Actual temp 10, windchill -15. Yippee
Crazy swings, dipped to 31F overnight, forecasting 69F for the aft. Welcome to crystal clear skies, and no winds. As posted above the dry, dry, dry, outlook continues. Not good for our ārainy seasonā
we had a 25 degree swingā¦went from near 80 yesterday to rainy and a high of the mid-50ās todayā¦expecting our first freeze this Sunday and the cooler weather is supposed to stick around for the next 10 days or so.
Todayās view front and back of my house. Iām glad I removed the rain gutters two days ago. The snow sliding off the greenhouse roof would have made a mess of them. Iād say 3-4 inches so far. Thatās a lot for us. One day of sun and it will be gone.
Typical for Spokane and early December: fog and stagnant air for a couple weeks running. Temps no more than 15 degree spread day to night. Daytime highs just above freezing Good thing plenty of rain came in November - thereās snow in the high country. Last check shows more still air for another week.
27 this morn, with the seasonās first snow. Just a dusting on the grass, which has since melted. Folks down in the deep south are supposed to get more snow than us the next couple days.
What??? . Snow??? In the Deep South?
Stuck in a dry spell for the most part, though we did get 0.3" of rain earlier in the week. Typical for this year. And sort of typical for December, as as far back as I can remember white Christmases are rare-ish. Usually the snow either melts or doesnāt come until the first 2 weeks of January.
But if we do get snow all bets are off for high temps. Not much sun angle this time of year to warm things, and if there is snow the albedo really puts us in negative feedback mode.
Not much to care about for weather on my end now. Except I sort of root for early cold so we can get some hard-water fishing in during the holidays and while the fish are still active.
Was outside today for a couple hours putting straw on the strawberries. Itās been getting down into the 20s almost every night, so thought itās time to cover them up for the winter. Gonna be about 20 tonight.
I had āassistanceā from our cat, he was actually more of a nuisance. But, he did enjoy laying in the fresh straw.
It peaked at 40 today, but by the time I got outside it was back down to 36 with a brisk wind. Since I have virtually no āinsulationā, I really bundled up: thermal top and bottoms, flannel lined jeans, sweatshirt, toboggan hat, parka, and insulated gloves. I was very comfortable, even started to get a bit warm.
Who knows what Iāll wear when it really gets coldā¦
The plants are now under a nice straw blanket, and Iām back inside having a nice cup of Kenyan coffee as the light fades outside. Mmm, coffeeā¦
Wow, that is something. In Ri weāre still in the 50ās during the day.
Supposed to get down to 13 tonight, the air feels very dry outside, dew point is 9 degrees
The thermometer on the old elm tree says seven, burrrrā¦
Snow here in Houston TX as well.
Sadly our wonderfully mild & snowless fall will come to an end tomorrow with snow predicted Sat night/Sun. Then another round of snow Tues/Wed followed by frigid (below zero?) temps. Sigh
I saw that , amazing, a sales rep in Jackson Mississippi sent in a photo of her yard and it looks like several inches of snow.
I sometimes read about people covering their strawberries but Iām wondering if youāve found this to be necessary. Iāve never covered my strawberries and they have no trouble producing every year, even when it got down to -16. Would they be more productive if I covered them, do you think?
This is my first year growing them, so I donāt have a lot of experience. Iām only doing it because some sources say that when the ground goes thru freeze and thaw cycles, it heaves out the plants, possibly exposing the roots to freezing temps. They might OK here if I didnāt cover them, my wife has said they never covered theirs here on the farm when she was younger. Iām probably being a bit overcautious. But, I also think covering them might also give them some protection from deer.
Yours might do better with covering them especially if it gets below zero. If you start each year with less plants, maybe the cold is killing some off? But, hard to say for sure, with all the mother and runner plants. Straw isnāt too expensive, I had a bale that I had bought back in the summer (about $10 for a big bale) that I used for the strawbs. I have two rows of about 25 plants each, and I had over half the bale left over when I finished.
Not that much here but enough to dust the ground and put a nice layer on cars outside. Louisiana and Mississippi seem to be getting a bit more than we did.
For a change we are expecting 4-6 inches of snow tomorrow BEFORE temperature first dropped to teens in the season. Usually it is backward - bare ground and bitter cold. Snow is good . Approved.