We are definitely experiencing a return to an old-fashioned winter. Though it didn't seriously get started until the new year, it's been on and off, high and low, rain and snow almost continually. Luckily those chilling Polar Vortex temperatures came while we still had deep snow cover in the garden. I'd guess it was at least a foot deep. But once that cold moved on we got temps in the mid-40s and rain. So the snow is only a couple of inches deep at this point.
Now we're into a mix of alternating freezing rain and snow. But that combination has the garden looking lovely and we have not lost power or had any trees come down which were both possibilities in yesterday's forecast. Luckily there's very little need to travel anywhere for the next few days.
Compare the amount of snow on the bench in the views above and below to see how the snow cover has changed. The picture below was taken on January 28 and we had another storm just a couple of days later.
So the sudden loss of snow cover is more extreme than I'd prefer since we have a long way to go before Spring arrives. I definitely don't want to go through the wide-spread loss of plants, trees and shrubs that we experienced last year. I'm sitting tight and trying to get used to these constant swings in the weather — and my mood!
