Monochrome Sky with Winter Trees

When I stepped out of my office last evening on the way home, the sky was really dramatic - overcast, but with a lot of texture in the clouds.  The fading evening light shone through a translucent gauze in places, while other parts of the sky were obscured behind thick clouds. I exclaimed to Kali, "Isn't the sky wonderful right now?  I've got to take some pictures!" to which she replied, "It just looks cold."  (It wasn't cold; we had a record high of near 70 degrees F yesterday.)

I ran to the house and managed to get some shots.  I think the effect was better a minute earlier, but I didn't have my camera with me then, so these will have to do.

I took the last image, below, up into the canopy of the huge, 250-year-old sycamore tree growing directly behind our house.  I think that the camera rendered the sky almost indigo, but it simply was very dim just before all the light went out of the day.

Snow Scenes - The World Flocced

The morning after

Our area of the northern Piedmont received eight inches (20 cm) of snow on Thursday, March 5.  This came on the heels of a rainy day; in fact, overnight the rain changed to sleet, then to snow, and the snow fell heavily all day long on Thursday.  The birds were desperate; I couldn't keep an area clear long enough for them to take advantage of the birdseed I scattered on the ground, but many found the trove that I secreted under a picnic table - relatively snow free.

After the snow stopped, the temperature overnight Thursday plunged.  It was 2 degrees F when I awoke on Friday morning.  But Friday dawned clear, sunny and blue, the temperature recovered to the mid-20s, and the melting began where the sun could reach dark surfaces.

Dogwood Meadow at the height of the snowfall

Snowy filigree on the magnolia tree next to the house

The deer fencing surrounding my garden

Temperatures this coming week are forecast to approach normal, which means 50 degrees F during the day and 31 degrees F at night.  If that happens, it will be a welcome relief from a winter that just doesn't want to let go.

Will It Never End?

St. Valentine's Day dawn

My Western readers are probably tired of hearing about the snowy travails of us Easterners.  Well, we're tired of it, too.  The latest Mid-Atlantic Nor'easter dumped 11 inches of snow on my preserve from Wednesday evening into Thursday morning, then the precipitation changed to light rain and drizzle for the rest of the day, which made the snow heavy as lead.  Fortunately, the temperature stayed just above freezing, so the paved surfaces we cleared of snow stayed free of snow and ice all day.

Then, after dark (i.e., Thursday night into Friday morning) we got two more inches of snow, and the clearing started all over again on Friday morning.  The temperature in the wake of the storm got to around 40 degrees and skies were mostly sunny, so some paved surfaces even dried out.

This storm officially made this the 5th snowiest winter on record in the area.  And, guess what?  The forecasters are promising two-to-four more inches of snow for Saturday morning.  Our precipitation total for 2014 already is 40% above average.  

My back yard just after I shoveled the walk.  The snow mounds in the background are six feet high.

View to the (frozen) pond and beyond from my back door

Beckoning for a hike - on snowshoes!

Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) "balls" (fused seed capsules) against the morning sky

Kali and I are off to a concert by singer Martha Redbone in central Philadelphia tonight.  Thought we didn't plan it purposefully, the concert will be a nice way to celebrate St. Valentine's Day - and to take our minds off this seemingly endless winter.

Three...and Counting

Sea oats in snow

The snowstorm that dumped on the East Coast yesterday left us with eight inches of light, fluffy snow.  This storm set a new record: the first winter since records have been kept (beginning in 1874) that the area has suffered through three storms delivering six inches of snow or more before February.   In addition, we're just two inches below the total average annual snowfall for the region.

And, except for a brief period on Saturday afternoon, the temperature is forecast to remain below freezing for the next five days.  It just gets better and better.

I know I've had enough.

It's Much Worse in New England!

Our back yard Friday morning, January 3

6-1/2", measured on the picnic table in the back yard

Kali and I live on Edge Hill Road - aptly named, since the road follows the crest of a ridge for seven miles or so.  The entrance to our drive from Edge Hill Road is directly opposite a 40-acre field used  for an annual fund-raising carnival and horse show.  The wind blowing from the northwest roars across the open field, then rises up to Edge Hill Road.  On cold, snowy, windy days like today, the wind chill (and the snow drifting across Edge Hill Road) is unbelievable.  Our municipality usually erects snow fencing along Edge Hill Road to minimize the drifting, but they didn't do it this year, with predictable results.

The house in which we live is set back from the crest of Edge Hill Road a distance of 0.1-mile.  Because we're back from the crest, and because a previous owner of the property installed a large evergreen plantation between Edge Hill Road and the house, we are somewhat protected from the worst of the wind.  The birds that crowd our feeder certainly appreciate the windbreak.

Snowy trail leading into the native grasslands

Snow at First Light

View of my back yard at first light on Tuesday

The northern Piedmont got about two inches of snow on Sunday afternoon, much of which melted when the precipitation turned to rain on Sunday night.  Monday was cold, overcast, and dreary, but precipitation-free.  At rush hour on Tuesday morning, snow began again in earnest, finishing up around 3 p.m. after leaving three more inches. 

We intentionally left this dead pine standing in our front yard to attract woodpeckers; visitors call it the "totem tree."

Catching the first rays

Pink and blue

The second-oldest part of the house in which we live; the oldest part was built in 1791.