Winter Storms In

It’s more than a week into December and we’re finally getting our first taste of winter. It’s been an unusually warm fall—November set a 25-year record for the highest overnight temperatures. Although the days were typical for a November, it just did not get cold at night.

As a result, winter’s arrival was delayed this year. We found ourselves being bugged by insects that otherwise would have succumbed much earlier to the cold. Things being a little warmer, those bugs could hang on a little longer—crickets still singing and yellow jacket wasps still buzzing us on Thanksgiving, though they moved a lot slower than they did in July.

An “Indian fall” (sort of a hungover Indian summer) like this can also confuse plants. Early-spring blossoming shrubs and trees poke out a few tenuous buds—testing whether winter just might have already rushed by. I wince when I see these vulnerable shoots—knowing that they will soon be zapped by a cold snap.

And now it’s upon us. Winter blew in with chilling force, a few nights ago. Snow fell one evening and the thermometer followed suit a few hours later. We woke up to find that fall’s browns and grays had become masked with brilliant white. Honest winter is here. The remaining bugs and impulsive buds have expired. The long sleep begins, as eggs in the ground and more cautious buds hold their spring promise in abeyance.

Now is the time to get serious with the woodstove. No more small sticks of wood flashing briefly, and then going out. It’s time for serious logs and a perpetual fire. It’s one of my creature comforts to stand next to the woodstove and watch the birds’ antics out at the feeder. They fluff up to ward off the chill. No need to tell them that winter has stormed in.