Winter Scenes 1999

Well, winter is finally here. The second week in January the highs were in the mid to upper 60's. That all changed on January 17th when we got about 6 inches of snow. The picture at the left and the other snow pictures on this page are of that snow. But that was only the start. It snowed again a couple days later and we got a couple inches more. Then it snowed again a couple days later and we got another inch or so of snow with a quarter inch or so of ice on top of it. On January the 24th a monster storm came through and dumped up to 24 inches on some areas of North Carolina. We only got a dusting out of that one. By the end of the next day our roads were dry and most of the snow had melted out of the front yard. Just 20 miles to the east and south of us people were coping with 12 to 18 inches of snow and across the state around 225,000 people were out of power. In fact it is bad enough that the governor declared a state of emergency, I suppose so the national guard units can be used to help out the people in need.

The normal snowfall for our area of North Carolina for January is 3 inches. Out of the four snows this week we have had around 11 inches so we are way ahead of the averages. Considering that we can go for a couple years in a row and not get any snow it does make for a nice change. I may not enjoy it so much if I had to go to work in it, or like some people actually work outside in it. At the moment though I am between jobs and going to school at night. So like the school kids I get a vacation when it snows. The funny thing is that it keeps snowing and closing the schools on the nights that I have classes. On the other hand the road crews have been working constantly for a week now trying to keep the roads open and the power companies are doing the same with the power lines, at least since this last one came through and put so many people out of power. I am sure they have seen enough snow for this winter. The bad news is that another storm seems to be brewing for us a couple days from now and we may go through this all again.

The constant snow cover has made it more difficult for the birds and small animals that come into our yard to find food and water. After the snow starts melting there is plenty of water around, but that is later in the day if it gets above freezing at all. As you can see from the picture of the backyard everything is in a deep freeze. On these days it is even more appreciated by the birds when they have a water supply that is unfrozen. We have a water bowl that sits on the ground and another one that is fastened to a tree. The birds make good use of these water sources while everything else is frozen over. We make sure to put fresh water in the bowls every morning and if it is really cold during the day I check to make sure that it doesn't freeze over. When everything is covered in ice it is also hard for the birds and small animals to find food. We feed the birds all of the time anyway, but since the first snow came the numbers of birds has increased greatly. The goldfinches can now be counted by the dozens, along with the juncos and wrens. One evening I counted 15 doves eating the spillage around the feeders and the last few days there have been a lot more cardinals around.

To check out some  books that will help you attract wildlife to your  backyard go to our Backyard  Wildlife Books page.