New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff

Back to spring in just one day

Friday 03/09/2012

Wow what a day yesterday was. I woke up to snow covered ground as far as my eye could see. Pretty much everything was still painted white from the Leap Day leap back into winter. The hay field across the road from my house was totally covered in snow as well as my lawn.

I took a chair outside around noon to soak up some of the sun. I kept checking my thermometer and could actually stand there mid afternoon and watch the digits move up. And then it peaked around 3 at over 70 degrees. Unbelievable! And the snow just vanished. By 4 the hay field was completely bare and my lawn was bare except for the snow piles from plowing. I have never seen snow disappear so fast in my life. And the warmth stayed into the night. My thermometer was still reading 60 degrees at 11 pm. How quickly things can change here in NH.

My thoughts for a very early spring were definitely put on hold by the Leap Day snow storm. I had just under a foot of snow in my yard by storms end. Last weekend it was down to 8 inches by my measurement. And that little farm pond on route 28 that was completely ice free was once again covered with a layer of snow and ice. So back to winter there. But "winter" here in Epsom only lasted a week this year.

Despite the wintry look around here my heart was warmed wonderfully by a flock of red-winged blackbirds that arrived here Saturday morning. They truly are a harbinger of spring. I quickly got out my parabolic listening device to glean all that I could from their calling Oakalee, Oakalee. Oh yes spring is at hand.

I just took a look out my office window. The Suncook River is running brown and is up a bit from the quickly melting snow. The corn field and meadow below is brown as well and the only snow I can see is some just below my house in a nature cup of ground always in the shadow. I've had snow stay there well in April many years. There is a spring down there that boils up and send feet chilling water in the Suncook River even in the hottest of August days.

On the south side of my house I couldn't help but snap a picture of my daffodils pushing up through the snow yesterday morning. Oh how they want it to be spring too I sensed.