The storm tracks, at least for the cold temperature storms, have been staying to the north as they come through. The northern tier states, Canada and mountainous regions are the only places showing much for snow cover, with Marquette MI getting hit hard as usual with 200" average annual snow fall (I lived in Marquette years ago).

With sun angle almost 4d higher here than what it was on the winter solstice and regular southerly winds, we're seeing snow levels settling and apparent melting along the edges of the sidewalks and streets where the snow has been cleared.

Some colder weather predicted after this week (-10f) but nothing like the polar vortex events we can get at times during winter.

My camellias are blooming now. Just a few flowers, but STILL! 41 North latitude in mid January. Usually, they peak from late February into early-mid March. Once it gets too warm, they are done for the season, sometimes a bit in Nov-December. Soils are quite saturated from resent heavy rain events..., with another big storm coming tomorrow.

i don't think anywhere in coastal z7 you could expect the kind of winter that produces heavy snow cover that hangs heavy on the trees, can you?

' My camellias are blooming now'

Great! Let's see some pics of those pollinators. :^)

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/6279660/pollinators-in-the-garden#n=300

After a foggy morning, Rime ice everywhere.

My goodness, I see people retire to such huge acreages which look like the exact opposite of retirement!

Bill, NOT TRUE, we can get FEET of SNOW! A "northern" Zone 7a-b/Coastal just means the temp range average, extended minimum is 0-5 F. You don't need it to be so cold for snow, even above freezing has brought accumulating snow. Biggest snows have come in February or March. This season is just WEIRD, 0 snow...., so far.

Ah, I see 41. I thought the ocean moderated any cold temps and that if you did get snow, it wouldn't last more than a day or two. Thanks for the correction. :)

O_C,

mostly agricultural land out that way. There's been a few that have retired out there but shortly left for greener pastures (no pun intended). :-)

Bill, YES, the ocean is a BIG factor. If the storms ride up the coast either near the coast, or west of the coast, this drags in mild air and the result will be RAIN. If the lows move east and up the coast offshore, then, this drags in cold, interior air and there is snow at the coast. It's actually a well-documented phenomenon. Historically, the biggest coastal snowstorms occur when the storms pass east of the the benchmark, 40 N./70 West. The reason these storms explode is that you have a strong dynamic between the cold inland air, PLUS the warm, gulf stream which rides up the coast. Those can be like snow hurricanes, with blinding snow, wind, and snow thunder. Ocean storms/nor'easters are not the only contributors to local snow, but they are the most potent. There is no "lake effect" snow..., maybe flurries. It looks pretty in pictures, but i don't miss it this season

You've probably already known this, but up here we get fair amounts of snow, but not every year. The drier years are generally the colder years, which is not an ideal arrangement. I don't know all the science associated with it, just that you'd better be prepared for ~3 months+- of cold and snow, with Dec, Jan, Feb being the harshest months.

Some winters here are relatively mild and are closer to a usda zone 4. My town is on the edge where z3b/z4a meet but we've had a few winters that are closer to a z2, temperature wise, for at least a couple of weeks, for the most part during Jan or Feb.

I just thought there'd be more widespread snowfall around the country, and we'd get more people posting 'snow on tree' pics, but there's still more winter to come so that might still happen.

:-0

Bill, the big difference is that we specialize in heart attack snow when it does fall! Very high water content..., so HEAVY! Not the fairy dust that falls onto your world.

P.S., Not this year, but a few years ago. This is snow on Magnolias, which are amazingly resistant to even heavy snow loads.

Japanese Maple

There ya go! ha-ha! Thanks! ;-)

Tis true, wet heavy snow is not the norm up here, neither are the freezing rain events, but we do get them infrequently, mostly early or late season.

But, fairy dust, wind driven, a foot or two deep does not make for an easy day. :^)

Worst part is where the city plows push up 3-4 ft. high, windrow, 8 ft. wide, in front of the driveway. If it wasn't for snow blowers, the ER would be a lot busier. Even then you have to get to it before it freezes solid within a couple/few hours.

I have a 5.5 hp 2 stage and it's barely enough to handle it (at times).

February 2019: The little spruce in the middle is 6-7 ft tall. :-)

Bill, ICE storms are definitely the worst, but they are actually rather rare here. Surprisingly, they seem more common in areas of the Southeast, might be due to typography (mountains, etc.) and cold air damming from the north and moist flow from the Gulf. Here winter precip is mostly rain or snow, or sleet, or all the above transitioning. Also, hail (as a summertime event), is extremely rare. Gotta say though, LOVING THIS WINTER. It was all sun, all day today with temps in mid 40's and you could feel the sun. One thing that people from more southern climes don't appreciate about snow in the North, is how BRIGHT it becomes indoors. Did not have that this year, but it's been relatively sunny so my Winter blues have been minimal despite the absence of any snow cover.

41, beginning in Feb cold returns.

Some of the old timers had a saying, 'As the days lengthen the cold strengthens'.

Turns out, there's some science to that. Something about a lag that happens, until the sun gets strong enough to begin to reverse the accumulating cold.

Looks like the truth is near! At least for the next week.

Snow starting to fall. We’re predicted to get 6-9 inches in this storm, which is a lot at one time for us. I know that’s nothing for you, Bill! It’s very pretty, but this is also one if those heavy, wet snows. Shoveling will be slow going.

Bill - that is some cold weather. We're supposed to get cold too, not quite that cold, but a really really long streak of below average temperatures has started.

We’re getting only a glancing blow from that system that hit Indy Girl (2-3”). Looks like Ken may get a lot, I await his pix.

tj

LC,

Actually, those temps I posted above are more z5 than anything. So yeah, while plenty cold, not a bad as it could be but maybe will last for a longer period of time than z5 would. ;-)

We received another 3" last night but it was light powder, probably from the back wash of cold air from the main system.

At least I don't feel like the 'Lone Ranger' here anymore. lol

I know the ultimate lows for you coming up only represent the minimum for zone 5-ish, but I'd like to see a zone 5 location that doesn't get above 0 for 7 days in a row.

I guess I didn't think of that LC.

I've never lived in a zone 5 before so idk. :-o

You guys are so cold HARDY, I can hardly survive in Zone 7a/b in this subtropical 8b winter, and the locals still complain about the above normal "cold", USED TO BE MUCH COLDER here in the historical record.. Heavy rain and thunder coming overnight and temps in the low 50's. How do you do it?! I guess it is all relative. I actually detest the cold, how I survived here is small miracle.

If it gets too cold to be outside, I just stay in the house. :-)

Yeah. You'd be surprised at how the body acclimates. Come March, when it's 45 degrees out and sunny, it feels like summer time. Am I right, Bill?!

I'll admit, late winter or early spring, one can get anxious for the growing season. But you're right Lane, the body acclimates and you learn what clothing works to prevent getting too chilled or frostbite. I came in today after snow removal and was actually sweating and it felt too warm in the house (mine is set @ 70f). When it's real cold like sub zero, you learn to spend as little time as necessary outside. Remote start and heated seats in the auto helps. :-)

Went yard tromping. :-)

Things here are pretty much over as far as the storms go. We'll still get some 'skiffs' of snow when arctic cold fronts moves across us but It'll be quiet now for a while until the jet stream begins to move south, creating warmth and disturbances in the atmosphere.

The wind came up yesterday (15 mph?) and blew the last 3" (powder) snow off the branches. haven't noticed anything broken or damaged.

The snow really drifted up, north side of the red pines. +-2ft. deep and the new Tsuga c. and Taxus are completely buried in snow. I feel so much better now, we should be ready for the long cold spell that's coming. :-)

A new picea g. (L) and thuja o. (R) with good snow cover. Pinus strobus (center) undamaged (surprisingly).

Small Taxus canadensis- you can see at top of picture where the rabbits have been eating on the lilac bushes. I don't know if they eat taxus but the deer were coming through this same area earlier this season, so I don't take chances.

All the new shrubs (Ilex v.) and Rosa b. should show no winter damage. The snow won't melt much until we start getting warmer temps later this winter. By then it generally doesn't matter if the snow stays or not.

Same for the Korean maples (A. psuedoseiboldianum) and Cornus A.

C. Alternifolia:

Yippee!

I can relax now and go on vacation! :-))

Back in bitter cold 1977, went skating on a pond that was frozen down to the bottom about 3 ft. The cold had "broke" in mid Feb and it was like 18F. We had to take coats off and skate in shirts because we were so cold-acclimated.

1976 was the first year (spring) I lived here after moving north from the twin cities. It had been a snowless winter and ended up, was one of the driest summers in anyone's living memory. 1977 wasn't much better. It was during those years it got into the high 70'sf in February. That killed some fruit trees my dad had planted, after they began growing and the temps got cold again.

It was no big deal. He was zone pushing in the first place and most likely the harsh, open winters would've done them in anyways.

The bigger issue in '76 was the 23,000 acres that burned by the towns of Huntersville an Badoura mn. $1,000,000 spent on that one (back then) and a lot of jack pines and wildlife habitat burnt to a crisp. i don't think any houses or life was lost.

My dwarf conifers, can you name the cultivars? Two of them are zone pushers!

Can you give closeups of the buds and leaves? ;-)

Maybe Picea 'snowyfloria'?

You'll just have to move further north 41. That way you'll get into all this snow goodness. :-))

Taxus Hicksii: 24" tall. 8^)

You don't have any snow out there yet 41?

Boring.... :-/

Juniperus communis:

February 1: Sunrise over the arctic tundra. :-)

One or two cold nights, then some warming up into the 30's for the weekend.

:^)

Just a note: In case some of the posts earlier in this thread no longer make sense, it's because many posts were recently deleted by another member.

I'm leaving all my posts in this thread so just an FYI. :-)

Back to our regular scheduled programming. ;-)

Bill, nice pic of the arctic tundra! I wonder if MN-z-2-3-4 in your handle stands for Alaska?

nope.

Wow, Bill, looks like a sun pillar (caused by ice crystals in the air).

It was a joke, but I looked up and there really is a Cook County in MN with zones 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a and 4b. It is the only county in MN with a zone 2b, who would have thought!

According to the USDA, Minnesota has no Zone 2 areas.

But I think Canada has a different system?

Cook County MN is right along the lake so that would explain slightly warmer in that area.

Bill, I got the following screenshot from this US site

List of Hardiness Zones for Minnesota Cities and Counties (plantmaps.com)

As you can see, Cook County has zones 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b

Then I went to the USDA site to download the following map

Minnesota is shown as having zones 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a which is half a zone warmer than the first reference in the above.

Makes me wonder about the z-2-3-4 in your handle?

P.S. Yes, Canada has a different system involving more environmental parameters, but by and large, the number on the bottom line does not differ much, in my case the difference is half a zone as you can see from my handle. You can't really reduce plant hardiness to a single number, I guess.

OC,

I really don't know why the map and the list don't match. It may be a mistake or typo idk but if you follow the maps up into Canada, there isn't any z2 areas until you get quite a bit further north of Lake Superior (100-150 mi?).

Now Cook County MN, is famous for what little mountains we have here in Minnesota and has elevations in places over 1000ft higher than most other areas in MN. (I'm @ ~1400ft). Quite possibly, there have been events in that county where polar vortexes have collaborated with those 'mountains' to create some very cold temperatures, and that may have affected the calculations for zones in those areas.

One thing is for certain, if anyone can publish documents that may have more that a few inaccuracies, it's .gov. :-)

Now to answer your question about my handle: One of the first years I lived up here, late 70's, we had a most severe winter with weeks of below zero temperatures, even during the day. For two nights in a row (late January?), we had -54d f. (It was a low-lying area out in the country).

It most likely was a polar vortex of some sort, but to me, that winter was a bit below the averages for z3. So that kind of stuck with me. Even a few years ago, we had -46 for a couple of nights. So, government documentation or not, short periods of z2 is possible here.

That's fine 41. And I sorry to hear about your losses. You have my condolences.

And it isn't that you came into my threads, about heavy snow on the trees, and made a marginally off-topic comment or two. That really didn't bother me at all, and I was somewhat amused by it and was interested in how your z7 area was doing compared to mine.

Thanks for deleting all those last unrelated posts, that really cleaned up the thread nicely to a more normal topic. And thanks for 'coming clean' and letting us know what your reasons were for doing al this.

Above all, You probably need to get some professional counseling.

Bill, I searched the List further (using the Ctrl+F key combination) it goes from zone 2b (1 location only, the one in Cook county) to 3a (39 locations) to 3b (227 locations) ... to 5a (28 locations)

So, the List and the USDA map agree, just that the latter does not take into account the one outlier in Cook county (Cook county itself is listed as having zones 2b to 4b, apparently Cook county is a big area) It would be interesting to know where exactly this cold point is located, maybe your property?

I don't worry about a few scattered z2 areas, over 250 mi. away. Those areas in Cook County are almost like being in the Rocky Mountains. Very remote, rugged country. Not the end of the world but I'm told you can see it from there.

I'm close to the line between z3/z4. West of central MN.

No snow recently, none forecast. Winds under 10 mph. Sun angle 28d. High temperatures going above the freezing mark for the next 10 days, with pc to sunny skies. We may be out of the deep freeze for this winter, but there's still a lot of 'stored cold' in the snow so it will take a while. But there're brighter days ahead! ;-)

The Glaciers begin to recede. 2-16-23

Funny how these can get so much snow on them and still stand back up (actually most stay standing) as the snow disappears. :-?
(Taxus tauntonii front, Taxus canadensis in the back)

3/4/23 - Arnold Promise witch-hazel and gray dogwood were bent to the ground this morning after a heavy, wet snowfall last night

I'm glad to hear someone else is getting winter besides me. ;-)

We just missed another storm that went south of us and laid down almost a foot of additional snow. We barely received a 'skiff' overnight.

Overall, I can't see where any of my yard trees have sustained branch damage but have seen occasional top & branch damage from the car when passing wooded areas.

Been thawing every day here, streets & driveway are dry with snow levels receding so we may be 'out of the woods' for this season. They're forecasting snow later this week but anything we get now is subject to stronger sun and higher average temps so it shouldn't last too long.

We really don't want too early of a spring because if things start to grow, late frosts can do damage. So, we need to be patient.

Pinus strobus (white spruce in background) that was really plastered with snow earlier has recovered with no apparent damage: