out to spend the day - some hardier annuals (snaps, dianthus) and all the perennials. The low last night was supposed to be 6, and at 10 pm when I took the dogs out it was still very nice - the temp was about 10. I decided to leave the perennials out but I put the annuals back in the greenhouse for the night and turned the heater on low, to cut in just in case. Good thing - I woke up this morning to a howling wind and -2. Yikes. Me in my PJs hustling out to quickly get the flats of perennials back in the greenhouse - they've been living the cushy life and were not prepared for that!

Oh Will this never end??!! Snowing all day and cold.And to think I liked winter at one time.Just left the house to bring the turkeys some water.One of them is sitting on eggs. Sure hope she doesn't let them freeze.Robins are looking mighty sad. Poor things.

OMG ... the long range forecast for the Edmonton area shows well below normal temperatures going into May ... like barely even reaching +10 C ... just what I had thought, we're paying big time for the nice Feb and March! Guess, it's gonna be a long time before we'll be seeing any leaves popping out on the trees!

Terry

The snow is coming down heavy right now. I see two robins in the front shrub not liking this.

Now I see that it suppose to get down to -15C on Wednesday night! Minus well continue on with my winter sowing ;)

Sharon

Well after shoveling for the past hour and half, I'm "feeling" it:)
considering this is lasting for a long time with temps and snowfall, I am going to try to chalk this up to pre gardening muscle workout! (or something like that...ugh)
speaking of winter sowing Sharon....I forgot about my containers outside and had many sprouts. Can I basically kiss those good bye and start over?
Deb

Well, with it being so dang COLD, I'm actually glad to see all this snow to protect any perennials that had decided to poke their noses up.

Deb, those seedlings might(?) be tougher than you think. Though, would be a good idea to move them into an unheated garage or such, but not where there would be a dramatic temperature increase, let them thaw slowly.

Terry

Deb, if they are hardy and they were born outdoors, they should be fine with all this snow coverage. I left mine be.

I shoveled too for about a 1/2hr and gave up, its coming down more than I can keep up, huff, huff, huff!

I agree Terry, if its going to get colder then I really don't mind all this snow either and I guess its good for the moisture ;)

I'm pretty sure my Home Care appointments will be cancelled tomorrow. THere is no way I can get my little car out of the driveway.

Ang, I might of jinxed us, I did put my shovel & snowblower in the shed and packed the winter gear in storage....sorry.

Sharon

Thanks Terry...I'll try that and hope for the best. They are under a foot of snow right now up against my garage, but will put the ones that have sprouted inside.
Deb

well I went out to move a few inside and see that they are more than covered by 2ft+ snow, so decided to just leave them! I can see I'll be pretty grumpy in a week or so, dealing with 20 muddy paws again:(
Deb

wanted to say thanks Sharon sooner, but message kept being rejected!
Deb

Just the kind of record setting we love... -21 degrees the other night set a low record for Calgary. I did cover up some small shrubs with blankets, and we did get some snow - so I'm hoping that everything will be fine. I agree with twrosz that we will be late in seeing leaves this year. Last year was not great either (remember lilacs still blooming on the July long weekend?) and when I look back in pictures I had more green last year at this time, than I do now.
Next year I am going to plan a vacation for March or April to break up this weather for me!

Janet

What I find depressing is not all the snow and the conditions I see now, but rather the expected long range forecast by Enviroment Canada ... pretty BAD with nearly the next two weeks expected to range from below freezing to meager highs of +7C ... that's gonna make for one late spring!

Deb, now that's ALOT of dang snow you have there!

Sharon, yep that's looking alot like my place, lol

Terry

Sharon I think with the cooler weather, you are lucky to get that s***. It is still bare here. I wish for what you have-white insulation.

Shelley

Yup, that's pretty much what it looks like here too Sharon. I am going to see if my kids have school tomorrow (our school is not part of the public system and the bus drivers and the principal decide if school is a go or not) and if they are home then I very well may call in as well. Thankfully my boss is very good about stuff like this and I am can do some of my work from home.

No worries Sharon, I must fess up too. I put the kids winter coats away and washed all their snow pants too LOL Sorry folks... didn't mean for this to happen... LOL

Yup, Sharon, my place looks like yours. But you sure had better visibility yesterday than we had - the wind was just howling. We had -10 this morning with a -25 wind chill, and that was an improvement as far as the wind went. Brrrr. I hauled everything in from the greenhouse before this started, and yesterday I went and brought in my two new roses. I had packed them in straw in a box, but I felt sorry for their tender little buds. I'm at work today - I have a big 4X4 Expedition - but no busses ran. That means that only about 25% of the kids are here, so it'll be a quiet day. The roads are about an inch thick in ice. My snow shovel was still on the steps, but I said something last week about taking the winter boots downstairs - Oops!

Connie

Well, I did go into work today but it took me double the time to get there. Then a friend called that the kids were coming home early so that's all the "excuse" I needed to ask if I could go home at lunch... so here I am at home now! Phew... b/c it took me 3x as long to get home! CRAZY crazy weather!

I promised my boss I would do some work from home... so I better hold up my end of the bargain and stop browsing the 'net! LOL

I thought my weekend was miserable but compared to the rest of you it was just a little uncomfortable.We didnt get any snow but the wind was horrible. I walked around the flowerbeds today and see some of my crocus that had came up before we got the cold winds are now laying on the ground, they didnt even have a chance to open.Thank goodness I have a lot of slowpokes that just have their noses up...savona

The storm has passed. I feel some comfort and relief now, although I don't know what kind of damage just yet.

We had lots of snow so hopefully that would of provided a protective blanket from the brutal high winds.

Temps will still be below normal for another week they say.....now it only says -10C for tonight but still way too cold for this time of year.

This is one spring I will never forget, however, I woke up to the robins singing this morning, gardening goes on. ;)

Sharon

This has definitely been unusually cold for a spring storm, and we're not warming up until the weekend. Yesterday the snow became occasional flurries, but it was horridly windy. About 5km more and I wouldn't have been able to check the cows - it would have been one step forward and two steps back. This morning it was dead calm, with a bit more snow forecast tonight. I sure hope spring decides to come back really, really soon.

Connie

Hey I saw a bit of sun today. That's a step in the right direction I would say.But we have a long ways to go. My poor tulips that were ready to bloom are toast I think. But SPRING WILL COME!! Won't it?

Spring will definitely come but with all this s*** it's going to be awhile yet before the ground dries somewhat to plant anything. I have a spare fridge full of lilies yet to get in the ground!

I took a walk around today and it was good to be out in the warm sunshine, the dogs loved it too.

No S or F jinx words now, ok everybody!

Sharon

Sure felt great to drive to work on mostly cleared roads again! To see big puddles of melted S*** is awesome too! I have yet to check the damage to the garden as well... Spring WILL come... it WILL!

Everything is frozen and dead here in Winnipeg. Snow is one thing but we had rain that froze before the layer of snow. Of course everything had come up before hand. The weather network is absolutely useless when it comes to telling us what is coming.

I have to say a dump of wet snow in April is still preferable to -20 degree temps with no snow cover... from a gardening standpoint. Still, this sucks, our spring has been so pathetic!

Still another somewhat snowy chilly and blah day ... hard to believe it's only a month until it's time to set out the plants. But, looks like a little blip of nice temps coming our way, although briefly.

Can somebody turn the tap off now??!! geez, already another 2-3" on the ground this morning and it is still going strong:(
This is driving me nuts!
Deb

Another COLD day in the Edmonton area, it's not even melting off the roof and heck it's almost nearly MAY!

When will it END!!!!

We had two snow storms within a week mid-April. Today 8" of s&%#@ on the ground from yesterday and its still snowing.

Truly sad and depressing.

Oh yeah I think Minnesota got that last storm even worse than us! :0( We have snow sitting on the ground now, it's not even melting 2 days later. This spring sucks!!

It was our turn on the weekend. We got about a foot or more of the heavy white variety and it now looks like November 28th instead of April 28th - and temperatures to go with it! -12° this morning.

Unfortunately, i missed this event because i was in Thunder Bay for the weekend! :>

Well, we got a little break. It was very nice Saturday, Sunday (22C) and today. They haven't even forecast snow again for us until Tuesday or Wednesday! I spent most of yesterday outside - most of it working with cattle instead of gardening, though.

Connie

Another snowy cold crappy day in the Edmonton area, you getting tired of this yet? The last few days were beautiful ...

Terry

And even worse the dreaded S---- word is in the forecast. At least I got my roses cleaned up and fertilized yesterday, so the rain will help some altho God knows with this weather they may never grow.Hard to believe tomorrow it's May and I still see snow lying around.I'm so tired of this I could jump off a bridge but of course I won't.

Terry, we didn't get any snow, but cool and wet! Looks like the forecast is finally going to get warm and sunny. Hope so because I still need to get these lily bulbs in the ground. They are starting to sprout in the fridge.

I am so anxious to get gardening. I hope we never have a spring like this ever again ;)

You lucked out Sharon! We went from thunder and lightening to hail to snow and wind...back to rain! Its sleeting at the moment and the garden is under water again and all the creeks and draws are full and running like crazy. After reading your post though, Marcia, I'm counting my blessings that the snow is melting at least! Yuck! Its supposed to turn around here tonight and clear off. But lo and behold I finally have bulbs poking up through the mud. And I guess the silver lining of all this grossness is it'll be sooo green once the sun comes back :) ...it is coming back isn't it?

Well I'm knocking on wood as I say it, but we never got any of that snow at all. Although there's moisture if you dig down, the surface is dry and dust has been blowing with all this miserable cold wind that's been blowing for the last month. There's been some big grass fires in the area.

Tonite, I just read, is going to go down to anywhere between -8 and -11. I see some of the lilies are not only poking thru but are unfurling so I'm going to go out and protect them for the night, just in case it does get to -11 (or colder!).

More in Winnipeg today. This is very depressing.

OOPS!! I guess I shud have checked the weather in other parts before I got carried away and declared spring was here. I guess a few croaking frogs in Alberta don't mean it's spring everywhere. My humblest apologies. ingrid

I can share in your frustrations!

We had three snow storms in April... the first one dumped 26" (~60cm), then when that had just begun to melt, we got another 12" (30cm).

Then we thought, okay, finally, spring is here... and on April 26th we got 14" (35cm)!

It was our snowiest April on record by a long shot and there are still snowbanks around town and the ice is still on the lakes.

The good news? The evergreens sighed relief and have greened up nicely, the pussy willows have done their thing, and my tulips are growing just fine!

I went to the garden center today and they had all sorts of tempting things wheeled out on carts. I got some Hostas, geraniums, some spring bulbs, and a plum bush... Now I just have to be patient. I can't count out several more deep freezes before the end of the month this year!

Yesterday, my friend had travelled up and we had done the greenhouse thing, the weather was just perfect! Today, it's COOL overcast and showery and I had to give in and turn the furnace on! Definitely a late spring and there's yet no green showing on the trees in my yard.