Backyard Almanac

Early spring leaves are beginning to emerge, but the forest floor wildflowers are soaking up as much sun as they can before being shaded by the leaf canopy. Warblers are beginning to return north in search of caterpillars, their spring food source, but the early leaf growth may cause caterpillars to cocoon before the warblers arrive. And a notable lack of rain yet in May has put the Northland back into a fire hazard condition.

If Larry has one piece of advice as April warms into May, it's: take a walk. Every. Single. Day.

Despite days of clouds, rain, and even snow showers, the second half of unpredictable April has been a little short of precipitation. Luckily, we got a great day yesterday to see all kinds of flora and fauna, and starting today we go back to cool, cloudy, and a chance of rain or snow into next week.

The first of the spring ephemerals have popped up in the woods, the vernal ponds are flourishing and things are greening and budding all over. Larry Weber says the walk you take today won't be the same as yesterday's or tomorrow, so you'd better make sure to get out as often as possible.

Close to a week of wind, rain, hail (!) and clouds is enough to dampen the mood of just about anyone. Until, of course, you hear what Larry has to say about what these days have wrought in our world outside.

Welcome to Win-sprin, that strange little time of year between the melting of the snow and the greening of the forest floor.

March 2021 will appear on the books as a little warmer than "normal": closer to 34° than 26°. The precipitation is above normal not only for the month but for 2021 as a whole so far, and the only "below normal" is snowfall. Larry's quick to remind us, though, that in April of 2013, we got 51" of snow! In other news, a cloudy, 25°-ish day with no wind, might not seem too exciting, but that's only if you're looking, and not listening.

The low humidity and high winds forecast for today and tomorrow have prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Fire Weather Watch for the area . Before the rain moves in on Sunday, the minimum RH dropping below 15 percent today combined with winds gusting to 20 mph today and over 35 mph on Saturday will cause near-critical fire weather conditions today and possibly exceeding critical fire weather conditions on Saturday.

Whether it's a record-breaking 55 ° or snowflakes the size of drink coasters, March in the Northland is anything but full.

One month ago today, the temps took a nose dive to below zero - and stayed there. Now we've got temps in the 50s forecast; Daylight Saving Time is nine days away; Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury are hanging out in the early-morning eastern sky (and it's clear enough to see them) and even some early migrants are starting to show up. And in the woods, it's getting a little spring-y there, too.