Six More Weeks of Winter

From Anatomy of the Groundhog, 2005

On this Groundhog Day, the rodent in Pennsylvania, Punxsutawney Phil, did not see his shadow.  It must be cloudy in PA.  Here in Maine, the weather is bright, sunny and slightly cool with an early morning temperature around 27F.  Does that mean winter will end early in PA and linger for six weeks here?

The whole concept of spring is a bit anti-climactic this year.  We had no real winter.  The temperatures have held between 20F to 40F for most of November, December and January.  I believe the coldest we saw was around -10F.  That is not winter in Maine.  The snow pack is abysmal at about 5″.  Usually we have a good two feet of snow by now, or more.

Minimal snow cover and morning shadows, view from our window today

Yesterday it was 50F, partly cloudy and lovely weather for pruning apple trees.  I worked on several trees and have nearly completed the monumental task of pruning the entire orchard.  I’m working in an area infested with poison ivy, so that the only time I can prune is when snow covers the nasty weed.  This non-winter is great for orchard work.  It is bad news for keeping invasive species at bay.

I have lived in Maine for 46 winters and this is the warmest, most open and strangest I can recall.  The oddness is unsettling.  I am hoping for a nice New England blizzard or two in February or March so things feel more like normal.