Reed and I recently did a pilgrimage to North Dakota State University for a college visit. It is the time of the year to be making the final visits and decisions on colleges. We were very impressed with the program and what we learned.
Even though it was kinda the off season we still ran into the ubiquitous road construction.
Kinda reminded me of spring on the farm in the following ways...
Showing posts with label Blue Snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Snow. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Ten Below on the French Riveria Part II
In our last post we made the observation that, many of the Minnesota "locals" do not realize that South East Minnesota is at
the same latitude as the southern coast of France. The Reveria is known for its mild Mediterranean climate and stands in stark contrast to the Minnesota cold.
The reason for this is Minnesota is land locked and is exposed to the Canadian Arctic weather systems. While the southern coast of France has a hugh body of warm water call the Mediterranean Sea to moderate its climate.
But the real key is the amount of sunshine both locations get...they are the same.
So why all the fuss and why does this matter?
The reason for this is Minnesota is land locked and is exposed to the Canadian Arctic weather systems. While the southern coast of France has a hugh body of warm water call the Mediterranean Sea to moderate its climate.
But the real key is the amount of sunshine both locations get...they are the same.
So why all the fuss and why does this matter?
Sunday, January 10, 2016
Ten Below Zero on the French Riveria
We woke to a temperature of -10 degree Fahrenheit this morning here in Minnesota. It has been relatively mild until now and this is the first severe cold of this season.
It is no surprise to the hardy Scandinavians settled this area that we would have this kind of cold. We often see -20F or even -30F earning us a Zone 4 designation on plant cold hardiness scale.
It is no surprise to the hardy Scandinavians settled this area that we would have this kind of cold. We often see -20F or even -30F earning us a Zone 4 designation on plant cold hardiness scale.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Once in a Blue Snow
Today Rochester Minnesota and surrounding area experience a weather event that statistically only happens once every 1000 years.
We got 15 inches of snow on May 2.
This is 4 times more snow than we have had in "all" the recorded dates in May going back to 1886. This is 4 times more than every snow fall in the whole month of May for the last 127 years of recorded history. It could be more snow than we have had since the last ice age. Move over global warming a new crisis is upon us.
This spring does kinda feel like an ice age. We have had snow every weekend in April and now the first week in May. The corn and bean farmers haven't turned a wheel and the soil temps are hovering in the mid 30's.
The kids were off of school yesterday, but it wasn't much fun since we were out of electricity the whole day. Trees were down everywhere and it took all day for crews to get power restored. We are only two miles down the road from the electric coop offices so I thought that would work in our favor, but not so much.
Even the Internet, that great artery of the life blood of social media, was frozen due to the power being down. So everyone was reading books and trying to keep warm. How '80's, as in 1880's.
When I was pushing snow in the morning with the 4 wheeler before I went to work (we only had 8-10 inches then), I noticed that the snow was very very blue colored. The local meteorologist said that was because it was so wet and heavy. He said there is the equivalent of two inches of rainfall locked in the matrix. If this melts gradually and soaks in, this will go a long way to restoring some much need subsoil moisture. So even a record blue snow has a silver lining.
Needless to say, I'm a little behind on our little corner of agricultural Eden. Probably good I delayed planting our tomato and pepper transplants a couple of weeks. We already have some six inch tall plants that need to be potted to bigger pots (Friday's project). Last year we were harvesting greens several weeks ago. This year they are barely up.
I am convinced that when the weather man says the average temperature is such and such for the day. They get that number from averaging all the extremes together. Average weather seems like a mythological thing like unicorns and blue snow.
Rochester's outdoor farmers market starts Saturday. That will be fun.
Got to go rototill some snow!
Feel free to comment anywhere if you would like us to do a certain topic (ex. How To's, Information, FAQ's, etc.) or if there are certain aspects of our blog that you particularly enjoy and want more of.
We got 15 inches of snow on May 2.
This is 4 times more snow than we have had in "all" the recorded dates in May going back to 1886. This is 4 times more than every snow fall in the whole month of May for the last 127 years of recorded history. It could be more snow than we have had since the last ice age. Move over global warming a new crisis is upon us.
This spring does kinda feel like an ice age. We have had snow every weekend in April and now the first week in May. The corn and bean farmers haven't turned a wheel and the soil temps are hovering in the mid 30's.
The kids were off of school yesterday, but it wasn't much fun since we were out of electricity the whole day. Trees were down everywhere and it took all day for crews to get power restored. We are only two miles down the road from the electric coop offices so I thought that would work in our favor, but not so much.
Even the Internet, that great artery of the life blood of social media, was frozen due to the power being down. So everyone was reading books and trying to keep warm. How '80's, as in 1880's.
When I was pushing snow in the morning with the 4 wheeler before I went to work (we only had 8-10 inches then), I noticed that the snow was very very blue colored. The local meteorologist said that was because it was so wet and heavy. He said there is the equivalent of two inches of rainfall locked in the matrix. If this melts gradually and soaks in, this will go a long way to restoring some much need subsoil moisture. So even a record blue snow has a silver lining.
Needless to say, I'm a little behind on our little corner of agricultural Eden. Probably good I delayed planting our tomato and pepper transplants a couple of weeks. We already have some six inch tall plants that need to be potted to bigger pots (Friday's project). Last year we were harvesting greens several weeks ago. This year they are barely up.
I am convinced that when the weather man says the average temperature is such and such for the day. They get that number from averaging all the extremes together. Average weather seems like a mythological thing like unicorns and blue snow.
Rochester's outdoor farmers market starts Saturday. That will be fun.
Got to go rototill some snow!
Feel free to comment anywhere if you would like us to do a certain topic (ex. How To's, Information, FAQ's, etc.) or if there are certain aspects of our blog that you particularly enjoy and want more of.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)