Here it is on a gloomy evening after a few days of meltdown. A cold snap with a couple of inches of snow is forecast, and then, it’s back to the warming by the middle of next week. So the weatherpeople say.
snow
Melting from the edges
This is the fourth day of steadily rising above-zero daytime temperature, and melt-off is well underway. It’s a messy time of year underfoot, and totally fun. Here at the gate to the garden field, you can see it melting down from the edges.
Monitoring spring melt-off
When the base layer of ice and snow finally slides off the roof of the barn, Spring Melt-off is truly underway! This sheltered east-facing roof is the official monitoring device. Without much snow build-up this winter, the satisfying crash of massive slabs falling 40 feet to the ground was absent. Still, a good deal of icy snow cleared in the last 24 hours, and warm weather is forecast for the next few days at least. Excellent! (Guest snapshot by C.)
Roof is working out
Here’s the barn with the new milkhouse extension, doing fine. We were slightly concerned that the slope of the new roof might be too shallow for snow to slide off, particularly with roll-off from the roof of the barn. The starting point was determined by an existing heavy cross beam in the barn, while the next beam is halfway up the wall – sloping the roof from there would’ve required tons of extra work and materials. As it is, it seems to be working out. Not having much snow or much of a winter at all helps. I doubt the sky will be falling in!
As winter as it gets…
This is, I guess, the new look of winter. The barrels in the field are barely half covered, compared to the three or four feet of snow that accumulated by this time only a few years ago.
Winter wonderland
A corner of the veggie field. Yep, it definitely looks like winter out there. The snow is only a few inches deep, but the subzero days and nights are in the forecast for at least the next couple of weeks. Even after the exceptionally mild winter of last year, who would’ve guessed that daily weather watching to see whether wintery conditions would hold would be as normal as looking out for that first taste of spring?
Winter is a no-show
The consistently odd and erratic weather of the last four years continues to get weirder with this non-winter we’ve been having so far. A few cold snaps and a little random snow, but mainly, it’s been days around 5°C (40°F) and no real ground freeze-up. I worry about the garlic, with tips already emerging from the cloves. Bring on the COLD!