The rains have arrived here in Southern England, non stop big fat rain as well !!!! Lol. The last of the maple leaves will be no more after this weekend. Still 'very' mild and forecast to be that way for the next week at least. After discussions last night about our trees getting enough rest, I wonder this Winter if they will get much more than 3 months. Not good!!!
So it's official, October was the warmest on record for Europe. 1.6 ° C warmer in fact. Not that we need to be told as we all saw the effects on our trees making new growth well into November in England. Here is the article I just read. Looking at the predictions of sea levels by 2100, I think times are going to be difficult for our great grand children. Euronews: What's the impact of melting ice on rising sea levels?. Fears grow over potential collapse of Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier
All this is very worrying, here in the south of Spain the thermometer is at 23ºC and the minimum does not drop below 10ºC. So I have the maples, with the swollen shoots about to grow, very bad arrrggg ..
@zfrittz good morning J, same here, so warm and my trees are looking like they might burst open soon. 23 °C for you now is Summer temperatures for me, but the daylight hours is more what trees go by when going into dormancy. But agreed they do need the cold to aid the rest period. There is no magic formula to help this I'm afraid, the planet is warming, so our trees will have to learn to adapt. Fingers crossed that they can.
Today is quite cold, and we are inundated with goldfinches. They are foraging amongst the branches of a fallen birch tree, they apparently love the seeds from it. (Picture is not mine)
Good morning N, this is a sparrow that has been seen rarely in the UK, was it the Oregon species? Or the Slate coloured ?
Hi D, they are slate-colored and are the most common sparrow in our neighborhood during the winter. Summertime the most frequently seen sparrow is the chipping sparrow.
Lovley red bonnets, must be a wonderful sight N. But flocks of slate coloured sparrows must be fantastic to see. We just don't see flocks here anymore.
So how about 'Thunder snow'. It hit the northern UK yesterday but not down here yet !!! I haven't seen a snow covering in early December for some years. Perhaps a cold Winter is about to be upon us. BBC News - Disruption after 'thundersnow' hits Scotland Disruption after 'thundersnow' hits Scotland
Derek very cold and snowy up't north at present , brought the milk in this morning and haven't been out since brrrr !! Added a picture of shishigashira from November 18th 2016 that's the earliest i have seen snow up here for many a year.
As long as it doesn't get cold then have one of those ridiculous warm spells that we have seen over the past several years in Winter, our maples should go to sleep nicely. BTW I liked your selection at Lukes. Very healthy trees as we would expect.
Seem's to be a good mixture of trees i have opted for , hopefully should have them next week ?? and as you say hopefully they will all then go to sleep soon !!
Miserable weather tonight, cold and rainy. I was hopeful this morning, immaculate blue sky at 9:00, but it got cloudy and then it rained. Anyway, good for my potted trees that I haven't watered for at least two weeks now. I don't think we'll have "one of those ridiculous warm spells" very soon, I even saw that it snowed somewhere in Normandy yesterday and if I trust "Météo France", this cold and rainy weather will last for a while : METEO LOIRET par Météo-France - Prévisions Météo gratuites à 15 jours sur toutes les villes ("mouse over" Orléans)
As soon as we put up our minimalist Christmas decorations, the rain outside turned into snow. Go figure...
I can’t really capture the wet snow well with my phone camera... but it is beautiful, even though it is not going to stick.
Here, in Estonia, the average temperature in November was 4°C higher than normal (October was +2.8°C). This autumn has been somewhat drier than usual, 10...20% less precipitation than usual, each month. It seems, that the weather turns colder now, but not below -10°C. Chances for successful overwintering my figs outdoors look high so far. I finally harvested my ocas. Despite chilly spring and summer (May was 1.4°C colder than normal and July was -1.1°C), got pretty decent harvest. No apparent rodent and pest damage this year on oca tubers.
I think this article today in the UK and especially for the South of England shows that the future for our maples might be rather bleak if they can't go to sleep in the Winter months. A lot of us are noticing new growth in November these days. BBC News - Climate change: Snowy UK winters could become thing of the past Climate change: Snowy UK winters could become thing of the past
Good afternoon. In the Balearic Islands (Spain) it is very cold ... The other day snow fell on the highest peaks (+1200 meters). In my area there are temperatures up to a maximum of 17ºC, and a minimum of 5-6 degrees Celsius. The humidity is very high, + 60%. These days it is very windy, cold too. Maple trees haven't had much time to fall, only Seyriu. The rest have gone from having green leaves to brown, and now they hardly have any. That is why I have not only uploaded photos. It has been an autumn ... "seen and not seen" as we say in Spain. In short, to enjoy the winter :) Regards!
The first major winter storm arrives here tomorrow afternoon. We are expecting between 12 and 18 inches of snow. I guess it is the true beginning of winter for us.