The Worst of September/October

     This was an average day for almost all of September and half of October, grey, raining or snowing and 10 to 20C below seasonal averages! I love the fall season and like the song Four Strong Winds says of Alberta "weather's good there in the fall" but not this year! This year was pretty hard on everyone after 50 some days of this my emotions ranged from rage to depression, despondency, to "why has god forsaken us", and "have we died and gone to hell?". While there were the few odd days, three or four that did not precipitate, there was always more in the forecast which kept the mood at constant gloom. I blame global warming and if you don't understand the concept you're probably thinking what the hell is this guy talking about!? Well I'm afraid it doesn't always mean warmer and warmer weather in fact a warming planet will have more precipitation. Scientists have also warned us about weaker jet streams like the kind that don't move for 50 days and bring us constant cold weather, also with a warmer ocean more low pressure systems like the kind that sat over the Arctic sending us, in the prairies, very cold air. So, we've ruined the planet, I knew this would happen, it's what science was telling us along! A consequence of all this unseasonable weather was ruining crops, Alberta and Saskatchewan grow a large amount of grains for the world food supply, by the end of September only 40% of the crops had been harvested due to wet conditions. This becomes a concern when it starts affecting the food we eat, if an event like this were combined with other severe weather around the world it could start to affect the entire food supply of the planet, and that is how and why Global Warming affects us , please inform the current dim wit President!

Even though it snowed a couple of times nothing was damaged too much although we lost a lot of fall colour. The effect for plants was kinda like being in refrigeration for 6 weeks, neither turning colours or dropping leaves. More like winter on the West Coast than fall on the prairies!

This was about the extent of fall colour around here, some Manitoba Maples turned very orange this year and it must be due to the weather because this usually doesn't happen.

This Green Ash turned a brilliant yellow for a few days before freezing weather dropped it's leaves only a few days after this photo.

Many birds in my garden this fall, from several Warbler species, Oregon Junco, Wrens and this Downy Woodpecker.

An elusive Warbler, usually very difficult to photograph, I got lucky here!

And then this happened! October started with the coldest weather since the year 1900 and then it began to snow...

and snow.

Here are the stats, it was an obscene amount breaking all previous records, hmmm what did I just say about a warming planet and precipitation?

Now you know why I grow so many plants in pots, during this cold episode I moved everything I could inside, never can say goodbye!

The Dahlias in my living room continued to bloom for several weeks.

And the Ricinus looked great with the mask collection.

I took care of this hanging basket of Lobelia and Calibrachoa for my neighbours back in August when they left for vacation, I fully intended to give it back as a surprise when the weather got warm, and then I waited and waited, and it never got warm. I kept it inside for the entire cold spell and still have it now! It still looks great in November!!! Shhh don't tell them!

Here are some fun facts to peruse, cold and snow!

This is what happened to many trees, leaves turned brown from frosty days and nights and dropped all their leaves at once as soon as the storm passed.

In typical Calgary style the weather turned on a dime and the last half of October had temperatures ranging from 24 to 10C mostly sunny and above average the rest of the month. We even managed to get some fall colour out of this Mountain Ash.

 These Ornamental Kales survived despite being completely buried in a mound of snow and several freezing days and nights.

Even though we had such below normal weather and heavy snow there were a few survivors, many plants buried under the deep snow did not freeze and looked pretty good (albeit squished) the rest of the month. Trees like my Sumacs didn't really turn red or drop their leaves, some got frost damage but by the first week of November still had leaves ranging in the dark green to dark red range, they must be very confused and I don't blame them!

This Burning Bush turned a several weak colours but was still nice considering we lost almost all leaves in the snow.

Halloween turned out to be a balmy 10C, nice warm night for our area.