Twin Cities Naturalist

Ok so now the snow has returned just a few days later. We will didn't get nailed though. Maybe three inches at the most. Very pretty but not enough to snowshoe. I hope it isn't another of those pathetic winters.

~kirk

On Saturday morning snow fell on the ground and kept falling. I'd say we had three inches and it looked like it was going to stick until a warm front blew through on Sunday. By sundown on Sunday every flake melted and the lawn looked lush and green.

Happy birthday to me.

Not a lot of time to write here but thought I should note that I saw 14 trumpeter swans on Mays Lake today at work. They were fantastic.

~Kirk

This autumn has been strange in that it has lasted so long. Beautiful. Two days ago I looked in the phenology book for Nov. 7th in 2003. It was 13 degrees out and ponds had frozen over. On Nov. 7 this year it was 60 degrees out. What a difference.

Yesterday, strong winds blew all day and whipped up twenty foot waves on lake superior. Overnight, the temperature dropped to twenty five degrees. Some small ponds iced over last night. It was the first time this year. We're getting closer to that 13 degree weather. The experience of place, the phenomenon of weather and seasons can be so, well, phenomenal. When this day began it was just 25 degrees out and by the end of the work day the mercury reached over fifty degrees. How long can these warm peaks last before winter's hand pushed down firmly from the north?

~Kirk