See that the Northeast is going to become Winter Wonderland!

[jocelyn]

I’m in Canada, dear, and we are metric up here.

[alan]

Yeah we should have let England beat us back in the 1770s & 1780s…

What? Where do you think we got our archaic system of measurements?

Thomas Jefferson proposed a decimal based measuring system for the U.S. in 1790.

http://www.us-metric.org/a-chronology-of-the-metric-system/

Here you go- study up. There will be a quiz next class.

[BobVance]

Earlier today, the forecast was 5-8". Now it is 1-3" overnight and 8-12" tomorrow…

The total ended up being a bit over 12". Lots of work to clear the driveway using a corded blower…

It was also pretty cold, with the blowing wind. But in my old age I’ve gotten better at preparing for the elements:

[applebacon]

Make way for the king…

[JustAnne4]

I’ll bake when I get home, incase the power goes out tomorrow, we’ll at least have bread.

When we face power outage I’m looking at getting the laundry done and the computers backed up.

[JustAnne4]

Then we had a mild March that led to an early spring followed by another crazy single night of 17F when J. plums were in full bloom

I was wondering if anything like this has been tried?

Or other spray-on measures?

[alan]

Certainly peaked my curiosity, but I can’t find any research based corroboration. I would think that if it worked commercial growers would be all over it. It would require a quart to protect a single tree, so it would be expensive just to find out if it works.

[tonyOmahaz5]

Bob,

You looked cool. You need a bigger snow blower that shot the snow 30 feet out. LOL.

Tony

[mamuang]

John,
Heard that the Cape got hit badly (again) yesterday. Hope you did not lose electricity. We only got about 13" and did not lose any power.

Stay safe and warm.

[Johnthecook]

No we are at the bridge and almost never lose power. Good amount of snow.

[mrsg47]

We easily got a foot of snow in Newport. I re-wired all of my tree cages before the snowfall, so the rabbits cannot gnaw on tree bark. Hate that!

[danCO]

Woke up to 65 and Sunny here near Denver. Going to be in the mid 70’s today…Crazy weather for sure. I’m really hating this unpredictable weather

Seriously though, I’m hoping my trees stay alseep until spring. We could easily snap back to single digits and that would be bad for any trees coming out of dormancy too early.

[jocelyn]

Not too bad for a storm here, mostly overnight, and Hubby did get a snow day out of it. I baked something new for supper, and played with a grafting knife. had a great time.

[Chikn]

Don’t hate the gnawing, hate the gnawers!!

[Chikn]

played with a grafting knife.

Not on the old man!!

[jocelyn]

No, I don’t think I’ll topwork him just yet, I’m kinda used to the variety he is already.
Mind you, he grows these thorns on his face, rather prickly by Monday mornings, huge grin.

[alan]

Seriously though, I’m hoping my trees stay alseep until spring. We could easily snap back to single digits and that would be bad for any trees coming out of dormancy too early.

This is the most urgent concern of every grower in the country where weather can drop well below freezing after bloom. It is a drama that unfolds from winter right into mid-spring in much of the country- anywhere not next to a big body of water that doesn’t freeze.

Now we may have entered an era of especially erratic weather- not simply a gradual warming, unfortunately, but wide unpredictable swings.

Here in NY we are generally having a crazy mild winter like last year. Last year didn’t turn out so well.

[JustAnne4]

I don’t think I’ve lived through a season that was considered by most to be ‘normal’. There are always swings and anomalies, dotted by snow storms and hurricanes - and I live by the water. And whereas 'why’s cannot be changed, as a grower I’m compelled to collect tools and methods for ‘what to do when’, because ‘when’ happens. Whatcha gonna do when ‘when’ happens?

I’ve gleaned much info on this forum from the '**when’**s that happened to others. It is always unexpected. I offered one possible remedy earlier in this post that I happened to see at a garden center. Not tried it, but might just to see if it would work. Diluted ammonia is another option I’d try if faced with frost on blooms. Not as huge a loss for me as it would be for others here, but my nagging curiosity won’t let me ignore it. Good to know we have options to try at least.

[alan]

I don’t think I’ve lived through a season that was considered by most to be ‘normal’

It is a relative question and if the swings are becoming greater it is crucial. It is too early yet to evaluate whether climate change is already making fruit growing more difficult but I have to admit I’m pessimistic. The last two winters were so much different than anything in the historical record as far a being so mild, that it is hard not to think that we may be in for more difficult conditions than in the previous couple of centuries. Not primarily because of recent anomalies in my region, but changes globally.

I absolutely agree with your statement and have always said that a “normal” season is the rarest of weather events and what most on this forum fruitlessly await. Normal is a misnomer when applied to weather as it’s really the mean between normal swings on both sides. The same thing for “average” intelligence. Technically half of Americans have less than average intelligence, but at least with people we round it out so half (or a quarter) on one side and half on the other get lumped together in the “average” category. Except, of course, when we are talking about our own children.

[danzeb]

Which is a tribute to the stubborn and arrogant stupidity of Americans. We will convert to metrics about the time we stop minting pennies.

Have patience. Soda companies only started the conversion to metric system 30 something years ago and I think major drug dealers deal in kilograms so there is progress☺ Perhaps in 30 more years we’ll measure snow in cm. I got about 35 cm of snow. Too bad I had to use Google to figure that out.