The Weekly Gardener 1

Logo


The Weather Is Crazy!

Summer Storms

Summer Landscape

It's barely March and we already had a tornado watch.

A few days with temperatures in the sixties and seventies were an enjoyable surprise, even though they came about a month too early to be recognizable as the reliable pattern of significant warming at the end of March.

The weather flipped on a dime soon after, reaping the whirlwind.

The tornado watch didn't come alone: it brought with it a summer downpour that caused flooding, accompanied by some serious thunder and lightning.

I feel like someone is dragging me aimlessly through the seasons, because only a few days before this warm streak we still had a foot of frozen snow on the ground.

Amidst the chaos, the trees, guided by their internal timing, apparently felt they'd had enough winter rest and began to bud. There is an elusive tree blossom fragrance in the air whose source I could never pinpoint.

One bout of damaging wind later we're back in the forties, which is not as bad as the single digits, and I'll stop talking about it, so I don't jinx it.

divider

Winter Storms

Winter Storm

Before the unusual March tornado, another winter storm hit, one of many this winter, with heavy snow and freezing temperatures.

According to garden lore, hard winters typically lead to scorching summers; however, we'll have to wait a few months to confirm.

Right now we're under a winter storm warning again, and snowflakes have begun to fall, large and plushy like feathers.

It was freezing this morning; the temperature dropped into the teens. There is no spring in sight, no matter what the trees think they know.

Over the past ten years, the weather has shifted considerably, pushing the day of last frost forward by two weeks to early May.

Meanwhile, we shovel snow and worry about flooding, on repeat, in a random pattern.

We landed on snow today.