Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Monday, February 08, 2010
A Winter to Remember
Normally, about this time of year I begin tormenting northern gardeners with pictures of snowdrops or crocuses or maybe even an early daffodil. This is not a normal year.
That's my deck at Tangled Branches North yesterday morning.
You may have heard about our recent snowstorm. I think it was on the news. But you may have forgotten about the similar storm we had in December. Coming so close to Christmas, I didn't write anything at the time but I did post some pictures on Picasa.
That's the same table on December 20. We guesstimated that was about 20 inches of snow, but after the recent storm we actually measured.
That's a patch on the driveway. About 24 inches of snow. It took the spouse and I three or four hours of shoveling, but we finally broke through to the street yesterday. And we don't have a long driveway.
This is what we saw when we opened the garage door Saturday afternoon.
That is not a snowdrift. That's flat accumulation of snow.
This is after the first shoveling session.
There is a similar-sized pile of snow behind the photographer. The blob to the left of the pile is a Japanese yew that I've hated for years. I think nature may have helped rid me of it. I brushed some of the snow off, but it's quite bent.
There's a lot of tree and shrub damage with this snowstorm. This is a small oak tree in our wooded backyard.
The white blob to the left of that is my favorite holly tree. You win some, you lose some, but I'll take steps to try to save the holly.
This is the neighbors' detested (by me) Bradford Pear. There was a low branch that protruded over the sidewalk. Nobody but a small child could walk under it. That branch is lying in the street in this picture.
Normally, I don't post wide shots of the backyard because I find few angles that don't include the neighbor's woodpile, compost pile, shed, swingset, garbage cans. As I say, this is not normal. The snow airbrushed out all the uglies.
Well, I think you get the idea, but it really was a storm for the record books:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED REAGAN NATIONAL INFO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BALTIMORE MD/WASHINGTON DC
1030 PM EST SAT FEB 06 2010
...PRELIMINARY SUMMARY OF TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALLS EXCEEDED IN THE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON AREA...
THE 32.4 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL RECORDED TODAY AT DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT EXCEEDS THE PREVIOUS TWO-DAY STORM RECORD OF 23.2 INCHES ON 7-8 JANUARY 1996.
THE 24.8 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL ESTIMATED TODAY AT BALTIMORE/WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL THURGOOD MARSHALL AIRPORT EXCEEDS THE PREVIOUS TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL RECORD OF 24.4 INCHES FOR BWI AIRPORT FROM 16-17 FEBRUARY 2003. THIS WOULD ALSO BE THE 2ND HIGHEST TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL ALL-TIME SNOWFALL FOR BALTIMORE RECORDS WHICH DATE BACK TO 1871...BEING SECOND ONLY TO THE 26.3 INCHES WHICH FELL 27-28 JANUARY 1922.
THE 17.8 INCH TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL RECORDED TODAY AT RONALD REAGAN WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT IS THE SECOND HIGHEST TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL RECORD...SECOND ONLY TO THE 18.7 INCHES FOR NATIONAL AIRPORT FROM 18-19 FEBRUARY 1979. THIS WOULD ALSO BE THE 4TH HIGHEST TWO-DAY STORM TOTAL ALL-TIME SNOWFALL FOR WASHINGTON RECORDS WHICH DATE BACK TO 1871...BEHIND ONLY THE 27-28 JANUARY 1922 KNICKERBOCKER STORM WITH 26.0 INCHES...THE 12-13 FEBRUARY 1899 STORM WHICH PRODUCED 19.0 INCHES...AND THE 18.7 INCHES WHICH FELL 18-19 FEBRUARY 1979.
AS WITH ANY MAJOR CLIMATE RECORD ACHIEVEMENT...THESE PRELIMINARY RECORDS WILL BE QUALITY CONTROLLED BY NOAA'S NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS.
7 Comments:
Crazy, isn't it? We got about 18-20 inches this time, but I think we got hammered more with the December storm. We have a very long driveway - shoveling that yesterday was NOT FUN!
It does make everything look nice and pretty, but I'm ready for some green grass and daffodils. And more snow tomorrow?? eek!
I would not like to be shoveling all that snow - glad its in your garden - 18 " in the UK was enough to shovel away a month ago. Hope your little plantain orchid is nice and cosy under all that snow.
You and me, both!! We're in it together, cosmos! Fun times;-) Hunker down for the next one...it's on its way!!! I think schools will probably end up being closed all week, don't you? I wish I didn't have an injured knee, otherwise I think I'd be out in it. My husband and son did the shoveling. They started the day of, and every few hours after. It was easier for my husband that way, each shovel full weighed less (at least that was his theory!). I can't seem to get a 'live' feed to your blog...I have it on my list but it doesn't 'update'. Hope you are well!
Jennah: In the winter, I'm sooooo glad we have a short driveway. I had early daffodils with buds before all this snow - wonder when I'll see them again?
Leavesnbloom: I figure a couple of days of shoveling is worth a couple of weeks of ordinary exercise, so I plan to take it easy just as soon as we shovel out from this NEXT storm late today and tomorrow. ;-) Has your snow melted yet?
Jan: I saw yesterday that Loudoun Co. had closed school thru Friday, so I wouldn't be surprised if the same happened in Ffx. We planned to start shoveling on Friday afternoon, except that nothing stuck on the driveway until after sundown. Next-door neighbors were out shoveling at 10:30 PM on Friday, but we don't do work after dinner ;-)
I tried to fix the blog feed thing and failed, but Blogger is not going to allow the old-fashioned type of publishing that I use (FTP) after March, so I'll either switch to a Blogger custom domain or WordPress. Either way, I should end up with modern blogging features in just a few weeks.
Stay warm!
Unreal photos, Entangled- and looks like more may be coming to East from midwest. It's a high price to pay for the removal of some Bradford Pear trees!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie: Maybe the weather folks got this latest forecast wrong. Right now we have about 3 inches of new snow, but it's still snowing.
There's more to the Bradford Pear story. Later that morning we heard a large crack or pop. Another of its branches had fallen onto the neighbors' driveway. I've since had a good look at the tree from a different angle. All the remaining big branches are the ones that shade (densely) our front yard. I hope they'll decide it looks too lopsided and cut the whole thing down, but I'm not optimistic about that.
yes, it's been pretty crazy!! I work at a school and have been pretty happy to have the week off though! I'm feeling really depressed about going back to work tomorrow...
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