For The Badgers

Some friends of mine, the B family, make their home in Northern Wisconsin.  Earlier this month, when I posted pictures of the start of spring bulbs peeking through the cold soil in my yard, J noted that his flower beds were still under 8 inches of snow.  He confessed surprise to discover that our growing region was so different from his.

In truth, the recently updated USDA plant hardiness map did place New Jersey in a warmer zone than we had been before, and so J wasn't wrong to think we had harsher winters than we do.  In the nearly eleven years that I have been here, I have seen the effects of climate change at work.  Precipitation has become more extreme and temps are generally a bit warmer.

Even so, we still get nor'easter snowstorms and we got one this weekend.  Snow totals north of here are being measured in feet, but in my corner of New Jersey we received a thin layer of ice followed by about 8 inches of heavy, wet snow.  So my front yard flowerbed is a little more consistent with old man winter this weekend.  The flower bulbs are nowhere to be seen.

Now that the hard work of shoveling is done, the snow is quite lovely to admire.  Happy winter, y'all.