Winter got started early in the Northeast this year, giving us a white Christmas with plenty of surplus. It’s usually fairly dry in November and December, and with a lingering warmth despite the frost, so having a white Christmas, much less the remnants of several snow storms on the ground at Christmas, is a bit unusual.
And the winter has continued at the same pace, bringing snow at regular intervals, sometimes only enough to dust the lawn and require scraping off the cars, but sometimes, like this past Monday, adding a fresh thick blanket of more than a foot. I don’t think the yard has been clear of snow more than twice since mid-December, and the place where I heap the snow from the back steps, which is in nearly perpetual shadow, has never completely melted.
Looking on the weather map, there are several warmer days ahead, but it’s uncertain whether these will be enough to melt the accumulation from the last several days. It may be weeks yet before the snow is completely gone.
Although it has been snowy, it hasn’t been a very harsh winter–we’ve had relatively few days of wind and bitter cold, and I’m sure that folks from colder environments are laughing at the idea of seeing their lawns until Easter, but then again, they don’t live in the Northeast, and aren’t waiting with growing impatience for the advent of the glory of a New England (or even a New Jersey) Spring.
It’s only the beginning of March, but I am restless already. I am waiting for Spring, with plans of plantings and gardening and thoughts of adding a new trellis or two.
Why are you looking forward to Spring, and how are you preparing?
