Great quantities of water would be required to penetrate even a thin frozen top layer; once thawed, then it would be over-watered.

Low sun angle and low temperatures slow evaporation and soil drying to almost nothing compared to high summer.

Poke around and see if the soil has dried, but unless your plants are under long-term cover, winter water may be unneeded.

Thanks larry_gene. Makes sense. There seems to be a touch of moisture underneath the crust. So I'll wait until the temps rise a bit.

Have you mulched yet? After the thaw you can check the moisture content of the soil then mulch.

I get free straw from the sweepings bin at the feed store. They sweep at the end of the day so it's a mixture of whatever falls to the ground when loading bales. Around here it's mostly straw with a small amount of orchard grass and alfalfa on occasion, but not enough to heat up as 4" of mulch.

Besides the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide from Seattle Tilth available at PCC markets I like Linda Gilkenson's book Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest. I've learned a lot from Linda's practical methods & she sends an email newsletter on occasion that gives me ideas of what I should be doing in the garden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Linda Gilkenson's garden tips

Thanks corrine1. Sorry I didn't get back sooner. Never got the email notification.
I mulched with compost, but straw sounds cheaper. We got the rain we needed (and more) so everything looks good now. And thinks for the link!