Aerie Weather Report, February 8, 2012

This winter has been a weird one. The temperatures have probably averaged right around the average but it's been more of a roller coaster ride than a smooth-lake canoe paddle. One day we might never get above freezing and the next it will be 50 degrees or more. Monday when I went down to Harrisburg and back, the sun shone brightly and the thermometer in the Tundra registered 54 degrees. Tuesday it was overcast and cloudy with a fair breeze from the north and the temp was no more than 30 at its highest. Today it's slightly colder with only the tiniest of a breeze out of the south and a sprinkling of snow flurries.

Speaking of snow, there isn't any on the ground around these parts. That's both good and bad. If it continues this way, there won't be much of a spring freshet in the creeks and rivers so there won't be any flooding to speak of--and after last fall's disaster that's a good thing. The counties and towns are saving tons of money on their snow removal budget which is a boon not soon overlooked. (I just hope they are wise enough to hang on to that money for next November and December.) The bad news is that the little bit of snow we are getting is not adding much to the water table. When it melts now, the ground is too frozen for it to soak in and, as a result, it merely runs off in the streams and rivers heading to the Chesapeake Bay. For all the rain we got last fall, it has been a dry, dry, dry winter.

As to the forecast for the next two weeks, AccuHunch is not terribly encouraging. In the next fourteen days, Mostly Sunny appears just three times, Partly Cloudy twice, Mostly Cloudy once, Cloudy twice, Freezing Rain three times, Showers once, and Dreary twice. (What the heck do they mean by "Dreary?" I have several meteorology courses under my belt and never once saw or heard of a weather condition classed as "Dreary" except in a Jane Eyre or Conan Doyle novel when they spoke of some damp castle upon the moor. Dreary, indeed.

As to the temperatures, it will get colder on Saturday with the high forecast to be just 21 degrees. It will then warm slightly and we'll see the daytime temps in the low 40s from next Tuesday on. (The "Freezing Rain" part must be coming at night when things drop down to the low 20s.) Sounds like the kind of weather the maple sap gatherers would like...if it came a month from now. I don't think the trees are ready to wake up quite yet. Those Ents are hardly hasty folk.

This weather has been playing havoc with our bird feeding. The lack of snow cover means there's plenty of places for the seed eaters to forage. They've only been showing up for an hour or two each day.

The gray squirrels, on the other hand, are another kettle of fish. Sharks. They have been here nearly every day in numbers ranging into double digits. It's not unusual to have four on the deck and the same number over on the side lawn.

It's comical to watch the squirrels at the two stick feeders hanging over the edge of the deck. They grasp the bottom perches and pull the feeder toward them so they can snatch a seed from the openings. They look like little submariners peering through the periscope.

They can empty the one feeder in no time flat. Of the 150 pounds of sunflower seeds I've put out this year, I'd estimate half of it--if not more--went to the squirrels.