Quiet Christmas Eve

The weather is quiet - no new snow, blue sky, sunshine. My temperament is more receptive to a Christmas with gray skies, swirling snowflakes, and cold temperatures. Therefore, we will spend part of Christmas skiing into and staying at a backcountry yurt, where there will likely be swirling snowflakes and cold temperatures, though possibly no gray skies.
The image above is one of a yurt that we stayed a couple of winters ago with several friends. The weather evident in that photo is what I relish!

SNOW & COLD

Yep, it's that time of year! A supposed blizzard (really! Even the National Weather Service is calling it that) is hitting the San Juan Mountains west of us, and the San Luis Valley is supposed to get about 3-4" of snow by end of tomorrow or so. Wolf Creek is due to get about 50" of snow out of this storm! Hooray for skiing!
All of my water barrels are now empty for the season, bird feeders are full for now, and the birdies have water kept thawed by the new water heater.
We went jogging at the Rio Grande State Wildlife Area yesterday, and saw a lone great blue heron. I bet we'll keep seeing it throughout the winter, which I marvel at. What does it find to eat? All the sandhill cranes appear to be absent now; the very cold temperatures we had this past week (low was -10F) probably drove them away to the Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico.
I've already received two 2010 garden supply/seed catalogs! Even I think that's a bit early.....

February Snow Survey

Last Friday, February 27, was my monthly excursion to the Silver Lakes snow course to measure the snowpack. This will be repeated two more times in 2009. The day was very warm, sunny, and windy. At this site, the snowpack measured out to about 165% of normal, compared to the survey in January at this site which was about 190% of normal. I'd expected a lower number since we have not received much snow since the January reading.

The photo to the left shows me holding--in my left hand--the scale suspended on a telescoping ski pole, and in my right hand is the notebook for recording the measurements we take at ten sites within the course. Snowmobiles & their moronic drivers had driven over our course in several locations, and the resulting compression of the snowpack distorts our readings. We thus had to take several samples at a couple of the sites to get an accurate reading.

New snow in the high country

Along with other activities at my workplace, I also participate in snow surveys. This means that during the last five days of January, February, March, and April, I and several other federal employees fan out across different parts of the mountains surrounding the San Luis Valley to measure snow depth and water content. These surveys take place at specific locations, which--for Colorado--may be viewed at the link below: http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/Colorado/colorado.html.

Yesterday was my first day on snow survey for 2009, and two of us traveled by snowmobile up to the Big Meadows manual snow course site, and the Grayback SNOTEL site http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snotel/snotel.pl?sitenum=1058&state=co. Both of these sites are in the eastern San Juan Mountains. At the Grayback site we took measurements of snow depth and water density both at the automated SNOTEL site and at the manual Snow Course located nearby. At the Grayback SNOTEL site, there are currently 49.6" of snow, with a Snow Water Equivalent of 15.4".

The difference between a SNOTEL site and a manual snow course is that at the latter, the snow depth and water content measurements are recorded manually by trained observers, and at the SNOTEL sites, the snow & water information is measured and transmitted automatically. SNOTEL is an acronym which stands for SNOwpack TELemetry.

There are manual snow courses and SNOTEL sites scattered throughout all Western states, and measurements are taken by an assortment of Federal, State, and other employees. The data resulting from all snow surveys, whether manual or automated, are used for water forecasting for agriculture, recreation, flood control, and more.

Icy sheen on all snow surfaces

It feels like an abnormal January weather-wise here, but I just looked back at my temperature records for the past four years (January '06 through January so far) and it's not that abnormal. I'm aware that a scant three or four years of records means little, but it's still fun comparing year to year. No averages calculated yet - that'll be next.
In January '06 we had mostly 30s and 40s as our daytime temps, and single digits below zero all the way up to 34 degrees for nighttime temperatures.
In January '07 my outdoor wireless thermometer bottomed out once (-21.9, can't believe it bottoms out at that temperature!) and only five nights were above zero. Daytime temperatures ranged from 11 degrees to above 40.
In January '08 temperatures were very similar to last year, with the thermometer bottoming out twice, and daytime temperatures were in exactly the same range as '07.
This year is wienie compared to the past two Januarys. Thermometer has not come close to bottoming out - the lowest has been -11.1. Our daytime temps have not gone below 20. Personally I'd rather have blistering cold than what we have, though this year is still better than having bare ground showing. Still too cold to ride the bike to work, though.
And as today's blog title says - the thawing and re-freezing we've had nearly daily has made all snow-covered surfaces look as shiny as a bald pate.

Too warm for January?

Though we still have 9.5" of snow in the front yard here in Monte Vista, 39 degrees still feels too warm for January in the San Luis Valley.
Last week we were staying in a yurt outside of Leadville, CO at 12,000 feet, and the temperature did not sink below 20 degrees the entire three days & nights. That is bizarre.
Large puddles are appearing in late afternoon as snow continues to melt and attempts to sink into the frozen ground. Some perennial plants are now showing as the snow depth decreases. The gardening fever is starting to show up more often in my thoughts. Marianna, it is WAY TOO EARLY to think about starting seeds indoors.

Snow, "blazing" sun and blue skies

Snow in the amount of 4.4 inches fell last evening. This morning it was -11 F and extremely bright once the sun rose. All our bird feeders are busy. It was about time some new snow fell so all the old & dirty stuff could be covered up. There'll be a good supply of water infiltrating the soil & roots of all my planties. As of two days ago, when we had only 8" of snow on the ground, the snow water equivalent (SWE) was 1.46", and the SWE of the 4.4" of snow we got overnight is .3".

The shrubs in the photo foreground are Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa), a wonderful drought-tolerant plant that does great here in the San Luis Valley. I plopped them in the ground probably my first summer here ('05), watered them somewhat consistently the first year, and now I very seldom do anything to or with them. Yet they grow well, and put on beautiful flowers which turn into plume-like seed heads that are sort of pinkish in color. I highly recommend this shrub for xeriscape areas. I bought one more this past summer that's only about 6" high, so it has a lot of growing to do to catch up with the others.

I was over at the nearby Empire Canal last night, and saw a great blue heron standing on the ice, poised over a hole in the ice--I guess it was waiting to spear something for its dinner. I always marvel when I see herons this time of year in the midst of the frozen, white landscape.

Beautiful winter & seed catalogs!

Blizzard warnings today, mostly in the mountains. Overnight last night it was very windy, and many drifts had appeared by morning. At 7AM it was 31 degrees, now at 1:30 PM it's about 28 degrees.

Bruce split a bunch of wood yesterday so we're now safe from freezing! We have this wood carrier thing that allows easy hauling of split wood. It also makes a handy dog carrier - poor Caddy is at Bruce's mercy!

I went snowshoe running over at the state wildlife area yesterday in the late afternoon - saw several hawks and many tracks in the snow. It was beautiful but cold; returned home with a frosted face.

Had to replenish the black oil sunflower seed and Niger thistle today at the local co-op---holy cow! Not (sort of) cheap like it used to be to buy that stuff for "wild" bird-feeding.

Picked up the mail today - four more seed catalogs arrived. Got one yesterday, and received a couple more several days before Christmas. I'd hate to think how many I'd be getting if I hadn't taken my name off a bunch of mailing lists! But it is making me think of seed-starting........

Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad !!

Today is a beautiful, snow-covered day in the San Luis Valley. The day began with snow falling until about noon or so, but now at 2PM the sun is mostly out with lots of blue sky. We took a walk in the falling snow and it was lovely. The orb of the sun was trying to break through the snow clouds, and finally succeeded.
The Canada geese are out and about, but the sandhill cranes that have been hanging out near the irrigation canal north of our house have left. The snow must have cleared them out.
Wolf Creek Ski Area's website says they've received 55" of snow in the past 7 days, and are due to receive a bunch more tonight. We head up there tomorrow to verify that snow report.....

White stuff slowly accumulates

Snow depth in the yard as of this morning is 6.5". The mountains to the west and northwest are getting pounded with 1-2' of new snow, today and tomorrow. Backcountry avalanche hazard is high. The Christmas bird count was being done last Saturday, December 20th. I was taking the pooch for a walk and ran into a friend of mine who was with two other birders looking for birds not far from my house.

While at the Rio Grande State Wildlife Area yesterday, I saw a few hawks and lots of Canada geese, plus lots of animal tracks and a set of x-c ski tracks. An eager beaver is taking care of a cottonwood tree near the river - photo shows recent activity. The Rio Grande is in the background - not frozen like last year.

Snow, especially in the mountains

I just checked the SNOTEL (SNOwpack TELemetry) website available at http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/ for the Grayback site west of Monte Vista. Not as much snow as I'd thought would be up there - on 12/11 there was 9" of snow on the ground at the 11,620' site, on 12/16 there was 21" of snow. Another large storm is due starting tonight and will dump 1-2 feet of additional snow in the mountains, including the eastern San Juans west of Monte Vista. Will definitely help with the agricultural outlook for '09.

5" of NEW SNOW

FINALLY--last night--we got some real measurable SNOW. I measured 5" on my CoCoRaHS "snowboard" (actually, just a 1' by 1' piece of wood, painted white). The core taken with the plastic cylinder measured .44" of Snow Water Equivalent (SWE), and the amount of snow that fell into the plastic cylinder, & that was melted into liquid, was .29" SWE.

La Veta Pass east of Monte Vista supposedly received 19" of snow, and Wolf Creek Ski Area received about a foot.

My plug for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail andSnow Network, AKA CoCoRahs; see the program's website at http://www.cocorahs.org/. CoCoRaHs is a volunteer network of citizen weather observers from most states in the country. The mission statement of this non-profit organization is at http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=mission.

From the website comes this brief description of its primary goal: CoCoRaHS is a unique, non-profit, community-based network of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow).

I've been taking measurements for the CoCoRaHS program since December of 2005. Every morning at 7:00 I take a brief moment to check for & measure new precipation, whether rain or snow & infrequently hail, and then report the data at the website. The data posted at the website are used by many different entities, from National Weather Service folks to farmers to recreationists. It's interesting to be involved in this effort, with the added benefit of seeing where else in your county or state, or wherever else in the country, other precipation fell.

Nolan Doesken, who I think is the originator of the project, is always interested in new CoCoRaHs volunteers from all of the participating states. If you're interested in volunteering to be a weather observer (it's nearly painless!), go to http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=contactus and sign up. In the meantime, ENJOY THE SNOW (and next spring/summer's water!).

Late-autumn composting

I'd hoped to have time to turn the contents of my Home Composter once more before severe cold set in. Alas, such was not to be. With temperatures in the single digits the last three nights, and daytime temperatures in the shade in the 40s, I suspect my compost containers that are in the shade have already begun to harden a little. If I had confidence in my wintertime composting ability (i.e., actually make a "hot" compost pile), I'd probably go ahead and turn it and try to heat it up again. But I'm not convinced it's worth the effort.

So with the little remaining space available inside the composter, I'll continue dumping the contents my kitchen containers into it, separated by layers of dried fall leaves. When the bin reaches its limit, I'll consider it full and save any turning activity for the spring. Granted, I'll have some gross soggy stuff to look at come spring, but it won't be the first time! And I love thinking about what that gross soggy stuff will turn into within a couple of months!