January 2016 in the Northern Hemisphere

[johnralphcarpenter]

Snowing steadily here in Ontario.

[astragalus]

Here we have only the lightest frosting of snow but it will stay for a while because it is cold, but nowhere near as cold as normal for theis time of year.
Robert - so glad to hear you are finally getting some moisture!

[Robert]

Anne,

Is there enough snow to protect the plants? It appears to be cold, but maybe not cold enough to damage anything? Maybe spring will tell the story?

Around here extreme, dry, cold is very hard on many of the plants (lethal to many potted plants), but then our extreme is nothing compared to the cold weather you can experience.

Yes, we are extremely thankful for the rains. We are very close to average to-date, and of coarse well above last year's total at this date. Last year there was only a trace of rain in January.

I took the long way home from town today and have a few photographs of landscape - well watered! 
I will be posting them soon in the diary.

[Robert]

Robert,

Not much green here at the moment. Neither natives nor exotics show signs of growth! We got another 1/2′ of snow today. It looks great at the moment but will not last 

Trond,

The snow generally does not last around here either. It is always beautiful while it last, then as it melts it turns into a slushy mess during the day and ice at night. Most of my life I have been self-employed so I can stay home and safe during the snow and the ice afterwards.

Sadly, there are many new comers to our area that have no idea how to drive safely when there is snow, and do not know it is better to stay a home when there is much ice. Every year there are terrible automobile accidents during such weather events. Many of our roads are very steep. I have seen cars slide down a hill completely out of control on the ice. Studded tires would help but the are not permitted. Tire chains might help, but newcomers either do not have them or do not know how to put them on.

[astragalus]

Robert, the plants are not even covered by the snow.  It remains cold and frequently windy, which is the real killer here.  The temperatures are much higher than normal - we have not once been below 0 F, and only infrequently in single digits.  With no snow cover to speak of the wind is the main concern.  They never give wind chill readings which would make for a different story.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the few Patagonian plants I'm trying in the garden.

[Robert]

Anne,

It does not sound very promising. The cold, dry winds are very destructive of plants in our area too.

Good luck! 

[Hoy]

It is cold and dry here today and expecting the same tomorrow. Fortunately no wind and a reasonable snow cover!

Picture taken at the same time as yesterday, at sunset about 4AM.

[Maggi Young]

Beautiful scene, Trond, beautiful.

[fleurbleue]

So peaceful scene... Thank you Trond

[Gabriela]

Magical Trond!
How not to fall in love with snow? (even when a bit too much of it 

[Hoy]

Thanks both of you I agree, it is nice to look at but it is a bit cold to be outside although I am used to much colder weather in my youth.
The coldest at in our garden has been -10C but the coldest along the road 1km away has been -16C. This is as cold as it gets here as long as the fjord is open. Now we awaits warmer weather, the temperature will rise 10-15C during the weekend.

[Robert]

Trond,

10-15 C seems like a huge change in temperature!

[Leena]

Now we awaits warmer weather, the temperature will rise 10-15C during the weekend.

The same here, it is now -27C, and tonight it is supposed to be only -5C.. let's see.

[Irm]

In Berlin, there's also cold and snow, sunshine -8°   

[Hoy]

Thursday I logged -16C/3F and today +4C/39F! The snow is melting rapidly.