Yep, It Was "Solmonath"

February is a unique month. Not only is it shorter than any other, it's the only month that can have a day added to it. February is the only month that can pass without a full moon, as happened this year. (The next time that happens will be 2037.) And February is the only month in which we rely on a rodent to predict a weather change.

Red-wing blackbird*

At Bean Hill, the first part of February was cold and snowy, and the second part was wet with rain---too much of it. It was definitely, to use the Old English word for the second month, "Solmonath" which translates to "mud month". The average February rainfall for this area is 2.2 inches. We had a whopping 5.68 inches. Even without factoring in the melt of 4.9 inches of snow, February 2018 was the wettest February on record.

The month was, after a chilly start, warmer than normal. Ten days had highs that were 10 or more degrees above normal. February 20 set a new record for the date when it hit 78⁰---thirty-six degrees above normal! The historic average high for February is 41⁰, but this February the month's average high was five and a half degrees above that.

Crocuses and emerging stonecrop

The majority of the nights (21) had a low temperature reading that was above normal. The historic average low for February is 24⁰ but this year's average was 4.3⁰ above that. One night's low temperature was fifteen degrees higher than the normal high for the same date. Eleven nights' low temperatures were 10 or more degrees higher than normal; two nights had lows that were 32⁰ above normal. A consecutive run of higher than expected night-time temperatures is more problematic than are higher than expected day-time temperatures. Cold weather is necessary for many plants to flourish in the spring. Cold nights inhibit plants from growing too much too soon, especially if warm days have encouraged growth to begin. Maple syrup production was down in 2017 because the too warm days and nights inhibited the flow of sap, which requires that cool (40's) day-time temperatures alternate with night-time freezing (20's) over a period of several weeks.

Lone crocus

Despite the month's muddiness and gloomy days--it snowed or rained for at least part of twenty-one days--February had its perks. The Red-wing blackbirds returned on February 19. The first migratory birds to return each year, they are really Spring's harbingers, and their whistles and constant chatter always make me smile, even when it's muddy.

A day later, the Killdeer arrived, and then left. This happens yearly; they're checking out nesting areas, and our 900 feet of gravel drive is very attractive. They'll be back.

A bluebird pair appeared the last day of the month.

And green shoots and colorful little crocuses are popping up in all the gardens. Spring is on its way.

Killdeer nesting in gravel**

I'd love to tell you I took the bird photos, but I didn't. Here's who did:

*By ADJ82 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65840016 

**By Audrey - originally posted to Flickr as Female Killdeer On Her Nest, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Welcome Winter!

...Five dawns later--Let the snows begin!

Dawn of the New Year 2018...

I've always preferred cold weather to hot weather, and I love it when snow blankets the drab winter brown. So this January's snows and cold have been welcome. They're especially welcome when I recall the freakishly much-too-warm January 2017.                                                                                              In mid-January 2018, NOAA released its assessment of 2017's world-wide temperatures (NOAA says 2017 was 2nd warmest year on record), and Vox posted an article on the cost of the damage done by aberrant weather events just in this country (Megadisasters devasted American in 2017: Storms, fires, floods, and heat caused at least $306,000,000,000 in destruction). It's not pretty, especially when you consider that as we begin a new year, we look back on the last 4 years (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and see the hottest years worldwide on record. The next hottest years are 2007, 2009, 2010, meaning that seven of the hottest years on record have been in the last ten years.

Come into the garden

As I recorded the daily weather statistics for January at Bean Hill, I noticed that every day of the month had seen a record high or a record low set since 2014. Extremes in temperatures, as well as wind speeds, precipitation (or lack of it), and monster tornadoes and hurricanes are all part of the climate change picture. The abnormal, as regards weather, is the new normal. Much as I prefer lower temperatures to higher ones, I have to admit that those record-setting cold days this month were too bitterly cold even for me, and I was grateful I didn't have to be anywhere but in a warm house.   

At Bean Hill, sixteen new records were set in January. There were eleven days of record-breaking cold, seven of them in the first week of the month. Fortunately our coldest nights were not nearly as cold as two January nights in 2014 that saw the thermometer dip to 22⁰ below zero! Five days saw record high temperatures; every day in January had an all-time high for that date recorded in either 2015, 2016, 2017 or 2018.

Despite the new records set, January was overall delightfully close to "normal". The historic average high for the month is 36⁰ and we came in at 34⁰.  The historic average low is 20⁰; our average was 16⁰. Rainfall (thanks to those "warm" days) was .42" more than the historic average of 2.53". And as the pictures illustrate, and quite unlike last year, we had snow. The historic monthly total is 10.5", and we totaled 12.4". (There's a station about 5 miles from us that records daily precipitation and snowfall amounts; I could never be that precise.) By the way, it wasn't until this year that I learned weather trackers regard rain as "precipitation" and snow as, well,...snow.  Since we had little to no snow last year, I missed that distinction.

Snowy day, showy cardinal

December: Goodbye 2017

Finally! A snowy morning in late December

 December was one of only two months (August was the other one) in 2017 where the average high and low temperatures were below the historic monthly averages. Seventeen days and nights had below average temperatures; eleven days and ten nights had temperatures ranging from 6-24º below the historic averages. The month's average high (37.5º) was 3.2º below the historic monthly average; the month's average low (21.7º) was 4.3º below the historic monthly average. Precipitation was below average by 1.2 inches. The 4 inches of December snow was 1 inch less than average, and all of it fell in a single event. Twenty-one days this month had no precipitation whatsoever.

I began this blog one year ago to document the effects of climate change on the seasons in just one small part of the Earth that we call Bean Hill. At the year's close, here is a summary of my observations:

• Nine months (3/4 of 2017) had above average daytime temperatures; six of those months were in the first half of the year.
• Three months (1/4 of the year) had daytime averages that were well above the historic averages (6-10º) 
• Low temperatures: seven months were below average; one month was "normal"; four months were above average, with the first two months having lows significantly above average (7-8.7º)
• Seventeen record highs were set: January (12); February (3--and throughout the U.S. this was the hottest February on record); September (2). This doubles the number of records set in 2016.



Snowbunny-butt

• Precipitation was above average by 5.64 inches; snowfall was significantly below the average of 24.5 inches, with almost all of it falling in December.

To collect data for this blog, I depend upon the accuracy of several online almanacs. Since those almanacs record the weather within a radius of 10 miles of Bean Hill, I know my stats aren't precise. However, the conditions recorded near to us certainly help confirm what I started observing 3 years ago---the climate is changing and it's affecting seasonal changes which impact the cycle of all life, plant and animal and bird, as we've known it in this part of Ohio.

These changes are not for the better. The brutal cold we've experienced here and throughout most of the nation the last several days and nights is only one example of extreme weather events that are occurring with greater frequency world-wide. Extreme weather is the result of a changing climate. How many times will the skeptics have to hear weather events described as "historic", "record-setting", "monstrous", "devastating" before they begin to realize something is amiss? If you thought 2017 was especially brutal weather-wise, you were right. Vox.com has an eye-opening article Megadisasters devastated America this year. They're going to get worse. I urge you to read it, and then pass it on.

At times over the past year the data-gathering and working out the averages got tedious, but overall, I feel it was worthwhile, so I'll continue making my observations in 2018. If you're reading this blog, you probably have some concern for the welfare of the Earth and all therein, so I encourage you to keep some a record of your own observations. You don't need to do data gathering; you just need to pay attention. Your first-hand observations could become useful talking points if and when you have to engage in a climate-change discussion with the skeptics in your life. (May they be few and far between!) Meanwhile, in 2018, do whatever you can to take care of Mother Earth. She needs us.

The setting of the Super Moon as 2018 begins