The same old thing as yesterday

The scurs and their Weather Eye nailed the bitter cold temps accurately. Does Old Man Winter let our furnaces catch their breath in February or does he double down? Starting Thursday, sunny with highs around 10 above with lows around -10. Sunny Friday with a highs around 10 above with lows near zero. Mostly sunny on Saturday with a modest chance of evening snow. Highs around 20 and lows in the low teens above zero. Sunday, mostly cloudy with a slight chance of snow. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the mid-teens. Cloudy Groundhog Day with highs around freezing and lows in the upper teens. Tuesday, mostly cloudy with a good chance of snow. Highs in the upper 20’s with lows in the upper teens. Cloudy on Wednesday with a slight chance of snow. Highs around freezing and lows in the upper teens. On February 1st we’ll see the sunrise at 7:30 a.m.

CST. We also will have gained roughly an hour’s worth of daylight since the winter solstice. On the 4th, we’ll achieve just over 10 hours of daylight, about the same as we had November 6th. The normal high for Groundhog Day is 23 and the normal low is 5. Odds are he won’t see his shadow. There’s a movie about that, I think.

 

The Full Moon for the month is on the 1st. It goes primarily by the Full Snow Moon, so named as this is one of the snowiest months of the year across many parts of the country. In this area, fractionally ahead of January and trails only December in terms of snowfall amount. In Europe, it is known as the Ice Moon. While some point out that there isn’t a lot of animal activity in February, some of the Native Americans might beg to differ. The Ojibwe called this the Sucker Moon after the suckers that ran in area streams this time of year. The Sioux called it the Raccoon Moon as the raccoons would awaken to forage about as the days grew longer and temperatures warmer. If they’d let the skunks sleep, then everyone would be happy. At the ranch, it is The Full Lamb Moon, although it could also be the Unhappy Corgi Moon.

 

The snow moisture content is always something interesting to ponder. January snowfall has a tendency to be relatively dry. However when I first ran the calculations on the January precipitation data, I came up with a much wetter estimate than I expected. Then I remembered that our early January precipitation fell as rain, .26” at the ranch and in Bugtussle. Once I subtracted that out and divided the liquid equivalent precip with the snowfall total, the moisture content came up with an old familiar number, roughly .07” per inch of snow. Magically, the SROC matched that closely. That’s very typical for snow in January, much drier than what we expect to see as we move farther into later February and March. Looking back at last year, February snowfall was well below normal. March snowfall made up for it and to no one’s surprise it was wet and heavy. Not unusual for snowfall to contain .1” + of water per inch in it during March. 

 

One positive to all this cold weather has been a definite decrease in insect activity. In the house, the lady beetle population seems to have slowed to a crawl. There are still a few visible, but they’re not very mobile and not in everything like they were a few months ago. Not to say that we won’t see more of them indoors as spring approaches, but the cold has definitely put a crimp in their style. Outdoors, there are few signs of any insects present. Earlier in January, there were actually still some box-elder bugs appearing on the south side of the office in town. They weren’t numerous, but every once in a while one would be spotted. Probably best of all though is the lack of mosquitoes. After last summer, they got old fast. When it’s -20, they’re out of sight and out of mind.

 

Lambing at the ranch went from very slow to an all out barrage Sunday and Monday. It’s so hard to see it coming with the wool still on the ewes and little forewarning in their behavior sometimes. The lambs are suddenly just “there” and you have to deal with them and their mothers accordingly. The cold didn’t help matters, although two of them born Sunday did remarkably well for the temperatures. Obviously their mothers are caring for them well and the lambs are nursing. If not, it becomes a short duration situation. Pens are at a premium, so animals that aren’t milking or nursing get booted in a hurry. It also becomes an issue of time as the Hay Fairy needs to procure more hay sometime during the process. Small squares are a pain in the butt, although they’re necessary for small pens. Fewer sheep would mean fewer small squares. A novel concept.

 

Poppy has endured the coldest weather rather nicely. Of course, when you’re just outside to go potty and chase squirrels, it only makes sense. We’ve even left her inside at chore time. As mentioned last week, those small Corgi feet can get cold in a hurry. As cold as it’s been, even the squirrel chasing sessions come at a price. Longer term sessions result in a rear paw being lifted off the ground, signaling it’s time to come inside and warm up. And this is how we learn.

 

See you next week…real good then.