I agree with you that we are seeing hints of spring before we've even really had winter.

I am loving the high temps in the 60s, and tomorrow we should be in the 70s, but I am sure it is just a temporary abberation and the weather will go downhill in January.

Robins overwinter here so we often have them in the yard all winter long. We do have a lot more here this winter than we've had in many years though.

The "no more rain" worries me because my ponds are still empty, and some of the cracks in the ground haven't healed completely yet.

Everything that has cold-tolerance starting sprouting here in October, but new things sprout continually. Right now I have henbit in bloom. It is a little early for that, but sometimes when December is warm, it will bloom near the end of the month.

I am sure winter weather is coming. Despite our warm temps this week, our low temp yesterday was 23 degrees and the frost was so thick and heavy that it was recorded as .01" of precipitation at our mesonet station. That doesn't happen terribly often.

My eyes are looking at the sunny, clear skies and I am feeling the warm temps and my heart is singing "spring, spring, spring!" but my brain tells me winter hasn't even really begun yet.

If this were to be the year without a real winter, I'd be OK with that, but I don't think we'll be that lucky!

Dawn

I'll be glad to send you both some winter in case you are missing it!!! We are gradually warming up and melting some of the snow cover. If it reaches 50 tomorrow with a light breeze like they say we should get rid of a lot of the snow cover. The drifts may not completely melt till Feb unless we have an extended warm spell. We have had some extreme cold and now the blizzard but imagine there is more waiting for us in the future. I just hope we get rid of the snow cover before anymore comes. It is muddy during the day and slick as snot when froze in the mornings. But they say it should never freeze this evening.

Jay,

Thank you for your kind offer but, if it is all the same to you, you can just keep that old yucky cold weather up there and we'll keep the sunny warm stuff here. Well, we'll keep it for one more day. We did hit 70 degrees yesterday and should reach about 73 today but then the weather will go downhill fast. I am headed outside to play in the dirt for a few hours.

Last night I almost finished my tomato grow list for 2012, but it still is too long and I need to slash and cut it some more. I will be growing in containers this year though so that will let me grow a wider variety of plants than I could if I was only growing in-ground.

I am afraid that after a day spent out in the garden, when I come inside this afternoon I will have lost all reason and will want to make the grow list longer instead of shorter. Still, who can complain about a sunny warm day on December 31st? Not I. I wish you could have a day up there like we are having down here today.

Was your snow the wet snow that will give you decent moisture when it melts down (wouldn't that be lovely!) or it it a drier, lower-moisture snow?

Dawn

Pallida - I suggest knitting some sweaters for those robins, because your weather will soon change.

Jay - It does seem like you are getting plenty of winter weather for it to be so early, but I have seen the really cold stuff hit here as early as mid December. We are at 59 right now, but it is getting ready to change.

I have two tubs of salad greens growing on the south side of my house. I took care of them at first, but they were growing so slowly that I finally just left them alone. I think it went to 18 while we were away at Christmas and they remained uncovered and still look nice. The lettuce is about 'baby leaf' size, and I saw a Chinese Cabbage beginning to head. I started it far too late, but it is still hanging on.

I think winter is on the way, but I don't mind so much if we just get cold and snow, but those ice storms are what I hate.

Happy New Year to everyone and be careful if you drive tonight.

Dawn,Carol and others,
It is 49 here now and they are saying 59 for today and then 40 for tomorrow. Then from Tuesday through Friday mid 50's to low 60's. Of course we all know that is subject to change. Our low was 41 for last night. I have some late arriving garlic bulbs I need to get in as soon as I can get in the garden. Most of it is almost bare now. I would say we have at least 35% bare ground now but still some 2' or deeper drifts and several areas with 4-6 inches yet. But by next week if their predictions hold we should be fairly clear except for where the deepest drifts are. The snow was moderately wet. I had .55 of an inch in rain before the snow hit. And I've heard at least 1.80 overall. Not sure how they determined it was 12" of snow but that is what they said for us. They say a typical snow is 12 inches of snow to equal 1 inch of moisture. I heard this was in the 8:1 and 9:1 range. So that means all of my property received .55" of moisture. And some areas over 5-6 inches. I have large ice rinks when it freezes of an evening. I know as I've already done some impromptu skating and acrobatic moves. I didn't have all of my garden worked. I had over half of the main garden prepared and the other half had the mulch worked under but hadn't tilled the leaves in yet. But the garden is soaking up everything as it melts. And do is most of my grass area. Although the grass didn't hold as much snow and is over half bare ground now. The roads and tree rows are still deep. Will be good moisture for the trees.

I've been ordering some things I need the last week and as I go through catalogs a few others things get added. I cleaned out the lean too and have moved in my seed starting supplies and mixes. Will start filling trays and getting them ready. I was hoping on my vacation to get a lot done on the other greenhouse frame. But the blizzard prevented that. If the snow melts off and it looks like we will get a week with some decent daytime temps I will try to take off and work on it. The lean to is nice inside as long as the sun is out. Was 120 in there one day this week when it was only 45 outside. I had everything turned off in there and no ventilation on since I removed the plants. I picked over a gallon of fruit that was at least blushing so will have fruit to eat for 2-3 more weeks. The Big Cheef held flavor good. The Bedouin was just behind it. The flavor on the Red Ambrosia cherries really dropped as did the Goliath. Not sure why the difference.

Carol I don't mind snow without the wind. But usually here we get both. And usually when we get snow this time of year we have it till mid to late Feb. So if we get rid of 90% or more of it this week I will be tickled. I'm sure more weather is on it's way. But hopefully the long range forecast that said overall milder temps this winter overall will be correct. I've had my white Christmas, my winterwonderland post card moments and my cold temps to freeze and kill the soil diseases so ready for an early spring for a change. Jay