temperature map

[stevelau1911]

Tree peonies are prone to sprouting as soon as it gets a good vernalization, some rains, and the soil becomes unfrozen which was already happening towards the middle of February last year. Many of these seedlings were at their full size by the end of March last year, but haven't hardened off yet so I had to protect them. These seeds are very fun to grow as you never know when they will show up. They can take anywhere from 1-3 winters to break dormancy and sprout after being planted.

Here's a picture taken on February 23rd of last spring showing how some species of tree peonies are the first to show up. There are multiple ones that emerged so this was not an extreme outlier.





For all the tree peony seeds that did sprout roots last fall, they will have had a good vernalization by now so if there is a big enough thaw to melt away all the snow, these seedlings will be at the risk of sprouting. 2nd year seedlings typically sprout 2-3 weeks later maybe due to their size, but one downfall of growing them from seed is that they can emerge way sooner than they should.

[pokenei]

So far, I think the weather pattern in my area is somewhat seasonal, favoring the up side a little bit.

But this could all change if we're hit with an arctic blast.

I suspect though that we'll be able to get away with another mild/moderate winter this year and here's my theory:

Last winter, Europe was hit with a cold spell. As we all know, the global average temperature remains pretty much constant, so that meant somewhere it must be warmer than usual and that happened to be north america. This winter, the cold region seem to have shifted east to China, and so we're still lucky so far. Next winter however, the cold region will shift further east and coming back to us, and so I predict an average to below average Winter for our zones.

[pokenei]

We're finally in green territory (on the weather map)!

The coldest temperature so far is -12.3 degrees Celsius, which is no where near 0 F. I should have planted my Nigra outside. Even Moso would have done fine...I think.

All my bamboos are doing great with no visible Winter burn. I didn't protect my boos other then a few inches of mulch.

The bamboos I have outside are:
- Parvifolia
- Rubromargina
- Aureosulcata Spectabilis/Aureoculous
- Atrovaginata
- Bissetii
- Beijing...with one visible leaf...still hanging on dear life

Expected high this weekend is + 12 degrees! That'll melt all the snows, but new snow fall is expected soon after, before a dip back to seasonal temperature.

[pokenei]

Here we go... the next 3 nights are probably the coldest of the season for my area, forecasted to be -19 degree Celsius. Tonight's windchill will make it feel like -28 C.

FYI:
-19 C = -2.2 F
-28 C = -18.4 F

The true damage (if any) will not be known until the temperatures starts to warm back up.

I also covered up my little windmill palm with a cardboard box this morning, but the leaves looked like they might have already suffered frost damage. We shall see...

[canadianplant]

Sorry Pok, I have you beat. This morning the airport recorded -37C, 40 minutes down the highway was -40.

[pokenei]

I think this can be called an average winter so far. If you look at the weather map, it looks quite scary with pink and dark pink areas covering almost all of Canada.

Hopefully there is no wind movement in the coming weeks, because any slight shift in wind direction from the North will bring Arctic like temperatures here.

That said, we have a warm break next week and also rain before going back to seasonal temperatures.

[canadianplant]

THe winter here as been above average when you look at the data. A few record breaking days, and one monthly record broken softened up the -37 the airport seen. 3C above average day temps, and 5C above normal daytime lows IT deinitely isnt an average winter here (compared to "normals", but very close to how "normal" has been the last 15 years or so

[foxd]

Temperatures are supposed to be up in the 60's today. So far this Winter the coldest temperature the campus weather station has listed has been 5°F. Of course this may yet change.

If it doesn't it will be interesting to see what the Moso does this Spring.

[pokenei]

Good news...

It looks like we will have one last cold period and that should be it for this winter. The wind looks like it's moving laterally from the west (no north to south) and will only bring the cold air that is currently lingering in the central part of the United States over and eventually dissipates over the Atlantic.

For my area, the expected low for this cold period is -15 at the coldest.

[stevelau1911]

Most years we would expect it to start warming up around this time of the year, but we had a colder than average February, and it looks like it might not warm up in March.

It will be interesting to see how fast the plants grow once the winter weather is finally over.

http://www2.nbc26.tv/weather/2013/feb/2 ... r-5671903/

[Tarzanus]

Europe this year can not be compared to last year's fiasco. With more than half of meter (they had 1.5m of snow near, so we were spared) thick snow cover, everything is sleeping. Last year plants woke up like three times by now. Everything got severely frozen in the spring. It looks like this year, we will be spared.

Now, with all the snow melting, flooding started. Luckily soil never really got frozen this year, which means water should take off soon..

[pokenei]

I guess my prediction was off by a bit, but I was right in that it has been an average Winter for the most part. Perhaps slightly below average, but nothing to the extreme that would top kill all our hardy bamboos.

I think we're seeing a trend here. In years where there is little to no snow like last year, the temperatures remain warm throughout Winter whereas this year, we're getting lots of snow on the ground and the affect is a cold Winter. So, snow=bad despite its ability to insulate.

This Winter is just not going away anytime soon...

[johnw]

pokenei - Funny here it's the opposite - snow = a mild winter, dry = cold, fairly straightforward in a maritime climate I guess. A major melt today with some lakes opening up.

Looks like we're flat-lining according to the notoriously undependable weather gurus:

[stevelau1911]

Around here it is supposed to stay almost consistently below average for March, but I really doubt it will be that cold of a March. At this rate, March will be cooler than both January and February which is not supposed to happen.

[canadianplant]

Poke/john - How are you guys posting the 14 day graf? I cant even get a URL to paste or anything