Im confused

[Some Schmo]

The climate is changing, making our seasons more extreme.

I'm not sure if that was the answer you were looking for, huck, but it was the first thing your post made me think.

[huckelberry]

The climate is changing, making our seasons more extreme.

I'm not sure if that was the answer you were looking for, huck, but it was the first thing your post made me think.

volatile not just warmer as a result of climate change. Yes I thought there might be something to that.

The sun is shining and the snow has melted back to well shaded patches. Well it is mid April.

[Jersey Girl]

The climate is changing, making our seasons more extreme.

I'm not sure if that was the answer you were looking for, huck, but it was the first thing your post made me think.

I agree 100%. When we built this house 32 years ago (having lived here total 35 years now) the hole was dug in September and the rains filled it up repeatedly which delayed pouring the foundation. They had to pump the hole for a couple of weeks in advance. We had fall rains on a regular basis. Little frogs hopping all over the sidewalks the year after the house was actually built and some years going forward.

Now? Nada. If we get fall rains it's a celebration over here.

We used to have ALL kinds of wildflowers on our property (I'm going somewhere with this, hang on) Wild Irises, Roses, Geraniums, gorgeous and fragrant Columbines, Black Eyed Susans, Globe Flowers, Butter n' Eggs, Harebells...I can probably name 20 more types of flowers that used to grow here and these were in areas that have never seen a mower.

Now? Nada.

Each spring this area celebrates the beginning of spring when the first Pasque flower appears. They are like wild crocuses. It's kind of a local traditional contest to see who spots the first. We always seem them out by our mailbox. They used to come up the third week of March.

Used to.

I saw one a week and a half ago. ONE. That was it. ONE Pasque flower. I didn't even get to take a pic of it.

Yes, it's 100% climate change. Wild fires have already started.

RIP little beauties.

[Dr. Shades]

But there is three inches of snow in my backyard this evening. You know that white stuff that occasionally falls out of the sky in winter.

No, we don't know. Please elaborate.

[Markk]

My B-day is mid March, and I always have a good size garden. I always plant just after my birthday. 4 days or so ago we had two nights of frost and we lost about a 1/4 of my garden…ten plants or so, cucumbers and peppers, and several plants are hanging in but might not make it (Tomatoes). Earlier around January I also lost all my citrus ( blood oranges) because of frost. I live about five miles from the Redlands Ca. Temple, which is surrounded by Orange and Avocado orchards, I don’t know how they faired.

That sucks. I hope that these were seedlings as opposed to something that you purchased already potted up, because at least that’s be less of a dollar loss and you’ll not lose so much time with starting fresh seedlings, if so.

All of our self-starts are still in their pots and get moved out on the sunny days. We just started those seeds a few weeks ago, except for the tomatoes, which we bought ‘6-pack’ sized from a local grower. Last year we lost all of our corn and half of the tomatoes to a late frost, so we are waiting a few more weeks ‘just in case’ before committing to getting these in the ground (and not doing corn anyway this year, as it’s ornamental and we have plenty still from the last two years).

The pumpkin plots are ready and waiting for the small seedlings, and I’m looking forward to getting some flowers out into the yard.

They were potted…probably about a 30 dollar or so hit. I grow everything for Salsa. Come to think of it, beside the cucumbers, what I lost were the “hot” strains of peppers, not the milder ones… maybe they can’t handle the cold as well.

I wish I would have waited. Last year I waited a long time and never got a frost, and I told myself I wasn’t going to do that again..O’well like Bret wrote it is really cool to pick home grown fruits and Veggies.

I am going to try potatoes this year…any advice if you have done it?

[Gunnar]

Maybe there is no point of posting this but I feel like it is a puzzle worth some sort of reflection.

I live in a valley whose elevation is below one thousand feet. We are located about a hundred miles north of the 45 parallel so not so terrible far north. We get snow from time to time in the winter but actually not a lot. There are an occasional year when snow totals an inch or two for the whole winter. We have relatively mild winters and spring comes in March. The fruit trees are in bloom. The tulips around my front porch are in bloom. It is the middle of april and the flowers have been in bloom for a while now.

But there is three inches of snow in my backyard this evening. You know that white stuff that occasionally falls out of the sky in winter. Well it fell most of the day today and its not winter. I am sure I have never seen snow anywhere close to this late in the spring before.

Does it mean anything?

Maybe nothing more than that's the way the wind blows sometimes, just not often.

This somehow reminded me of a Mormon Missionary I knew serving his mission in Denmark. He had been born and raised in Los Angeles CA, and had never seen snowfall until his first winter in Denmark. He was totally amazed by the experience. He knew, of course, that there was a such thing as snow and that it was just a form of frozen water, but other than that he was almost totally clueless about it, and apparently, basically incurious about its nature. He had somehow acquired the notion during his growing up years that snow was something that somehow came up out of the ground in colder climates during the winter. That it was something that fell from clouds in the sky like rain had never before occurred to him.

I think it was the same guy who was totally amazed when he looked up in the sky one sunny day and noticed for the first time in his life that it was possible to see the Moon during daylight hours. He apparently concluded, at first, that being able to see the Moon during daylight hours was a phenomenon unique to Denmark!

[huckelberry]

But there is three inches of snow in my backyard this evening. You know that white stuff that occasionally falls out of the sky in winter.

No, we don't know. Please elaborate.

playing along,
moisture in clouds when below 32 degrees f condense into ice crystals and the stuff falls out of the sky and piles up for folks to shovel and slide around in. There is fun in some sliding and not so fun in other sliding.

Shades are you located in southern California ,or perhaps south Texas? I realize there are places where snow is foreign.

[Jersey Girl]

But there is three inches of snow in my backyard this evening. You know that white stuff that occasionally falls out of the sky in winter.

No, we don't know. Please elaborate.

Troll.

[Gunnar]

No, we don't know. Please elaborate.

playing along,
moisture in clouds when below 32 degrees f condense into ice crystals and the stuff falls out of the sky and piles up for folks to shovel and slide around in. There is fun in some sliding and not so fun in other sliding.

Shades are you located in southern California ,or perhaps south Texas? I realize there are places where snow is foreign.

Playing along again, good explanation!

However, having at one time in my life lived a few years in Texas, I know for a fact that snow is not unheard of in southern Texas. Texas climate is quite variable and can sometimes change rapidly and dramatically. My last year living in Texas, in Austin, we experienced a record heat wave in mid February, with temperatures rising to the mid or high 90s Fahrenheit. Two days later, there was a record cold snap, and there was snow on the ground.

[huckelberry]

playing along,
moisture in clouds when below 32 degrees f condense into ice crystals and the stuff falls out of the sky and piles up for folks to shovel and slide around in. There is fun in some sliding and not so fun in other sliding.

Shades are you located in southern California ,or perhaps south Texas? I realize there are places where snow is foreign.

Playing along again, good explanation!

However, having at one time in my life lived a few years in Texas, I know for a fact that snow is not unheard of in southern Texas. Texas climate is quite variable and can sometimes change rapidly and dramatically. My last year living in Texas, in Austin, we experienced a record heat wave in mid February, with temperatures rising to the mid or high 90s Fahrenheit. Two days later, there was a record cold snap, and there was snow on the ground.

gunnar, I know what you mean about variable in Texas. My senior year in high school transplanted to Austin Texas. In many way an enjoyable adventure. I was told about blue northers when then temperature dropped in a hurry. (nothing between Austin and the north pole but a barbed wire fence) The first one I saw was a huge relief. I was suffering from the heat. (the high school did not have airconditioning) I remember on new years day the temperature hit 90 degrees, no snow but there were some cool spells.