March 13, 2022

Enter The Lion

March came in like a lamb and gave us eight days of glorious spring weather: warm but not hot, low relative humidity, and mostly sunny. Then the lion showed up and chased the lamb away as a reminder that March is a fickle month in regards to weather.

Our forecast was for heavy rain, high wind, and plummeting temperatures. In combination, this is a recipe for heavy ice coating everything, crashing trees,   and smashing power lines. Thankfully, these elements spread themselves out over two-and-a half-days.

An intense thunderstorm came first, depositing an inch and a third of rain overnight. When the sun came up, the wind came roaring through. Even though the temperature dropped steadily throughout the day, the wind and sun dried everything off so that when we woke up to 22°F (-6°C) this morning, we still had power and a safe walk to the barn.

While the goats were eating their breakfast, I took a walk with my camera to see what I could see.

Strawberries

Puddle

Daffodils

Ice in the garden swale.

Ice crystals growing from bare damp soil.

More ice crystals. Fascinating, aren't they?

Winter weather doesn't last long this time of year, so now, we're heading into another warming trend. Even so, it's a good reminder not to be seduced by spring's siren call of "plant your seeds, transplant your seedlings." I just hope everyone else in my part of the world fared as well with this weather event. 

14 comments:

Goatldi said...

Sweet! Amazing isn’t it? I was always amazed by what can happen and how fast it can happen and how fast it goes away sometimes.

Wondering how your strawberries are going to fair and if your daffodils will pop back up with a little warm and a little sun. It sometimes seems that one can never tell just by looking at them what will actually happen.

Wonderful post great photos thank you very much.

Michelle said...

Frost flowers!

Nancy In Boise said...

We've been on a really roller coaster of weather also this month. We have some really Mi days like yesterday when it was almost 65 degrees. Then the wind blew in last night today the high is supposed to be 48 degrees and in the twenties at night. I'll be starting some seeds soon in our seed starter rack but definitely too early to put anything outside. Good that you got the rain I suppose! We're in a drought here we need more snow in our mountains

Rosalea said...

Definitely March is a roller coaster. -15C (5F) this morning, and windy. That sniff of spring that was in the air for a couple of days is gone again. Neat to see the frost 'flowers'. You have a good bit of water in your swale.

Toirdhealbheach Beucail said...

Leigh, we had yet another cold front blow in this weekend, icy winds down to 30 F.

Later this week? High near 80 F. Strangest year ever.

Mama Pea said...

Outstanding pictures, Leigh! After the last several nights still going down into the minus zero digits, our week ahead looks absolutely spring like. Day time temps up into the 40s! Probably doesn't seem warm to you, but it sure is for us. We have had some sunny days though and even with temps not reaching 32°, we can see evidence of our snow melting. We've even got patches of gravel showing through on the driveway.

Leigh said...

Goatldi, I'm guessing the strawberries will be fine, and the daffodils were about done anyway. Our peach tree, on the other hand, will probably not produce peaches this year. They often get hit by frost, but this was a hard freeze so the poor little things probably didn't make it.

Michelle, ooo, I like it!

Nancy, I'm sorry to hear about your drought. We've had a wet winter, but I wouldn't trade it for drought! March is always a wild ride, isn't it?

Rosalea, the frost flowers are a first for me, but I don't think I've been out looking around following similar conditions before. Always something to be amazed at!

The swale is doing really well and I have high hopes of a better garden this summer. It has a rather large bump that I need to scrape down, but other than that, I think we've sequestered a lot of water over the past few months.

TB, I'm just not ready for the 80s! But, we don't get much say-so, do we. :)

Mama Pea, I'm so happy to hear you'll be getting some spring weather! After this past winter, I'd be happy with the 40s too, as long as there wasn't a cold wind blowing.

tpals said...

I've never seen ice crystals like those before. Fascinating. Glad you didn't get hit hard with an ice storm!

Leigh said...

Tpals, me either! I would have loved to put a fast motion camera on them to watch them form. I'm glad too, that we didn't get hit with a bad ice storm.

Rain said...

Hi Leigh ☺ The ice crystals are gorgeous. Winter is still trying to hold on here, but spring is pushing through! It's still very cold though, but nowhere near as snowy as it was when I lived in Quebec, I'm so grateful for that! I'm itching to get into the garden, still another few months away, but I'm going to start my seeds in my window this year, hopefully by end of March!

Leigh said...

Rain, good to hear from you! Is your general temperature about the same as where you lived before? I think we're all anxious to get seeds started. :)

Retired Knitter said...

yes, March is ‘interesting’. Dramatic and showy!!

Leigh said...

RT, every March I wonder if we should install a wind turbine, except that it's only March that has high winds. Definitely keeps us on our toes. :)

Chris said...

Great to see your swales full! That's always a positive sign for the growing season ahead. My grandfather would say, if your land caught the first storms of the season, you'd catch them all. Meaning it was going to be a productive year for growing stuff. I'd love to see how that works out for you.