Greetings and salutations, everyone; yes, once again it is I, Mani the purebred border collie, filling in for the guy I live with, and here today to complain about the weather, like gardeners do. You may remember me from such posts as “Winter Drags On”, among so many, many others.
Here I am in a characteristic pose.
You can see what happened last night. The snow just stopped a couple of hours ago.
This is a good thing. I like snow.
We had three days of “fire weather” warnings; it was really windy yesterday, but not like totally scary. (The fire business is definitely scary. There’s a huge fire in Nebraska, which the guy I live with assured me was a long way from here.)
This was in flower yesterday but now all the flowers are frozen. He forgot to cover this last night but it was so windy the cover would have blown away. The guy I live with is disappointed, but the snow is better. (Note the mention of fire, above.)
Iris popovii from Tovil Dara in Tajikistan.
It was 75 degrees F (23.9C) yesterday, and tonight it’s going to get down to 16F (-8.9C).
This crocus was in flower too. The guy I live with thinks it might be a form of Crocus korolkowii.
So far, so good, since we’re used to this sort of thing, even though it isn’t ideal of course.
But later this week it’s supposed to be about 84F (28.9C) which is completely ridiculous and may undo all the effects of this snow, so naturally the week after that will feature yet more “fire danger” warnings. The weather people said so, according to the guy I live with, who is very, very tired of this.
He says more seasonal temperatures with some rain would be nice.
Anyway, that’s all I have for today. I had a nice walk this evening.
Until next time, then.
the miserable gardener 
It is indeed tiring and dystopian. (I dread what the summer may bring…)
That crocus is a lovely color!
The guy I live with doesn’t have anything to say about this that doesn’t employ sarcasm.
They’re now talking about fire danger tomorrow when there’s snow on the ground.
Apparently the only way to avoid reading or hearing about this F-word is if we have a constant downpour that lasts for the rest of the year.
He also says it would be nice for the wind to stop. He doesn’t recall having so much wind, constantly, and he’s lived here since 1961.
Any special advice for conifer evergreens in the garden? I have (quite recklessly) decided to grow some from seed, but I trust that they can handle such extreme swings in weather as we are seeing this year. How are you supporting your evergreen conifers? I would like to believe that they can handle all this….
The guy I live with says native conifers can handle living in pots year-round, though summer watering is important.
Conifers don’t photosynthesize after a night below freezing; they just sit there.So if they’re established in pots they should be okay.
It’s as if Mother nature just looked at the calendar and said “oh crud…I’m so behind…better get busy and deliver winter during the month of March.” It’s the strangest weather I’ve ever seen. Here’s hoping some wet comes in the form of rain. Or snow where it’s not so cold.
The guy I live with doesn’t say “strangest”; he uses other words which won’t appear on this blog.
The most annoying thing is the wind. Yes we have wind in the winter, often scary wind, but not every week like this winter. There have been like fifteen fire danger warnings since November.
The snowdrops have enjoyed the warmth this season, and yes some shrubs do start to leaf out, but cold temperatures after plants have leafed out is a common phenomenon here. One April after the guy I live with and his wife moved here it got down to 9 degrees. He was upset. Now it doesn’t bother him so much.
LOL regarding language used. Yes, the wind is the worst part of it all. It seems windier than ever. Especially not good when there’s been so little moisture.
It does seem windier than usual. The guy I live with thinks it’s how the “stupid jet stream” is positioned over our part of the world.
Here’s a map you can look at: https://climate.colostate.edu/maps/precip_map.php?len=30days
Go to “interactive maps”, and you can look at things like the water year to date, and so on.
The closest measuring station to us is just south of where Denver juts out into Jefferson County.
It’s measured 3.40 inches of water since the first of October. That’s about half an inch below average. But you can compare it to other stations’ readings.
Last year at this time we were way ahead of Denver because of that five-hour rain on Christmas Eve and the foot of snow in February.
The situation is reversed in the summer.
Thanks for the link. I’ve noticed the Gulf Stream hasn’t been favoring the state for several months.
The guy I live with said he thinks you mean the jet stream…
According to Kody the WX Guy, the jet stream has been positioned north to south over our region. The guy I live with says it could move away from us any time it wants, so maybe we’d get less wind.
You might check out Kody the WX Guy. He’s an independent meterologist. (He also does Denver and Front Range Weather on Facebook.)
The guy I live with said that the grass in the green belt was turning green, and also part of his neighbors’ yard, which has been neglected for two years now.
Oops, yes, I did mean the jet stream. Sorry about that. I’ve seen Kody WX Guy and will have to follow him more closely. Thanks.
You’re welcome. The guy I live with says he can edit comments but didn’t, this time.
He also says Kody is excellent, but not so good that he can make the wind stop.
Yeah, “dystopian”. You show a restraint in language which is truly admirable. I am more inclined to a burst of expletives and our past winter has earned such an outburst.
It’s been kind of horrible here. Mostly bone dry, with high winds, and so fire danger warnings.
The snowdrops haven’t minded at all, though.
In fact there have been snowdrops in flower here for 196 straight days. Winters here can be a bit boring so this has been one positive thing.
This has also been the mildest winter ever, maybe.
Guud Greef yore tempyturess are all over THE place Mani an Guy….THE snow lookss lovelee…inn fact wee had an Colorado Low blow thru heer all last nite an innto THE morning….2-3 inchess fell an it lookss nice. Mani you look furry hansum inn yore fotoss! Enjoy yore walkiess…..
***nose rubss*** BellaDharma an **wavess** BellaSita Mum
Thanks.
The snow has all melted, and tomorrow we have another “fire danger” day. The guy I live with says we’ll probably have one of those every day until Sunday. It’s going to be 88 this Saturday, which is insane.
Iss gonna bee 88 deegreess Mani an Guy! That ISS inn-sane!! Iss barely 18 F heer…Glad yore snow melted an hope THE ground had a guud drink!
It did have a good drink, but the guy I live with says we have yet another “fire weather” warning tomorrow.
And probably and for the next four days after that.
PHOOEY on Fire Warningss Mani! Pawss crossed all will bee OK!
The guy I live with says we have another one today, and will probably have more next week.
It isn’t really that dry here, compared to other places in the Denver metro area, but the warnings cover the whole area.