Virginia is having one weird winter. Now to have a winter in Virginia is weird in and of itself. If winter is defined as that season of the year when the ground is frozen then Virginia doesn’t even bother to have a winter when everyone else is slip sliding around and getting big purple & green brushes from falling onto the very hard frozen ground. Most years Virginia has frozen ground on a couple of stray days and a few more nights. Some years it dispenses with frozen ground (ie winter) all together. But not this winter, oh my goodness no, not this winter.
This winter Virginia is experiencing frozen ground for 7 to 8 days at a time. Hard frozen ground, ground with hard compacted snow on top of the hard frozen ground with ice on top of that. Da Urchin’s house has had 3 ice storms, one of them was quite serious. Her local auto parts stores are selling tire chains right out of the shipping crate. I haven’t had that kind of winter but the rivers near here have had a thick ice layer on them from shore to shore.
As for the weird part, in between these weeks of winter with temps in the low teens during the day and single digits at night we’ve had 2 to 4 days of weather in the high 50s and 60s. That’s right, glorious spring weather bracketed by Artic Clipper blasts of frigidity. Go figure. I for one just want it to end and for real spring to arrive.
Rapidan Mill
Meanwhile the thaws have produced the first floods of the year. In a typical year this sort of thing waits until March to get rolling.
Rapidan Mill Spillway
Mind you this isn’t a severe flood, just a normal spring high water event.
Looking Downstream at Rapidan VA
Well at least this high water came way too soon to wash out anyone’s spring planting and it wasn’t high enough to wash building and such like away either. Let’s thank the weather spirits for whatever favors they grant.
