Freja \Fi\nologies
   It’s a bird.  It’s a bee.  It’s Phenology!
                                - Freja
 
 

                                       My previous
                                        observations:
                                             wk 01
                                             wk 02
Retired Polar Husky Freja will post her daily "phenology observations" -that is, observations she is making about what is going on outside her retirement home near the University of Minnesota campus!


Check back Monday - Friday! Just like the audio update, I will post every morning by 8AM CST and tell you about my observations from the previous day!



March
   
12 Another rainy morning! We started off at 39 degrees and just light sprinkles on my morning walk. For the first time this year I heard birds singing on my morning walk. It was still dark out at 5am and there were definitely some birds singing.

One of my humans took his bike to work for the first time this year. I heard him say winter only seemed to last about three months this year, he had stopped biking to work last December when it started snowing in the first week, and now at the end of the second week of March all of the ice and snow is gone from the bike paths so it is safe to ride again. I guess he isn't as good on the ice and snow as I am... oh well.

The rain picked up late morning and then let up by noon. I got to go for a special walk in the afternoon down by the Mississippi river a few miles from my house to an area called St. Anthony Falls. I got to go across a bridge that spans the river and watch the water coming over a dam... it was amazing! The water was roaring over the dam and crashing into the river below, there was so much water it was crazy. I spun around and barked and barked but you could barely hear my barking over the sound of the rapid waters. The last time I was on this bridge was back in November and there was just a little but of water gently falling over the dam. I didn't feel the need to spin around and bark back then. :-)

In the afternoon when I returned home to my yard the temperature was in the forties and I noticed the snow gauge is now showing NO SNOW! That is right, there is a patch of ground right under the gauge now, we lost the last three inches of snow this week. Keep in mind the gauge is in a sunnier part of the yard, the rest of the yard still has snow but it is melting quickly.
   
11 I woke up to 37 degrees this morning, it wasn't raining but the the air was heavy and wet as if it had just stopped and was going to rain again at any minute.

On my morning walk I observed that the sidewalks were suspiciously absent of puddles. There were a few here and there but I expected more, it had been raining after all and just a few days ago before the rain the sidewalks were a big sloppy mess. Where did the water go? I think the ground is thawing quickly and is absorbing most of the water.

Going back into my yard after the walk I noticed that the giant pool of water around the gate was gone! It was there last night, about three inches deep and four feet across in either direction. I didn't even notice it was missing when I left the yard, but by golly it was gone! So the ground there must have finished thawing overnight and the ground drank up the water.

It started to rain again shortly after my walk and by midday the crunchy ice pack I wrote about yesterday in the back yard now resembled a slushy drink. A slushy with puddles of water that formed on top of the remaining ice pack... which by the way tasted like old soggy twigs.

On my evening walk it was 47 degrees out, I saw some pachysandra as green and vibrant as can be poking out from under a retreating ice mound. Wow! I am not sure what the growing season is for pachysandra but it sure looks wild seeing such a green plant next to a mound of snow.
   
10 Last night when I went to bed the temperature was 37 degrees, when I woke up this morning at 4am it was 39 degrees! I think the heavy overcast sky served as a blanket overnight and warmed things up just a tiny bit.

My morning walk was wet and sloppy, it was still raining lightly, enough to make things wet but not enough to wash away dirt and sand. Almost every stretch of the thick ice pack I wrote about a few weeks ago on sidewalks and streets are now gone leaving behind sandy grit in their place. I saw two bunnies on the walk, I haven't seen any rabbits in over a week and then I saw two! Both times they were running away from me so I saw their cotton tails bopping up and down as they ran.

The light rain continued through the day and the temperature climbed a little above 40 degrees. I stayed inside and slept most of the day! In the afternoon I skipped my walk and just took a few laps around the yard and I noticed that the snow pack is getting very loose and crunchy like a slushy drink... just a little more firm. I also noticed the snow gauge is down to three inches! The ground is coming up fast!

During my long day inside I saw a box elder bug, it was about 3/8 of an inch long and black with some orange-red markings. I observed it crawling on the wall by the stairs for a few minutes.The box elder bug did not have a smell to it and did not taste like much either, it was a little crunchy.
   
09 The temperature this morning was 35 degrees and it was very humid out too. It was so humid that on my morning walk the streetlights had fuzzy halos around them because the light they were giving off was illuminating the surrounding water vapor in the air.

The sky was overcast again and this morning, unlike yesterday morning, there was no new ice on the sidewalk. Just lots of puddles and damp concrete.

In the afternoon it started to rain lightly and on my afternoon walk I saw a big green weed. I have a feeling it is left over from last fall, and has just been revealed from the melting snow. I also think the rain made it look more green and alive... I am going to keep an eye on it over the next few days.

The light rain continued off and on during the evening, it didn't seem to be melting too much snow. I think the rain was light enough the snow was absorbing most of the water.
   
08 Wow, this morning when I woke up it was 37 degrees outside! This is the first time this year it has not dropped below freezing over night. This is a little warmer than usual for Minneapolis this time of year and the warmer weather is having quite an effect on melting.

Just a few weeks ago a parking ban was put in place because the streets were so narrow from the giant snow banks on either side. The ban was suppose to be in place until April 1st, but it was lifted last Friday because the rapid melting of the snow has widened the streets.

Two weeks ago when I wrote my first phrenology report there was almost a foot and a half of snow in my yard, now there are just six inches of snow pack.
 
Another first in a long time is that today was not sunny! We had an overcast sky all day, quite a contrast to the very sunny skies we have had over the past few weeks. On my early morning walk I usually see stars, but this morning it was just a solid gray that almost looked white from all the ambient city light reflecting off the sky. Instead of ice on the sidewalks in the morning there was a lot of water from the melting snow. There were just one or two spots where there was the thinnest layer of fresh ice under the water, ice that wasn't there last night. My human even slipped a few times... I didn't. :-)

But wait! If it was 5 degrees above freezing how did ice form? Well last night we had a completely clear sky, and a clear sky allows heat to radiate way up to the atmosphere. In addition to that the air was very calm, so although it was 37 degrees out, I think closer to the ground it was almost freezing. And those few patches where there was new ice must have hit the freezing mark!