It's been over two months since my last post. Time got away from me there. I'll try to post more frequently in the future.
I wanted to talk about what I've been calling "the pit of winter" -- the time when winter descends in full force and doesn't let us go. Temperatures fall into the pit and can't escape. This usually happens between Dec. 15 and Jan. 15, depending on the year. Statistically Dec. and Jan. are our coldest months, but some years -- like this year -- we have warm spells even during the middle of winter, when afternoons are delightful shirtsleeve weather.
Our first frost this winter was 27 deg. on Nov. 5, which was normal, since our first frost almost always occurs between the middle of Oct. and the middle of Nov.
Our first hard freeze was 19 deg. on Nov. 10.
We had a brief cold spell starting the end of Nov. -- we had 10 deg. on Nov 27 and 30, and also on Dec. 1.
The rest of Dec. was warmer than average, and I was thinking that maybe winter wouldn't have a "pit" this year. But no.
Starting on New Year's morning, we had one of the most intense cold spells we've ever had here. The river was frozen over each morning, which is our indication of seriously cold temperatures. Here are the readings:
Jan. 1 3 deg.
2 4
3 5
4 11
5 7
6 14
7 16
I'm sure my more sensitive pomegranate bushes have frozen to the ground, and it will be interesting to see how well the hardy varieties fared.
We're back to a relatively warm, La Nina weather pattern now. Some winters, the "pit" can last for weeks, but this year we've had only a week of really cold weather.
I'll be posting more weather updates as the arrive here at Command Central.
