Talk about a little slow, but a cold start to winter. Just after Christmas and through the very beginning of the new year, it was just bitter cold. Many nights had below zero temperatures, and the lake effect snow was in high gear. This lasted until mid-January when we started to get some more seasonable temperatures as well as some temperatures a little above average for a few days here…
Read MoreCold Snap!
Just after Christmas 2017 the weather turned cold, bitter cold. We set multiple record low temperatures in the days that followed Christmas. We received snow at a steady rate. Now the question, what is the snow and cold going to do to my landscape. Luckily, the answer is not much for the cold and snow itself. The snow acts as an insulation blanket from the bitter cold temperatures. And on…
Read More2016-2017 Winter Season Wrap Up
Winter started with a bang for the 2016-2107 Winter Season. Heavy wet snow fell in the weeks leading up to Christmas. We reached half of the seasonal average of snowfall for the Grand Rapids area before Christmas. Even though that was here for a solid three weeks, by the time we reached Christmas, it was rainy and warm, with a big thaw. Then the week after Christmas was uneventful. To…
Read MoreSoil Temperature
When thinking about plants and snow and what is going to happen, we often think about the weather. Something that is often overlooked is the soil temperature. The soil temperature can play a big role in what is going on outside with our plants and the snow. During the winter, the soil temperature/ground temperature can dictate how much of the falling snow sticks to the ground. If the surface temperatures…
Read MoreUpcoming Winter Season
The upcoming winter season is quickly approaching. Last winter was a little below average on the amount of snow that fell. For those who are not a fan of winter, that was good. Even though it can be fun to compare the coming winter to last winter, that can be a flawed method for determining what is to come. The winter of 2015-2016 was warmer than average and less snowy…
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