The News from Kenabeek

The deep freeze continues – down to -25 or -30 or even -35 at night, highs of only about -20, with bright, sunny days. (That’s lows of -20 – -20 F, high’s of 0) We still have under a foot of snow, and haven’t had a real winter storm yet. The weather maps on the news show the jet stream curving down way south of us, with a low-pressure system east of Hudson’s Bay (counter-clockwise rotation) and a high-pressure system west of it (with clockwise rotation) – resulting in arctic air pouring south across us. Recently it’s been warmer in northern Quebec, in Kuujjuuak and Iqaluit, than here, and much snowier south of us. It’s too cold to snowshoe, and not enough snow anyway! And I’m resigning myself to losing some of my perennials, with so little snow to protect them from the cold. But it is bright and sunny! And despite the cold, the chickadees (almost spherical in the mornings) are friskier and chattier, obviously sure that spring is on its way.